Video reflection and the formation of teacher identity in a team of pre-service and experienced teachers

This paper discusses a project in which a team of pre-service and experienced teachers, following a teaching development model devised by the authors, reflected on videos of the pre-service teachers teaching literacy. Using a discourse analytic approach, the paper focuses on how teachers' joint reflection contributes to student teacher identity formation. Analysis suggests that reflection, at least in the talk of this team, is a language practice with a distinctive generic structure. Using this structure, participants jointly construct professional teacher identities for themselves and others through the key devices of representation, categorization, evaluation, individualization and inclusion.

Team teaching in teacher education: towards an interdisciplinary approach

‘Team teaching’ across disciplines at Australian universities is rare. Academics are rigorous in developing specific disciplinary expertise that often prevents collaboration outside of their disciplinary area. In pre-service primary education courses, academics often teach in traditional and exclusive disciplinary approaches. This separation is at odds however with the impetus for a pedagogical move forward towards an interdisciplinary approach in primary schools. The authors contend that primary
teacher educators must model effective interdisciplinary practice to their student teachers and unpack the processes of how to make meaningful connections together. This paper presents the work of two teacher educators who are involved in a broader, innovative, team teaching, field based collaboration with schools and non-school settings for the Bachelor of Teaching (Postgraduate) at Deakin University. In this paper, the authors firstly discuss their rationale for adopting a team teaching approach and describe how they are working towards an interdisciplinary model, bringing together the two areas; music and literacy and providing examples from their team teaching experience. The paper concludes with reflections and recommendations for future team teaching at the tertiary level.

Multidisciplinary team developed and implemented protocols to assist mechanical ventilation weaning : a systematic review of literature

Aim: The aim of this review was to determine if ventilation-weaning protocols developed and implemented by multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) reduced the duration of mechanical ventilation in adult intensive care patients compared to usual care.

Method: A systematic review was conducted to review published research studies from January 1999 to June 2009 to identify and analyse the best available evidence on MDT-based weaning protocols in adult intensive care patients. All relevant studies based on electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Registry and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were included. Where possible data were pooled and a meta-analysis performed. A narrative synthesis of data was conducted to provide a critical appraisal of nonrandomised controlled trials included in the review.

Results: Three pre- and postinterventional studies were identified for inclusion in this review. Results show equivocal support for weaning protocols developed and implemented by MDTs for reducing duration of mechanical ventilation.

Conclusion: Communication and organizational processes must be addressed for multidisciplinary protocols to be effective. Due to methodological limitations of included studies, large randomised controlled trials are required to provide high-level evidence of the effects of MDT-based protocols on duration of mechanical ventilation.

Team clinical supervision in acute hospital wards : a feasibility study

Clinical supervision provides a strategy to mitigate nurses’ workplace stress and enhance retention, but the literature provides little guidance about its implementation beyond mental health nursing. This study explored the feasibility of implementing and evaluating ward-based team clinical supervision for general nurses on two separate wards at one public and one private hospital. Nurses completed the Work Environment Questionnaire pre- (n = 36) and post intervention (n = 27), and focus groups (n = 20) explored their perceptions of supervision. Staff were unfamiliar with clinical supervision, so information sessions were required. The questionnaire may not have been suitable to evaluate this type of intervention. Focus group findings revealed that team supervision improved communication, enhanced working relationships, and empowered nurses to challenge existing practices, which had a positive impact on their perceived stress. This study provides insights to guide implementation and evaluation of clinical supervision in acute settings.

