The relative age effect on physical fitness in preschool children

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to investigate the existence of a relative age effect (RAE) on physical fitness of preschoolers. Anthropometry and physical fitness were assessed in 3147 children (3–5 years old) using the PREFIT battery. Based on the birth year, participants were divided into 3year groups (3-, 4- and 5-years). Within each year group, 4quarter groups were created: quarter 1, preschoolers born from January to March; quarter 2, from April to June; quarter 3, from July to September; quarter 4, from October to December. The MANCOVA analysis revealed a main effect of year group (Wilks’ λ = 0.383; F_10,5996 = 369.64; p < 0.001, η_p ² = 0.381) and of quarter (Wilks’ λ = 0.874; F_15,8276.6 = 27.67; p < 0.001; η_p ² = 0.044) over the whole battery of tests. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report the existence of RAE at the preschool stage. In general, performance improved as the relative age increased (i.e., those born in quarter 1 performed better than those in the other quarters). Individualization strategies should be addressed within the same academic year not only in elementary or secondary years but also in preschoolers.     

Using Health Literacy in School to Overcome Inequalities

Health literacy has firmly established the links between literacy skills and health outcomes and is subsequently considered a key strategy for improving the health of disadvantaged populations and addressing social inequality. However, current research findings for improving health literacy have primarily focused on adults and actions within health and health care settings. Implementation studies outside the health sector are scarce. This study, a subset of the INCLUD-ED community- based project on social inclusion, reports on successful community-based approaches to health literacy. This article focuses on two schools that take advantage of the cultural intelligence of their students' family members, allowing them to make health literacy programmes more effective and useful for the participants. In addition, family involvement in educational activities addressed to children, including health programmes, has been found to improve the health literacy of the participating adults and their use of healthcare services. Findings indicate that schools in Europe can play a key role in breaking the cycle of health inequalities by promoting health literacy through education.     

Identifying Changes in a Student’s Mental Models and Stimulating Intrinsic Motivation for Learning During a Dialogue Regulated by the Teachback Technique: a Case Study

Research in Science Education - The aim of this paper is to show how an innovative technique can be used to introduce a method for uncovering intrinsic mechanisms that motivate changes in...     

Prenatal programming of sporting success: Associations of digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker for prenatal androgen action,with world rankings in female fencers

Abstract

Associations of the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker for prenatal androgen action, and of absolute finger length, a putative marker for pubertal–adolescent androgen action, with sport performance were examined in a multinational sample of 87 world-class women épée fencers. Lower (masculinized) digit ratios correlated, although not significantly so, with better current and highest past world rankings. These correlations were significant for right-hand 2D:4D with controls for the most salient factors for 2D:4D (ethnicity) and world rankings (years of international experience, height, and weight). Longer (masculinized) fingers correlated strongly with better current and highest past world rankings; these correlations became insignificant with the same controls. Replicating previous evidence for fencers, left-handedness was much more prevalent in this sample (21%) than in the female general population, and left-handers had somewhat, but not significantly so, lower 2D:4D as well as better world rankings than right-handers. These findings extend related evidence suggestive of prenatal programming of aptitude across a variety of sports, especially running and soccer. Some known extragenital effects of prenatal testosterone that contribute to the development of efficient cardiovascular systems, good visuospatial abilities, physical endurance and speed, and to the propensity for rough-and-tumble play, apparently promote sporting success in adult life.     

Insights into user engagement on social media. Case study of a higher education institution

ABSTRACT

The interactions of users in social networks have been analyzed in the literature as sources of information on their ability to generate engagement among stakeholders in higher education institutes, which make more tactical than strategic use of social networks. This study helps identify which variables generate greater participation in Instagram users, providing strategic proposals for digital marketing. From the codification of all the publications published by a university in a social network site during the period of one year, a comparative analysis was carried out through a multivariate model. The results provide important and timely implications for both universities and higher education professionals. Our findings suggest that higher education marketing specialists should develop stronger and more consistent communication strategies to establish more valuable relationships with stakeholders. The administrators of the social networks of higher education institutions can find patterns in those publications that generate a greater participation in this study.     

