Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Physical assessment skills'

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a psychometric instrument called the Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool (OMSAT), which attempted to determine the relative importance of mental skills required to achieve levels of excellence in sport performance. A review of the literature of sport psychology experts Anshel, (1987); Mahoney, (1989); Mahoney, Gabriel & Perkins, (1987); Orlick (1980, 1986, 1992); Seiler, (1992) and Vealey, (1988) was completed and served as the basis for the creation of the OMSAT questionnaire. The questionnaire was initially comprised of 14 scales including a total of 113 questions. The 14 scales were further divided into five major areas: (1) Foundation Skills (commitment, belief); (2) Affective Skills (stress reactions, fear, relaxing, energizing); (3) Cognitive Skills (goal-setting, imagery, mental practice, focus, refocus); (4) Competition Skills (simulation, competition planning); and (5) Team dynamics. The OMSAT questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 486 subjects who were divided into three groups based on their gender, sport discipline and athletic level of achievement. Following statistical analyses (i.e., internal consistency, frequency item distribution) of every question, a new condensed version of the OMSAT was formulated. This new version was comprised of 71 questions within 12 scales. Results of the condensed version of the OMSAT demonstrated high levels of internal consistency (alpha levels above.78), and acceptable levels of test-retest reliability (r levels above.63). Mean score differences indicated that elite athletes scored higher than competitive athletes, who in turn, scored higher than recreational athletes in nearly all of the OMSAT scales. Overall, the OMSAT appears to provide a potentially useful assessment and diagnostic tool for both understanding, and potentially, counselling athletes of different ability levels.

The Ottawa Mental Skills Assessment Tool (OMSAT) was devised by Salmela and colleagues (1992) to measure a broad range of athletes' mental skills. Bota (1993) empirically tested the first and second versions of the OMSAT and recommended that the instrument be further revised. The purposes of this study were to create an enhanced version of the OMSAT (OMSAT-3), assess its psychometric properties, and determine the relative importance of each mental skill presented in the inventory. The OMSAT-3 was comprised of 85 questions, six of which measured social desirability, and 12 mental skills scales that were regrouped under the following three broader conceptual components: foundations skills, affective skills, and cognitive skills. It was administered to 462 individuals, however only 335 athletes' (175 males and 160 females) scores were included in the analysis. Subjects came from various sports, with hockey, soccer, water polo, basketball, swimming, and baseball being the most predominant ones. Results demonstrated that the scales had acceptable internal consistency, the mean alpha score being.80. Because of the behaviourally-related, situation-dependent nature of the inventory, most of the OMSAT-3 scales did not yield good test-retest reliability estimates. In terms of validity, the OMSAT-3 was found to significantly discriminate between competitive and elite level athletes. The best discriminating scales were Commitment, Stress Control, and Refocusing. When asked to list mental components that were most important and/or useful to their performance, athletes rated "belief/self-confidence" as being the most important one. Draper, Salmela, and Durand-Bush (1995) conducted a confirmatory factor analysis on the second version of the OMSAT and found that the proposed factor model fit the data well. Future researchers need to conduct the same type of analysis with the OMSAT-3 to determine the adequacy of its factor structure.

A sample of 22 registered nurses participated in an educational program to learn comprehensive physical assessment skills. This study investigated the effects of that program on their nursing practice. Administration of tests and questionnaires provided a measure of the: (a) use of physical assessment skills; (b) knowledge of physical assessment; (c) changes in nursing practice since learning the skills; (d) barriers to the use of the skills. The model used for the program's curriculum development was adult learning theory. The curriculum focused on this theory's key aspects. Namely, adult students build new skills on their past knowledge and already developed skills. Additionally, they must see the relevance of learning the skills and be able to apply them in their current life situation. The findings suggest this model was appropriate. The nurses in the study used the majority of learned skills after they completed the program. Their knowledge concerning these skills also showed dramatic improvement. The major findings regarding the increase in knowledge and use of physical assessment skills, positive changes in nursing practice and lack of barriers to the use of skills indicate that an educational program in physical assessment can be very beneficial to nurses. The results support those of previous studies in that nurses will use the physical assessment skills they have learned in continuing education programs. The implications for nursing practice and education were discussed. Suggestions were then made for future research in this area.

