Normal School Day Research Articles

Stress situation reveals an association between perfectionism and drive for thinness.

Several theorists have hypothesized that stress situations may trigger abnormal eating and even eating disorders in individuals with a perfectionistic personality. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a stress situation would reveal an association between perfectionism and measures of eating disorders among female high school students. A sample of 42 female high school students completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and the Eating Disorder Inventory three times: on an average school day, on the day of an examination, and on the day they received the evaluation of the examination. Linear regression analysis was calculated to verify whether the dimensions of perfectionism were associated with the measures of eating disorders. Body Dissatisfaction was associated with perfectionism on all the three occasions, whereas Drive for Thinness was associated with perfectionism only on the day the students received the results of the examination. The results suggest that among nonclinical female individuals, stress may make significant a previously absent association between perfectionism and an actual desire or plan to lose weight. Such a finding suggests that stress may stimulate behaviors related to eating disorders in individuals with a perfectionistic personality.

Television Viewing and its Associations with Overweight, Sedentary Lifestyle, and Insufficient Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables Among US High School Students: Differences by Race, Ethnicity, and Gender

Television (TV) viewing has been associated with overweight, decreased physical activity, and unhealthy dietary behavior among children and adolescents, and may represent a modifiable cause of childhood obesity. This study examined race, ethnic, and gender-specific differences in these associations among high school students in the United States. The study analyzed data from the 1999 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a representative sample (N = 15,349) of US high school students. Logistic regression tested for significant associations. TV viewing on an average school day exceeded 2 hours/day among 43% of students; it was greater among Black (74%) and Hispanic (52%) than White (34%) students. Overall, 11% of students were overweight, 31% of students were sedentary (i.e., did not participate in moderate or vigorous physical activity at recommended levels), and 76% ate less than five servings/day of fruits and vegetables. Watching TV more than 2 hours/day was associated with being overweight, being sedentary, and eating insufficient fruits and vegetables among White females, and with being overweight among Hispanic females. No significant associations were found among Black females. TV viewing was associated with being overweight and eating insufficient fruits and vegetables among White males. No significant associations were found among Hispanic males. Among Black males, TV viewing was associated with greater participation in physical activity. These findings suggest the presence of cultural factors to consider when developing interventions to promote physical activity, healthy eating, and healthy weight through reduced TV viewing among adolescents.

A Taxonomy of Student Engagement with Educational Software: An Exploration of Literate Thinking with Electronic Text

Readers of the information age increasingly resort to “texts” that are stored, organized, and accessed electronically and rely on symbol systems other than alphanumeric. In schools, multimedia software and hypertexts are increasingly common documents from which students learn. This study sought to document instances of “high” literacy, literate thinking, among elementary school students as they worked with common computer software in the course of their normal school day. Seven distinct forms of engagement emerged to categorize students' work, and these were arranged in order of complexity: disengagement, unsystematic engagement, frustrated engagement, structure-dependent engagement, self-regulated interest, critical engagement, and literate thinking. The taxonomy of student engagement is described with examples. It clarifies other researchers' conceptualizations of high literacy and engagement and integrates them with notions of intrinsic motivation, volition, and self-regulated learning. It also implies new ways for teachers to assess and scaffold student-software interactions to optimize student learning with electronic texts.

TEACHING NOTES

The text of the article is available in the PDF.

Physical Activity and Television Viewing Linked to Body Mass Index among Philippine High School Students: Signaling of an Emerging Epidemic of Obesity?

The major purpose of this study was to determine whether body mass index (BMI) was associated with reports of vigorous physical activity and television viewing among a sample of more than 3,000 Philippine high school students. In addition, the International Task Force on Obesity's new cutoff points to these adolescents' self-reports were applied to calculations of BMI based on self-reported height and weight in order to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among this sample of Filipino adolescents. Results showed that Filipino boys and girls who were the most frequent participants in vigorous physical activity (3 or more times a week) had significantly lower BMI when compared to those who were physically active less frequently. Conversely, Filipino boys and girls who viewed five or more hours of television during an average school day had significantly higher BMI than those who watched less television. The percentage of Philippine students in this study above the international cut offs for overweight (6.5 percent of boys and 5.7 percent of girls) and obesity (1.6 percent of boys and 1.8 percent of girls) was considerably lower than what has been found in studies of youth in developed Western nations. However, the adopting of Western lifestyle habits, including increased recreational inactivity (e.g., television viewing, video games, and surfing the Internet) and decreased participation in vigorous physical activity, could signal an emerging epidemic in this developing nation.