Solving the "Accursed Riddle" of the Diplomatic Relations between Catalonia and Egypt around 1430

The last Arabic diplomatic document in Barcelona's Crown of Aragon Archive (ACA) that is still to be edited and studied is ACA Arabic doc. 164. The document is a preliminary draft of the commercial and peace treaty drawn up in 1430 by Alfons the Magnanimous, King of Aragon, Naples and Sicily (1396-1458), and the Mamluk Sultan al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Barsbāy (825-841/1422-1437), signed in Rhodes (Ramadān 7 833/30 May 1430, ACA Arabic doc. 145), and published in 1939 by Ruíz Orsatti. Document 164 contained 111 folios, which were not in order, and for this reason specialists called it the "accursed riddle". The document was probably prepared for discussion during the summer of 1429, a few months before the definitive version was signed. It is longer than the final agreement, and contains an additional Chapter (33) which has not been published to date. Little documentary evidence of diplomatic negotiation between Muslim and Christian powers in Medieval times has survived, and this chapter provides us with a highly unusual example. In the first part of this study the document is described and its contents outlined. In sections 2 and 3 we edit and analyse the contents of the additional Chapter 33 and the Explicit that goes with it, which is absent from Ruíz Orsatti's version. We then present some historical data regarding the Catalan embassy to Rhodes, which will shed light on the diplomatic negotiations that concern us and the historical reasons for the censoring of Chapter 33.     

School Chemistry: An Historical and Philosophical Approach

Since at least the eighteenth century scientific knowledge (then natural philosophy) was produced in groups of experts and specialists and was transmitted in schools, where, future experts and specialists were trained. The design of teaching has always been a complex process particularly in recent years when educational aims (for example, teaching scientific competence to everyone, not just to experts and specialists) present significant challenges. These challenges are much more than a simple reorganisation of the scientific knowledge pre-determined by the existing teaching tradition for different educational level. In the context of chemical education, the new teaching approaches should bring about not only the transmission of chemical knowledge but also a genuine chemical activity so as to ensure that students can acquire chemical thinking. Chemistry teaching should be revised according to contemporary demands of schooling. In order to move forward towards new teaching proposals, we must identify the genuine questions that generate ‘chemical criteria’ and we should focus on them for teaching. We think that a good strategy is to look for those criteria in the philosophy and history of chemistry, from the perspective of didactics of science. This paper will examine the following questions: (1) How can school science be designed as a world-modelling activity by drawing on the philosophy of science. (2) How can ‘stories’ about the emergence of chemical entities be identified by looking at the history of chemistry? (3) How can modelling strategies be structured in school chemistry activities?     

La construcción individual del sistema de numeración convencional

Resumen

El sistema de numeración posicional de base 10 constituye un objeto cultural, resultado de un largo y dificultoso desarrollo histórico, que se convierte en un objeto de conocimiento a asimilar por el niño. En este artículo se estudia el proceso de reconstrucción individual de este instrumento intelectual, a través de las producciones gráficas espontáneas de 100 niños de edades comprendidas entre los 6 y 10 años, obtenidas en situación de invención de sistemas de notación de cantidades. Las producciones de los niños, cuyas estrategias recuerdan en muchos casos a las empleadas en los sistemas de numeración históricos, describen una génesis. Esta se extiende desde producciones que no contemplan la estabilidad de los grafismos ni la posibilidad de combinarlos, hasta las que recurren al principio del valor posicional, pasando por producciones de tipo aditivo y producciones que intentan, sin conseguirlo, la transposición del sistema de numeración convencional.     

Caribbean and Central American women’s feminist inquiry through theater-based action research

Feminist action research interrogates gendered dynamics in the development of a collective consciousness. A group of immigrant Latina women (Latinas) from the Caribbean and Central America employed community-based theater as an instrument to mobilize diverse audiences against discriminatory practices and policies. Based on their theater work, I present two interrelated arguments. First, Latinas’ knowledge construction in multiple arenas counteracts gendered and racialized immigration discourses while leading to fundamental sociocultural transformations. Second, deeper epistemological rigor is needed in feminist action research to uphold Latin American women’s agency while countering pervasive discrimination.