Physiological responses of elite junior Australian Rules footballers during match-play

Australian Football (AF) is Australia's major football code. Despite research in other football codes, to date, no data has been published on the physiological responses of AF players during match play. Fifteen athletes (17.28 ± 0.76 yrs) participated in four pre-season matches, sanctioned by Australian Football League (AFL) Victoria, investigating Heart Rate (HR), Blood Lactate (BLa), Core Temperature (Tcore), and Hydration status. Match HR was measured continuously using HR monitors. BLa was measured via finger prick lancet at the end of each quarter of play. Tcore was measured by use of ingestible temperature sensor and measured wirelessly at the end of each quarter of play. Hydration status was measured using refractometry, measuring urine specific gravity, and body weight pre and post-match. Environmental conditions were measured continuously during matches. Results of HR responses showed a high exertion of players in the 85-95% maximum HR range. Elevated mean BLa levels, compared to rest, were observed in all players over the duration of the matches (p = 0.007). Mean Tcore rose 0.68 °C between start and end of matches. Mean USG increased between 0.008 g/ml (p = 0.001) with mean body weight decreasing 1.88 kg (p = 0.001). This study illustrates physiological responses in junior AF players playing in the heat as well as providing physiological data for consideration by AF coaching staff when developing specific training programs. Continued research should consider physiological measurements under varying environments, and at all playing levels of AF, to ascertain full physiological responses during AF matches.

Influence of field position and phase of play on the physical demands of match-play in professional rugby league forwards

This article describes the utilisation of an unsupervised machine learning technique and statistical approaches (e.g., the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) that assist cycling experts in the crucial decision-making processes for athlete selection, training, and strategic planning in the track cycling Omnium. The Omnium is a multi-event competition that will be included in the summer Olympic Games for the first time in 2012. Presently, selectors and cycling coaches make decisions based on experience and intuition. They rarely have access to objective data. We analysed both the old five-event (first raced internationally in 2007) and new six-event (first raced internationally in 2011) Omniums and found that the addition of the elimination race component to the Omnium has, contrary to expectations, not favoured track endurance riders. We analysed the Omnium data and also determined the inter-relationships between different individual events as well as between those events and the final standings of riders. In further analysis, we found that there is no maximum ranking (poorest performance) in each individual event that riders can afford whilst still winning a medal. We also found the required times for riders to finish the timed components that are necessary for medal winning. The results of this study consider the scoring system of the Omnium and inform decision-making toward successful participation in future major Omnium competitions.

Walking My Talk as an Intentional, Embodied, (Co)constructed Environmental Educator

Exploring the question (how) can I use personal change to inspire educational and social/cultural change, this work was embodied and action orientated with a thesis that the doing (action) is as important as the thinking and talking about it. A three-dimensional model of exploring personal change through transformative education leading to social/cultural change was employed throughout this research. A critical poststructural ecofeminist frame undergirded an autoethnographic self-study where I changed my living practices to become more sustainable while living within society, and used this as a platform for how I could become a better environmental educator and activist. I reduced my ecological footprint from 16.4HA to 1.8HA and taught a pre-service teacher course in environmental education, where I explored student resistances, power and relationships, a critique of curriculum, and personal change as a result of transformative education. One particular pedagogical strategy, the Action Learning Group Project, was developed and used to support others to undergo personal change through transformative education leading to social/cultural change. And finally, I use this work as an opportunity to undertake environmental education activism working to generate social/cultural change.

Learning how to teach chemistry with technology: pre-service teachers’ experiences with integrating technology into their learning and teaching

The Australian Government initiative, Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF), was a targeted response to improve the preparation of future teachers with integrating technology into their practice. This paper reports on TTF research involving 28 preservice teachers undertaking a chemistry curriculum studies unit that adopted a technological focus. For chemistry teaching the results showed that technological knowledge augmented the fundamental pedagogical knowledge necessary for teaching chemistry content. All the pre-service teachers demonstrated an understanding of the role of technology in teaching and learning and reported an increased skill level in a variety of technologies, many they had not used previously. Some students were sceptical about this learning when schools did not have technological resources available. This paper argues that teacher education courses should include technological skills that match those available in schools, as well as introduce new technologies to support a change in the culture of using technology in schools.

