This column is a collaborative effort by library media specialists and K-16 educators who write about the motivational strategies that have worked for them in teaching IL skills. Motivational strategies include ways to gain and sustain attention, increase relevance for learning information literacy skills, build confidence in students' developing…

In recent years, a discourse is emerging in education that emphasises the study of the impact of in-service teacher education on student outcomes (more often than not student outcomes are seen in the form of test scores of academic achievement). Implicit in this discourse is the view that the impact of in-service teacher education is directly…

Relatively little work has been carried out upon the effect of educational environment upon the sporting involvement of children with disabilities. This paper is concerned with the educational experiences of a group of athletes who competed in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. It highlights the major influence that the impact of the educational…

A physically active lifestyle can be empowering for young women in allowing them to resist many of the dominant and limiting discourses around femininity and gender. In finding pleasure in their physical state a positive sense of self is embodied and long-term engagement in a physical culture can be fostered. However, research repeatedly cites…

A global recognition of students' rights requires school organizations to recognize, value and provide for diversity. The move towards more inclusive schooling in Queensland, Australia, requires schools to address professional development on two levels: reculturing of the school to reflect inclusive beliefs and values; and enhancement of teacher…

This paper brings a speculative, sociological perspective to the nature of "ability" in physical education (PE) and asks why this aspect of embodiment, with notable exceptions, has received so little critical attention in the professional discourse of PE and associated research in recent years. It is suggested that thinking about…

Objective: To test for gene-environment interaction with depressive symptoms and family conflict. Specifically, to first examine whether the influence of family conflict in predicting depressive symptoms is increased in individuals at genetic risk of depression. Second, to test whether the genetic component of variance in depressive symptoms…

Background: Research suggests that children exposed to parental drinking problems are at risk for maladjustment. However, the potential impact of drinking problems in a community sample and the processes involved in the relationship between parental drinking and child outcomes have rarely been examined. Method: A community sample of 235 mothers…

Background: Although delineating the processes by which children appraise the family as a source of security from their collective experiences in the family subsystem has assumed center stage in many conceptualizations of child development, the dearth of measures of child adaptation in the family system has hindered empirical advances. Therefore,…

Background: Some research findings have suggested that group day-care may be associated with an increased risk for physical aggression. Methods: Cross-sectional maternal questionnaire data from a representative sample of 3431 Canadian 2- to 3-year-olds were used to compare rates of physical aggression shown by children looked after by their own…

This study compared survey responses of teachers from a reform-based programme focused on promoting inclusion-based classrooms, namely Project WINS (Winning Ideas Network for Schools) schools, with teachers from non-Project WINS schools with regard to their attitude about inclusion in the classroom. Surprisingly, the results of this study revealed…

The purpose of this study was to describe the practice motivation and regulation of sixth-grade instrumentalists (11-12 years of age). A sample of 224 US band and orchestra students, representing 85 elementary schools, completed a 36-item practice inventory and produced two narratives depicting a typical practice session and a practice episode…

This article reports the validity and use of a new form of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES). As part of a larger study, a comparative student version (CLES-CS) was developed to evaluate the impact of an innovative teacher development program (based on the Integrated Science Learning Environment, ISLE, model) in school…

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a blood disorder; however, the central nervous system (CNS) is one of the organs frequently affected by the disease. Brain disease can begin early in life and often leads to neurocognitive dysfunction. Approximately one-fourth to one-third of children with SCD have some form of CNS effects from the disease, which…

As policymakers and education leaders around the country make plans to meet the ambitious goals in the federal No Child Left Behind Act, they would be well advised to take a close look at the distribution of teacher talent. In fact, the act requires exactly that. State and local education leaders must now publicly report data on the number of poor…