Action research in physical education: focusing beyond myself through cooperative learning

This paper reports on the pedagogical changes that I experienced as a teacher engaged in an action research project in which I designed and implemented an indirect, developmentally appropriate and child‐centred approach to my teaching. There have been repeated calls to expunge – or at least rationalise – the use of traditional, teacher‐led practice in physical education. Yet despite the advocacy of many leading academics there is little evidence that such a change of approach is occurring. In my role as teacher‐as‐researcher I sought to implement a new pedagogical approach, in the form of cooperative learning, and bring about a positive change in the form of enhanced pupil learning. Data collection included a reflective journal, post‐teaching reflective analysis, pupil questionnaires, student interviews, document analysis, and non‐participant observations. The research team analysed the data using inductive analysis and constant comparison. Six themes emerged from the data: teaching and learning, reflections on cooperation, performance, time, teacher change, and social interaction. The paper argues that cooperative learning allowed me to place social and academic learning goals on an even footing, which in turn placed a focus on pupils’ understanding and improvement of skills in athletics alongside their interpersonal development

Comparação de métodos alternativos para estimar a produção de leite de vacas da raça Gir Comparison of alternative methods to estimate the milk yield of cows from Gyr breed

O objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar métodos alternativos para estimar a produção de leite de vacas da raça Gir. Um total de 3632 lactações de vacas da raça Gir, no período de 1986 a 1996, foi analisado. Os métodos foram: A - controle na ordenha da manhã realizado nos meses ímpares e o da ordenha da tarde nos meses pares - a produção da ordenha da manhã foi multiplicada pelo fator multiplicativo da manhã (FM), e a da tarde pelo fator multiplicativo da tarde (FT), B e D - controle realizado na ordenha da manhã (em B a produção da manhã foi multiplicada pelo FM e em D produção foi duplicada); C e E - controle realizado na ordenha da tarde (em C produção da tarde foi multiplicada pelo FT e em E foi duplicada). Todos os métodos foram comparados com a produção real (R). O método A mostrou-se mais preciso, sendo a precisão do método C intermediária entre os métodos B e D. Correlações de Pearson entre as produções estimadas pelos diferentes métodos e R, pela produção até 305 dias e pela produção total foram, respectivamente, 0,98; 0,95; e 0,96 para A, 0,97; 0,93; e 0,95 para B, 0,93; 0,90; e 0,89 para C, 0,97; 0,94; e 0,95 para D e 0,93; 0,89; e 0,89 para E. O método A mostrou-se o mais viável para estimar a produção de leite no dia do controle leiteiro, por sua praticidade e precisão, enquanto os metodos C e E foram os piores entre os metodos de controle avaliados.<br>The objective of this work was to compare the alternative methods to estimate the milk yield of cows from Gyr breed. A total of 3,632 lactations from of Gyr breed cows, from 1986 to 1996, were analyzed. The methods were: A - the morning milking control was performed in the odd months and the afternoon milking control in the even months - the yield of the morning milking control was multiplied by the multiplicative factor of the morning (MF) and that of evening by the multiplicative factor of the afternoon (AF), B and D - the control was performed in the morning milking (in B, the yield of the morning milking was multiplied by the MF and in D the yield was multiplied by two); C and E - the control was performed in the evening milking (the yield of the afternoon milking was multiplied by the AF and in E it was multiplied by two). All methods were compared with the actual production (R). The method A showed the most precise, being the precision of method C intermediate between the B and D methods. The Pearson correlation among the estimate yields by the different methods and R, by the production at the 305 days and total production, were, respectively, .98,.95, and .96 for A, .97, .93, and .95 for B, .93, .90, and .89 for C, .97, .94, and .95 for D and .93, .89, .98 for E method. The method A showed the most viable to estimate the milk production in the day of milk production control by its practicability and precision, while the C and E methods were the worst among the evaluated milk control methods