The Demands of Supply: a cost-benefit analysis of term-time in-service training for teachers

During the teachers' pay dispute in 1984-86, the loss of teaching time was sufficient to cause a national scandal. Eight years on, almost twice the amount of teacher – pupil contact time is being lost annually due to in-service teacher training being carried out during term-time. This article discusses the results of a recent investigation into the character, quality, extent, and relative costs and benefits of term-time in-service training in a sample of schools. Recommendations are then made to enhance effectiveness and minimise the disruption of teaching and learning caused by teachers' undertaking training and development activities during the normal school day

Constructing meaning via reciprocal teaching

Previous research on reciprocal teaching (RT) focused on the successful acquisition of the four RT strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, summarizing, and was conducted in highly controlled settings at a time when teachers were viewed as disseminators of information. Our research on RT involved fifth grade teachers who had exposure to constructivist thinking, and it was conducted as part of the normal school day. We documented the extent to which RT was modeled in the science classroom and the influence modeling had on student RT dialogues and comprehension of expository text. Results indicate that when teachers consistently and clearly modeled all four RT strategies, provided examples of meaningful dialogues, offered guided practice, and gave praise and feedback, student dialogues mirrored that of their teachers. This ultimately led to their comprehension monitoring as well as gaining deeper insight into text concepts. In addition, both experimenter designed and standardized assessments indicated high degrees of comprehension and student success at constructing meaning.

Physiological, Behavioral, and Psychological Effects Associated with Television Viewing in Schoolboys: An Exploratory Study

This study of 50 eleven-year-old boys demonstrates a new procedure for gathering physiological, psychological, and behavioral data on television viewing in the home environment on a normal school day, using a special ambulatory monitoring device capable of storing 23-hour records. The mean time spent watching TV was 123 minutes per day, during which the boys watched mostly entertainment and action shows. Heart rate as compared to the other programs was low for entertainment and high for action shows. Additional heart rate indicating emotional arousal was highest for action shows as well. Compared to school and leisure time, additional heart rate during TV viewing was much higher As opposed to boys who watched little TV, those with high TV consumption displayed lower heart rate and lower emotional arousal during TV viewing. Boys with high TV consumption read fewer books, showed diminished activities outside home, a tendency for reduced school-related homework, and reduced interest in hobbies.

Physical Activity in Prepubescent Children: Relationship with Residential Altitude and Socioeconomic Status

The main purpose of this study was to measure physical activity of 10- to 12-year-old prepubescent boys and girls living in Bolivia at low altitude (400 m above sea level) and at high altitude (4,000 m) with either a low socioeconomic status (LSES) or a high socioeconomic status (HSES). Habitual physical activity was measured by 24-hour heart rate (HR) monitoring during a normal school day. The mean HR is expressed as a percentage of heart rate reserve (HRR%) and the time spent at 50–85% HRR. Analysis by ANOVA showed no significant effects (p > .05) in HRR%. However, the boys spent significantly (p < .05) more time at 50–85% HRR (M = 51 min) than did girls (M = 34 min), and LSES children significantly (p < .01) more (M = 51 min) than HSES children (M = 32 min). There was also a significant interaction between SES and gender, indicating that the difference between boys and girls was significantly (p < .05) greater in LSES than in HSES, and the difference between LSES and HSES children was significantly (p < .05) greater in boys than in girls.

Social-Cognitive Origins of Chronic Stress in Adolescents: Recent Findings from School-Based Studies of Urban Youth

Abstract Chronic emotional distress in childhood and adolescence may increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. Yet the early origins of chronic distress are poorly understood Social-cognitive theory attributes recurring emotional arousal to problematic interpersonal strivings and expectations engendered by faulty social “schemata”—or “working models”—of interpersonal relationships. Evidence supporting this possibility is found in recent studies of social information-processing, emotion, and blood pressure in black and white urban adolescents at increased risk of developing essential hypertension. This article summarizes results of a series of investigations that examined the relationships between high-risk adolescents' interpersonal strivings, social expectations, emotional distress, blood pressure responses to various stressors, and elevations in blood pressure during a normal school day. Results support the hypothesis that cognitive expectancies and goals for interpersonal re...