Despite widespread recognition by science educators, researchers and K-12 frameworks that scientific inquiry should be an essential part of science education, typical classrooms and assessments still emphasize rote vocabulary, facts, and formulas. One of several reasons for this is that the rigorous assessment of complex inquiry skills is still in its infancy. Though progress has been made, there are still many challenges that hinder inquiry from being assessed in a meaningful, scalable, reliable and timely manner. To address some of these challenges and to realize the possibility of formative assessment of inquiry, we describe a novel approach for evaluating, tracking, and scaffolding inquiry process skills. These skills are demonstrated as students experiment with computer-based simulations. In this work, we focus on two skills related to data collection, designing controlled experiments and testing stated hypotheses. Central to this approach is the use and extension of techniques developed in the Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Educational Data Mining communities to handle the variety of ways in which students can demonstrate skills. To evaluate students' skills, we iteratively developed data-mined models (detectors) that can discern when students test their articulated hypotheses and design controlled experiments. To aggregate and track students' developing latent skill across activities, we use and extend the Bayesian Knowledge-Tracing framework (Corbett & Anderson, 1995). As part of this work, we directly address the scalability and reliability of these models' predictions because we tested how well they predict for student data not used to build them. When doing so, we found that these models demonstrate the potential to scale because they can correctly evaluate and track students' inquiry skills. The ability to evaluate students' inquiry also enables the system to provide automated, individualized feedback to students as they experiment. As part of this work, we also describe an approach to provide such scaffolding to students. We also tested the efficacy of these scaffolds by conducting a study to determine how scaffolding impacts acquisition and transfer of skill across science topics. When doing so, we found that students who received scaffolding versus students who did not were better able to acquire skills in the topic in which they practiced, and also transfer skills to a second topic when was scaffolding removed. Our overall findings suggest that computer-based simulations augmented with real-time feedback can be used to reliably measure the inquiry skills of interest and can help students learn how to demonstrate these skills. As such, our assessment approach and system as a whole shows promise as a way to formatively assess students' inquiry.

The purposes of this study were to (1) examine the effects of criterion-referenced (i.e., Programmed Practice Sheet or PPS) and norm-referenced (i.e., standardized) skill assessments on the situational motivation of junior high school physical education students (N = 507), (2) determine if student task and ego dispositions could be affected by the type of skill assessment administered, and (3) determine if having choices of skill level affects student situational motivation and perception of autonomy support. Student situational motivation, task and ego disposition, and sense of autonomy were assessed using the Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS), Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ), and the Self-Regulation Questionnaire-Autonomy (SRQ-A). Results revealed significant differences between the criterion-referenced/choice Group 4 and the norm-referenced/no choice Group 1 as follows: Group 4 (a) had a greater sense of identified regulation, (b) had a lesser sense of external control, and (c) was less amotivated than Group 1. Significant gender by group interactions were found, thus indicating that girls were more affected by test type than boys. Girls in Group 4 (a) felt a lesser sense of external regulation, (b) had a greater sense of identified regulation, and (c) were more intrinsically motivated than girls in Group 1. Also, girls in Group 4 (a) felt a greater sense of identified regulation and (b) were more intrinsically motivated than girls in the norm-referenced/choice Group 2. These findings provide some evidence that using criterion-referenced skill assessments, like the PPS, and offering choices of skill level may enhance student situational motivation during skill assessment. No significant differences were found in student task and ego disposition and perception of autonomy support.

