Das asymptotische Verhalten der Grundzustandsenergie des Muellerfunktionals fuer schwere Atome

The ground state energy of the Mueller functional of large (neutral) atoms of atomic number Z agrees with the quantum mechanical ground state energy up to order o(Z to the 5/3). ----- Die Grundzustandsenergie des Muellerfunktionals von grossen (neutralen) Atomen der Ordnungszahl Z stimmt mit der quantenmechanischen Grundzustandsenergie bis zur Ordnung o(Z hoch 5/3) ueberein.Comment: 10 pages, in Germa

Skills, strategies, sport and social responsibility : reconnecting physical education

Physical education is one of the more difficult subjects in the curriculum for generalist classroom teachers in primary schools to incorporate confidently into their teaching. In many primary schools, the generalist classroom teacher defers to a physical education specialist. This situation has both positive and negative features. In this context, this study brings together several prominent models of physical education teaching in an approach that enables the curriculum to be encountered through the interests of the children. This approach offers a generalist teacher, through appropriate professional development, a means for delivering a high-quality physical education programme, and also complements the repertoire of the specialist physical education teacher at both primary and secondary school levels.<br /

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

The microstructure of coaching practice:Behaviours and activities of an elite rugby union head coach during preparation and competition

The activities and behaviours of a female head coach of a national rugby union team were recorded in both training and competition, across a whole rugby season, using the newly developed Rugby Coach Activities and Behaviours Instrument (RCABI). The instrument incorporates 24 categories of behaviour, embedded within three forms of activity (training form, playing form and competitive match) and seven sub-activity types. In contrast to traditional drill-based coaching, 58.5% of training time was found to have been spent in playing form activities. Moreover, the proportion of playing form activities increased to a peak average of 83.8% in proximity to the team’s annual international championship. Uniquely, one of the coach’s most prolific behaviours was conferring with associates (23.3%), highlighting the importance of interactions with assistant coaches, medical staff and others in shaping the coaching process. Additionally, the frequencies of key behaviours such as questioning and praise were found to vary between the different activity forms and types, raising questions about previous conceptions of effective coaching practice. The findings are discussed in the light of the Game Sense philosophy and the role of the head coach

Guided play and free play in an enriched environment: impact on motor development

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of guided play and free play in an enriched environment intervention programs using motor skill development in kindergarten children. Seventy-one children attending kindergarten classes were assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Participants performed the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 before and after the intervention period. Results revealed that both boys and girls in the guided play group showed motor skill improvement, whereas no changes were observed in motor development in the boys and girls assigned to the free play in enriched environment group, nor in those in the control group. These findings indicate that the teacher’s role in the guided play intervention was crucial to help preschool children to improve their performance.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, UM (FCT R&D 317

Primary teachers as physical education curriculum change agents

There has been some exploration of the conceptualisation of teachers as change agents within educational change literature. While this body of work does consider how teachers understand, harness and influence the process of curriculum change, within the policy rhetoric and educational change literature there is limited reference made to how the change agent role is translated into practice. To illustrate the complex nature of the change process this paper explores the experiences of generalist primary teachers at the ‘chalk face’ as they initiate physical education curriculum change within their school contexts. This paper reports on the findings of a study investigating how five Scottish primary teachers with a postgraduate qualification in primary physical education construed and took forward curriculum change. A qualitative and interpretivist approach to the research was taken to analyse how the knowledge and skills the teachers gained from the professional development they had undertaken contributed to their agency to initiate curriculum change within their school contexts. Drawing on the work of Fullan, the concept of change agentry is used to analyse the experiences of the individual teachers as they exercised their agency to enact curriculum change. The paper concludes by reflecting on the findings of the study to suggest factors that may support and constrain teachers acting as change agents