The Physical Activity of Singapore Primary School Children as Estimated by Heart Rate Monitoring

Physical activity patterns of Singapore school children aged 9–10 years were assessed by continuous heart rate monitoring. Fifty boys and 64 girls were monitored for three 14-hour periods during normal school days. In addition, 43 boys and 53 girls were monitored for 14 hours on a Saturday. Only 13 children (11.4%) experienced a daily 10-min period of continuous activity at a heart rate ≥140 bpm. Twenty percent of the boys and more than 50% of the girls never achieved a single 10-minute period ≥140 bpm. Boys achieved more periods of moderately intense activity (p < .01) than girls on weekdays. Lean girls were more active (p < .05) than the obese girls during weekdays. No differences were detected between activity levels on weekdays or on Saturday. The results indicate that Singapore school children in general rarely experience the quantity or quality of physical activity needed for maintenance and development of cardiovascular health and cardiopulmonary fitness.

One Point of View: Integrating Assessment and Instruction? The Tip of the Iceberg!

Walk into any classroom in America. You'll probably see a teacher who is asking students questions, spending more time with someone or on something than originally planned, and adjusting his or her actions to take advantage of a “teachable” moment. You'll see students writing notes on scratch paper, asking a question of a peer or the teacher, volunteering an answer. or shrinking from sight in the hope they won't be called on. These action, and the hundreds more that occur during the course of a normal school day, are generally the results or students' making personal judgments about their own levels of understanding and teachers' making professional judgments about how and what students are learning. These judgments are, perhaps, the most powerful forces shaping what happens in the classroom. These judgments are assessments, and they've been an integral part of the instructional process ince the first piece of chalk slid over the first slateboard. The challenge to integrate assessment with instruction, then, really isn't new. It's already happening, and it's been happening extraordinarily well for hundreds of years.

Kindergarten curriculum: enrichment and improvishment

‘Kindergarten Enrichment’ is a relatively new type of early childhood service in the United States, that aims to provide curriculum enrichment for 5‐6 years olds and at the same time, extends the half‐day kindergarten program into a normal school day length. At least in relatively affluent neighbourhoods such as the one studied in this project, ‘kindergarten enrichment’ programs might be seen as a ‘win‐win‐win’ arrangement. However, there are interesting questions in the relationship between the ‘basic’ kindergarten curriculum and the ‘enrichment1 component. As these questions are explored, the evolution of the kindergarten curriculum is traced and the contextual features that have shaped the academic curriculum approach currently favoured, are examined. It is concluded that whilst kindergarten enrichment programs may be an unlikely receptacle for the wisdom of child‐responsive curriculum practice, the presence on school campuses of a child‐centered program may be a useful way to re‐enrich the regular kin...

The Allocation of Non‐contact Time to Deputy Headteachers in Primary Schools

Abstract The role of the deputy headteacher is becoming increasingly complex and demanding. This study surveyed all the deputy headteachers in North Kent to ascertain how much non‐contact time they were allocated during the normal school day to carry out their increased managerial responsibilities. It concludes that at present the amount of non‐contact time they receive is totally inadequate.

The Social Cognition of Gifted Adolescents in Schools: Managing the Stigma of Giftedness

A study of the effects of schooling on the social cognition of gifted adolescents is reported. A student attitude questionnaire (SAQ) exploring the cognitive behavioral strategies utilized to manage the stigma of giftedness was developed after conducting phenomenological interviews of fifteen gifted adolescents attending the Tennessee Governor's Schools (Coleman et & Cross, 1988). The questionnaire asked subjects to respond to six scenarios described as potentially stigmatizing events during the normal school day. Five common strategies noted during the interviews were provided as options in each of the scenarios. The data reported herein are based on the responses of 1,465 students over a two-year period. The patterns of responses suggested that gifted adolescents utilize the five strategies to differing degrees across situations. Situations most closely associated with test performance seemed to elicit the greatest variation in coping strategies, while those primarily reflecting social situations showed a consistently narrow range of strategies. The “placate” coping strategy was the most frequently used across the school-based scenarios.