Background: Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) describes children with a difficulty to acquire age-specific motor skills. Although there is a significant body of literature addressing developmental and cognitive issues in children with DCD, few studies have actually examined the associations between DCD, physical activity and physical fitness. Therefore, the aim of the present research work was to assess these associations in a series of four successive studies which were set: a) (study 1) to estimate DCD prevalence rates in Greek children and investigate whether these children exhibit different obesity and cardiorespiratory fitness levels than an overseas sample, b) (study 2) to provide evidence on the association between DCD and physical fitness levels, c) (study 3) examine whether a motor skills and exercise training intervention programme affects motor proficiency in a cohort of elementary school children with and without DCD, and d) (study 4) to test the hypothesis that DCD is associated with CVD risk, identify modes of physical activity that mediate such an association and to evaluate the CSAPPA scale as a potential tool for identifying Greek children for DCD. Methods: The total of 574 Greek (Age: 11.46 ± 1.54 years; BMI: 19.96 ± 3.53) children were assessed for anthropometry, physical fitness (flexibility, hand strength, leg explosive power, speed and cardiorespiratory fitness), motor competence (i.e., short form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Profiency- BOTMP-sf) and subjected to two self assessments for: i) perception of adequacy for physical activity (CSAPPA scale), and ii) children’s participation in physical activity (Participation Questionnaire - PQ). Results: Study 1: Greek children demonstrated significantly higher DCD prevalence rates (p<0.05), higher body fat (p<0.05) and were inferior in both cardiorespiratory fitness (p<0.05) and motor competence (p<0.05) compared to an overseas sample. Study 2: Greek children with DCD demonstrated significantly higher BMI values (p<0.01) and lower leg explosive power (p<0.01), speed (p<0.01) and hand strength (p<0.01) than those without DCD. Study 3: Results showed a significant main effect of time [F(14, 115) = 3.79, p< 0.001; η2 = 0.32] for motor competence (p<0.001) between children with and without DCD. Significant main effects of group (i.e intervention and control groups) [F(42, 351) = 4.01, p< 0.001; η2 = 0.33] were observed for BMI (p<0.01), motor competence (p<0.01), cardiorespiratory fitness (p<0.01), hand strength (p<0.05), leg explosive power (p<0.05), speed (p<0.01), and free time play activities (p<0.05). Study 4: Chi-square comparisons and ANOVA, revealed significantly increased body mass (p<0.05), BMI (p<0.05) and inactivity (p<0.05), as well as significantly decreased cardiorespiratory fitness (p<0.05), motor competence (p<0.05), CSAPPA indices, and participation in free play (p<0.05) in children with DCD. Furthermore, BMI and cardiorespiratory fitness were significantly associated with motor competence (p<0.05) with inactivity as the mediating factor (p<0.05). ROC curve analyses for CSAPPA indicated an optimal cut-off at 62 points. Conclusions: 1) the relatively high DCD and obesity prevalence rates together with the low cardiorespiratory fitness suggest greater health risk for Greek children with the studied condition, 2) children with DCD tend to perform worse in selected physical fitness parameters compared to their normal peers, 3) motor skills and exercise training interventions for children with DCD may improve health and skills related fitness, and 4) inactivity mediates the relationship between DCD and CVD risk in children with DCD. Finally, the CSAPPA scale may serve as a practical and a cost-effective proxy assessment for identifying Greek children with DCD, however as this is not a standardised test for use with children, its use should be treated with caution until further validation work.

