Offers a biographic profile on the life of John Blacking who was a distinguished music scholar. Explores his approach to the study of children as a distinctive musical culture and the nature of their musicality; the role of physical movement and dance in musical experience; and the development of world music in education. (CMK)

Presents a study that took place in an inner-city neighborhood school populated mainly by African American students characterized by poverty. Explores the discourse and practices of students and three co-teachers as a curriculum was enacted to provide opportunities for students to learn about the physics of motion through designing, building, and…

In this article, we will describe the results of a study of 6th grade students learning about the mathematics of change. The students in this study worked with software environments for the computer and the graphing calculator that included a simulation of a moving elevator, linked to a graph of its velocity vs. time. We will describe how the…

Former baseball star Jim Lefebvre (1983) claimed that hitting a baseball may be the most talked about but least understood skill in all of sports. Historically, hitting instruction has been based on intuitive thinking by "hitting gurus," rather than on scientific fact, which has contributed to this lack of understanding (DeRenne, Stellar, &…

We describe a project for calculus and differential equations students involving trajectories of a spacecraft whose propulsion system depends solely on muting gravitational effects of heavenly bodies. In particular, we consider the spacecraft imagined by H. G. Wells, and focus on getting his spacecraft from the Moon to the Earth. Cavorite, angular…

In this pilot study of 16 children, we evaluated the reliability and validity of three accelerometers (Mini-Motionlogger [MML], Computer Science Applications, Inc. Actigraph [CSA], and BioTrainer) as indicators of energy expenditure and vertical ground reaction force. The children wore 2 of each type of monitor while they walked, ran, and…

In light of the established validity of the pendulum as a topic in physics curricula (Matthews 2000), the study looked at the place of pendulum motion in the physics curriculum of the high school in Israel.The data is available through presenting results of the nationwide matriculation examination in its units of Mechanics and Research Laboratory…

General movements (GMs) are part of the spontaneous movement repertoire and are present from early fetal life onwards until the end of the first half a year of life. GMs are complex, occur frequently, and last long enough to be observed properly. They involve the whole body in a variable sequence of arm, leg, neck, and trunk movements. They wax…

A teaching--learning sequence is presented that is designed to help high school pupils gain awareness about the independence of the vertical and horizontal components of free fall motion. The approach we propose is based on the use of experimental activities and computer simulations designed specifically to help pupils reflect on the experiments…

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the teaching of creative movement and improvisation can influence the development of movement synthesis ability. Movement synthesis ability refers to the production of a movement composition. Twenty-five female freshmen, physical education students, participated in the study. They created…

In this paper we develop materials to address student interest in the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. We discuss the physical characteristics of tsunamis and some of the specific data regarding the 2004 event. Finally, we create an easy-to-make tsunami tank to run simulations in the classroom. The simulations exhibit three dramatic…

Visual perception may be a developmental prerequisite to some types of social understanding. The ability to perceive social information given visual motion appears to develop early. However, children with autism have profound deficits in social cognitive function and may fail to see social motion in the same way that typically developing children…

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in landing performance during fatigue that could result in increased stress fracture injury risk. Five participants performed nonfatigued and fatigued drop landings (0.60 m), while ground reaction force (GRF), electromyographic (EMG) activity, and kinematics were recorded. Fatigue was defined as a…

This article describes the use of touch as a strategy to teach children with multiple handicaps. Touch cues help children to anticipate events and to interpret information from the environment. Caregivers should first observe the child's existing repertoire of movements, and then create touch cues that build upon the child's preferred…

This document presents activities in the physical sciences. Activities are grouped in the following chapters: (1) "Science and Measurement"; (2) "Measurement Units"; (3) "Introduction to Chemistry"; (4) "The Periodic Table"; (5) "What is Inside an Atom?"; (6) "Bonding"; (7) "Formulas and Equations"; (8) "The Bursting Atom"; (9) "Relationships…