Physical activity patterns defined by continuous heart rate monitoring.

To investigate the physical activity patterns of British primary schoolchildren (mean (SD) 10.7 (0.3) years) the minute by minute heart rates of 67 boys and 65 girls were monitored continuously for three 12 hour periods during normal schooldays. In addition 39 children had their heart rates monitored during a 12 hour period on a Saturday. Few children experienced the volume (frequency, intensity, and duration) of physical activity associated with an improvement in cardiopulmonary fitness. Shorter (five minute) periods of the required intensity were, however, quite common. No difference between moderate amounts of activity was detected between boys and girls, but the boys had more five minute sessions of intense activity than the girls. These findings suggest that more research into the effects of short periods of intense physical activity on the cardiopulmonary systems of young children is required and that the determinants of habitual physical activity require further investigation especially in the context of sex differences at such an early age.

Peak Oxygen Uptake and Physical Activity in 11- to 16-Year-Olds.

The present study examined the relationship between peak V̇O₂ and habitual physical activity in 11- to 16-year-old students. The peak V̇O₂ of 111 girls and 85 boys was determined using treadmill or cycle ergometry. Habitual physical activity was estimated from minute-by-minute heart rate monitoring over three 12-hr periods during normal school days. Over half of the girls and one third of the boys failed to sustain a single 10-min period with their heart rate at or above 140 bpm. Only one boy sustained a daily 20-minute period with a heart rate at or above 160 bpm. During Saturday monitoring over 90% of the girls and 75% of the boys failed to sustain a single 10-min period with their heart rate at or above 140 bpm, and only one girl and four boys sustained a 20-min period with their heart rate at or above 160 bpm. No significant relationship was detected between peak V̇O₂ and heart rate indicators of habitual physical activity. This study suggests that few children have periods of physical activity of sufficient intensity and duration to stress the cardiopulmonary system.

What Do Primary School Heads Actually Do All Day?

As a practicing headteacher myself, there were considerable limitations on the amount of time I could spend with other heads during the normal school day. Consequently, in this study I had to rely on various "second order" accounts of what heads did as well as the pressures they were sometimes exposed to.

Physical complaints, anxiety, and its body outcomes: A psychophysiological field study

The relationship between the subjective experience of physical complaints and anxiety and physiological measurements was investigated in a psychophysiological field study. Dependent physiological variables were heart rate and electromyogram (EMG). Of 178 adolescents two extreme groups, each equal in age and sex, were assigned: one group (N=9) characterized by high scores in anxiety and physical complaints, and the other group (N=9) by low scores in these factors. The assertion was that particularly strong psychophysiological reactions would be found to be dependent on individual psychological dispositions. All adolescents were measured with a portable psychophysiological recording device during a normal school day of 7 hr. In the physiological measurements, the two groups differed from each other in that the adolescents reporting many physical complaints and having a high score in anxiety showed an overall higher EMG and an overall lower heart rate (not significant) during the course of the day. This pattern could be reproduced after 2 months. The physiological data appear to be rather stable. The high-scoring group's reactions were more inflexible in relation to the physiological measurements, and they showed a tendency to respond in the same way to different situations, while the other group reacted more flexibly to situational demands.

Behavioral Correlates of Excreted Catecholamines and Cortisol in Second‐Grade Children

Second-grade children were observed in classrooms on normal school days and on test days from 9:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. Levels of excreted cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine were determined for the same time periods. Comparison of excreted hormones on normal days and test days indicated that on test days the group mean cortisol excretion rate was elevated over normal days while epinephrine and norepinephrine levels were depressed. Individual differences in excreted hormones were more significantly related to personality variables observed in the classroom then to the effects of academic stress. Cortisol and epinephrine levels correlated positively with social affiliative behavior. Epinephrine and “fidgeting” were inversely related. Norepinephrine levels correlated positively with aggressiveness and negatively with inattentiveness. Teachers' ratings tended to confirm the investigators' observations of children's behavioral traits. Multiple regression analysis of psychological assessments and catecholamine determinations are presented.