Teachers’ Stories of Experience Guide Collaboration in Teacher Education

The development and implementation of a program for the education of new teachers begins with teachers based in schools and teachers based in a university enquiring together into the knowledge that guides their work in education. This collaborative work requires a shift in the traditional roles and responsibilities of school- and university-based teachers. According to teachers’ recountings, five educational domains inform their professional decisions; these domains constitute the scaffolding on which the program is built. Collaboration can be characterized as ongoing and reflective processes that support participants in increased self-knowledge, and in increased knowledge of others’ perspec- tives and understandings. This provides the basis for the negotiation of new meaning. The weave of theory and practice challenges and deepens all participants’ knowledge, and increases the possibility of agreeing about what counts, in the beginning, for student teachers. L’élaboration et la mise en oeuvre d’un programme de formation des maîtres commencent lorsque les enseignants dans les écoles et les professeurs à l’université se penchent ensem- ble sur les connaissances qui orientent leur travail en éducation. Cette collaboration exige une transformation des rôles et des responsabilités traditionnellement dévolus aux ensei- gnants dans les écoles et aux professeurs dans les universités. Lorsque des enseignants racontent leurs expériences en matière de prise de décisions professionnelles, cinq facettes émergent; celles-ci constituent en quelque sorte l’échafaudage sur lequel repose le pro- gramme. La collaboration revêt la forme de processus de réflexion constants grâce aux- quels les participants parviennent à une meilleure connaissance d’eux-mêmes et des points de vue des autres. C’est sur cette base que se négocient les orientations nouvelles. Les relations intrinsèques entre la théorie et la pratique stimulent les participants, leur permettent d’approfondir leurs connaissances et améliorent les possibilités d’en venir à une entente sur ce qui, au début, compte pour les étudiants-maîtres.

The Influence of Physical Activity on Psychological Well-Being Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults

Emerging literature has emphasized the importance of considering psychological factors and individual characteristics that result in both positive and negative outcomes over the course of development. One relatively promising promotive factor for psychological well-being during adolescence and emerging adulthood is engagement in physical activity. Although some evidence exists for a link between physical activity and psychological well-being across development, little is known about the mechanisms through which physical activity leads to positive mental outcomes. Using multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) with latent variables, the current study explored direct and indirect pathways through which physical activity leads to lower levels of depressive symptoms and greater levels of subjective happiness in a cross-sectional community sample of male and female high school and university students. Self-efficacy, perceived social support, and emotion regulation were explored as possible mediating factors in the model. Physical activity had a direct, positive association with subjective happiness, and a direct, negative association with depressed mood in both the adolescent and emerging adult (EA) samples. For adolescents, emotional and social self-efficacy served as indirect pathways for the association between physical activity and psychological well-being. For EAs, there were significant indirect pathways from physical activity to psychological well-being via emotional self-efficacy and family support. Several gender and developmental differences were noted for the psychosocial constructs and the hypothesized pathways. The results suggest that there may be several factors involved in explaining the improved psychosocial well-being associated with physical activity. The study findings are of relevance to researchers, clinicians, educators, and policy-makers, with important implications for informing school-based mental health promotion and intervention programs for youth

Non-monotonic density dependence of the diffusion of DNA fragments in low-salt suspensions

The high linear charge density of 20-base-pair oligomers of DNA is shown to lead to a striking non-monotonic dependence of the long-time self-diffusion on the concentration of the DNA in low-salt conditions. This generic non-monotonic behavior results from both the strong coupling between the electrostatic and solvent-mediated hydrodynamic interactions, and from the renormalization of these electrostatic interactions at large separations, and specifically from the dominance of the far-field hydrodynamic interactions caused by the strong repulsion between the DNA fragments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Physical Review E, accepted on November 24, 200