Short-term impacts of the cricket match performances on national share markets – a case study of India and Australia

We investigate the impact that investor sentiment can have on stock market following performances by the national cricket teams of India and Australia in one-day cricket matches from 1990 to 2011. Motivated by previous findings of cricket’s impacts on stock markets, this study expands on previous research by investigating whether performances of individuals within the teams can also have an impact on their respective leading stock indices. Using an event study, we find no evidence of player or team performances significantly impacting the stock or futures markets. However, we find evidence of a ‘mood effect’ of poor performance by key players of national cricket teams in terms of significant drop in trading volumes in the following day. Our research poses and statistically examines some interesting questions and opens up the field for further research on this intriguing topic of sporting event impacts on national economies.

Monitoring neuromuscular fatigue in team-sport athletes using a cycle-ergometer test

PURPOSE: To compare a novel sprint test on a cycle ergometer with a countermovement-jump (CMJ) test for monitoring neuromuscular fatigue after Australian rules football match play. METHODS: Twelve elite under-18 Australian rules football players (mean ± SD age 17.5 ± 0.6 y, stature 184.7 ± 8.8 cm, body mass 75.3 ± 7.8 kg) from an Australian Football League club's Academy program performed a short sprint test on a cycle ergometer along with a single CMJ test 1 h prematch and 1, 24, and 48 h postmatch. The cycle-ergometer sprint test involved a standardized warm-up, a maximal 6-s sprint, a 1-min active recovery, and a 2nd maximal 6-s sprint, with the highest power output of the 2 sprints recorded as peak power (PP). RESULTS: There were small to moderate differences between postmatch changes in cycle-ergometer PP and CMJ PP at 1 (ES = 0.49), 24 (ES = -0.85), and 48 h postmatch (ES = 0.44). There was a substantial reduction in cycle-ergometer PP at 24 h postmatch (ES = -0.40) compared with 1 h prematch. CONCLUSIONS: The cycle-ergometer sprint test described in this study offers a novel method of neuromuscular-fatigue monitoring in team-sport athletes and specifically quantifies the concentric component of the fatigue-induced decrement of force production in muscle, which may be overlooked by a CMJ test.

Predictors of individual player match performance in junior Australian football

PURPOSE: Player match statistics in junior Australian football (AF) are not well documented while contributors to success are poorly understood. A clearer understanding of the relationships between fitness and skill in younger age players participating at the foundation level of the performance pathway in AF has implications for the development of coaching priorities (e.g., physical or technical). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between indices of fitness (speed, power and endurance) and skill (coach rating) on player performance (disposals and effective disposals) in junior AF. METHODS: Junior male AF players (n = 156, 10 - 15 years old) were recruited from 12 teams of a single amateur recreational AF club located in metropolitan Victoria. All players were tested for fitness (20 m sprint, vertical jump, 20 m shuttle run) and rated by their coach on a 6-point Likert scale for skill (within a team in comparison to their teammates). Player performance was assessed during a single match in which disposals and their effectiveness were coded from a video recording. RESULTS: Coach rating of skill displayed the strongest correlations and combined with 20 m shuttle test showed a good ability to predict both disposals and the number of effective disposals. None of the skill or fitness attributes adequately explained the percentage of effective disposals. The influence of team did not meaningfully contribute to the performance of any of the models. CONCLUSION: Skill development should be considered a high priority by coaches in junior AF.

Ill-defined versus precise pre-play communication in the traveler's dilemma

This article reports results from an experiment comparing the effects of vague versus precise pre-play communication in a highly competitive two-player game with conflicting interests. In the classic Traveler's Dilemma, non-binding precise messages about intent of play are pure cheap talk. We conjecture that a form of imprecise pre-play communication whereby subjects can submit ill-defined messages may help foster cooperation because of their vagueness. Comparing behavior both across modes of communication and to a baseline case without communication, we find that cooperation is highest when players can communicate using precise numerical messages. When communication with ill-defined messages is allowed, then conditional on receiving a message, subjects act more cooperatively than when no message is received. However, overall, the ability to exchange ill-defined messages does not substantially improve cooperation.