The purpose of this research was to discover the extent to which practising registered nurses in the ACT undertake physical assessment. It was also organized to discover the perceived reasons why, in appropriate instances, it was not undertaken and the extent to which certain variables may have influenced its practice or non-practice. It was directed also at discovering the extent to which the practising registered nurse would be prepared to undertake workshops on the subject, so that, if appropriate, a core of registered nurses could be provided to act as the role-models and to create the necessary learning environment in the ACT hospitals and agencies where most of the Canberra College's graduates would find employment. Since the first undergraduate course in nursing was introduced in the tertiary sector, nurse academics have placed significant emphasis on the teaching of the nursing process. It is within the first phase of this process, the assessment phase, that the physical assessment of the patient/client is conducted. Discussions with practising registered nurses and observations, led to some uncertainty as to the extent to which physical assessment was actually being used. A review of the literature showed that no investigation of the matter had been reported in the Australian literature. It was, therefore, proposed to make good this deficiency and to resolve any uncertainty about the extent of use of physical assessment in the ACT. This study was restricted to registered nurses in the ACT where all beginning nurses are educated at the CCAE with a curriculum which includes a comprehensive study of physical assessment. Even so, it is recognized that such studies will only reach a beginning level of competency. In order to ensure that the graduates of these courses extend their competency in physical assessment they need to be able to use these skills in every day nursing practice. This research, therefore, was conducted using a questionnaire which incorporated questions about the use of 36 physical assessment skills. The survey, on a onetime participation basis, was conducted for all registered nurses rostered on a fortnightly period in April 1987. A 66.7% response rate was achieved. The responses were analyzed and the findings, results and recommendations are included in the appropriate sections of this thesis.

Increased levels of obesity, particularly among American youth, have consistently been cause for concern over the last few decades. Additionally, the amount of time youth spend being active throughout the day has consistently decreased. Physical activity levels among school-aged children in America are effected by any number of reasons, but this study points to the possibility of time spent being physically active during the school day having the greatest effect on a student’s overall level of physical activity. Increased pressures from different entities on local schools to improve student performance on standardized test scores have contributed to a decline in students’ time spent being active during the school day. The inverse relationship that exists between levels of obesity and amount of time spent being active is a call to action and cause for more research in this area if a solution is to be reached with the obesity epidemic in America. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of increased physical activity on the academic performance of elementary students in a rural, Central Kentucky community. Academic performance is an overarching term that encompasses academic achievement through standardized testing, academic behavior, and cognitive skills and abilities. Ninety students in 4th and 5th grade with an average age of 10 from one elementary school participated in the study. After obtaining parental consent and students’ verbal consent, students were divided into two intervention groups and one control group. Each intervention group received extra physical activity for three days a week for four weeks. Activity for students was measured with an EKHO MVPA accelerometer for the duration of each activity session during their respective intervention weeks. Standardized test scores were obtained through the school’s measure of academic progress (MAP) assessment. Student behavior was assessed through direct systematic observation and teacher-based questionnaires. Finally, the STROOP color word test was used to measure student’s cognitive processes and executive functioning skills. The results from the STROOP color word test provided evidence of a significant relationship between physical activity and cognitive skills (ttest1=2.63, p < .01, ttest2=7.14, p < .001). Additionally, the teacher-based questionnaire demonstrated a significantly positive relationship between physical activity and student behavior (t = -2.65, p < .01). Boys were significantly more active than girls (tfemale = -2.71, p < .01). There were also significant correlations between females and the teacher-based questionnaires, the white race and the STROOP color word test, and the white race and on-task behavior. No significant relationships were found between physical activity and overall academic performance or academic achievement.

Aim: To explore the use of medical physical assessment skills (PAS) by community nurse practitioners in primary care in the UK. Background: Physical assessment skills are commonly practiced by community nurse practitioners in primary care. These skills are used to support GPs to deliver a wide range of services in primary care. There is no evidence on how physical assessment skills are used by community nurse practitioners in primary care. Methods: A qualitative interpretative embedded case study design. Results: Participants reported that community nurse practitioners used medical PAS in integrated ways, by bringing together their clinical expertise, leadership, education and liaison skills to work across professional boundaries, to deliver a range of services. Specialist nurses caring for patient with one or more chronic long-term condition use these skills within the constructs of a person-centred framework, which is relationship focussed, holistic and collaborative. Nurse practitioners use physical assessment skills to work as generalists and make independent diagnostic decisions. Competence, capability and performance are necessary to make complex decisions. Failure of community nurse practitioners to take responsibility for assessment decisions creates inter-professional tensions and conflict. Conclusions: Medical physical assessment skills are successfully being used by community nurse practitioners to deliver a wide range of services in primary care. These skills improve competence, capability and performance for advanced nursing practice roles. Physical assessment skills education and training at universities needs to be validated by allied health professional bodies for advanced practice roles. Relevance to clinical practice: • Physical assessment education and training prepares nurses with higher levels of theoretical assessment knowledge and skills that are fit for purpose. • GPs believe that education and training of physical assessment skills are vital for nurses to manage the burden of assessment work in primary care. • Common sets of assessment practices between disciplines have better outcomes for patients • Registered nurses require a standard of competence which allows them to perform physical assessment skills to the same level as doctors. • Competence and performance are best achieved when working with patients and experienced clinicians. Key words: medical physical assessment skills, community nurse practitioners, cross boundary working, diagnostic skills.

The overall purpose of this thesis is to investigate, discuss and problematise different aspects of movement ability. The four sub-studies of the thesis deal with various issues concerning assessment of movement ability. First, the focus is on how the concept of physical literacy has influenced the steering document of the subject physical education and health (PEH) in Sweden. The question is: What kind of tensions and conflicts arise when different approaches and interpretations of movement ability are used in an educational context? Second, a structural validation is conducted of the NyTid test, an assessment tool developed to assess basic and complex movement skills at the ages of 12-16 years. The question is: Which categories of movement skills are identified through the validation of the NyTid test? Third, the study examines how ‘ability’ is conceptualised, configured and produced in movement tests and movement assessment tools. Finally, an investigation of how or whether an assessed low or high movement ability at the age of 15 matters for developing an interest in, or taste for, sport and physical activities nine years later, in young adulthood. Movement ability is studied from different perspectives, including a multidisciplinary sport science approach using mixed methods. The theoretical standpoint in the sociocultural analyses is inspired by Bourdieu’s theories and concepts of habitus, capital, field and doxa, which are used as analytical tools. Different theories relating to the evaluation of movement abilities as product- or process oriented assessment are also made use of. Movement abilities tests and assessment tools are also found to construct a specific and narrow form of physical capital strongly related to traditional sports. Accordingly, the social construction of movement ability through assessment tools is far from neutral and could affect how children see themselves and their sense of ‘ability’. Furthermore, the assumption that an acquired high level of movement ability plays a central role for being physically active is challenged in the thesis. Even though pupils at the age of 15 had a low level of assessed movement ability, it did not prevent them from acquiring a taste for sport and physical activity later in life. However, more studies on movement ability and the underlining mechanisms and factors for engaging in physical activities are necessary.
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Thesis (PhD) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to determine if the participation in a movement programme, utilising 21 life skill development strategies would make a significant contribution to adolescent girls' self-esteem. The adolescent girls participating in the programme were from a previously disadvantaged community in the Western Cape, South Africa, and considered to be at-risk youth. The movement divisions through which the life skill strategies of the five and one half month programme were presented to the experimental group, were designed by the investigator, and included: modern dance, swimming, self-defence and an individual session of team building. Harter's (1985) Self-perception Profile for Children was used to measure the six subscales of self-competence/esteem of a control group (n = 8) and an experimental group (n = 13) of girls between ages 13 - 16. The six dimensions of self-esteem measured, included: global self-worth; scholastic competence; social acceptance; athletic competence; physical appearance, and; behavioural conduct. On completion of the movement intervention programme by the experimental group, all the girls (N = 21) were post tested, using the same quantitative measurement instrument. The experimental group completed an additional open-ended Life Skill Questionnaire, designed by the investigator, to see if there had been a cognitive transferral of the life skills used in the movement programme from the movement experience to everyday life activities. Following the comparison between the pre- and post-test data of Harter's (1985) Se/fperception Profile for Children, it was concluded that participation in the movement programme had an overall positive and significant affect on the six sub-scales of the girls' self-esteem. On analysis of the girls' responses to the Life Skill Questionnaire it was found that they had been able to utilise all 21 life skills in the various movement components offered in the programme, and that cognitive transferral of the skills had taken place to their everyday environment. Conceming the movement division, the statements revolving around the utilisation of the skills predominantly revolved around ii Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za the swimming, followed by dance and lastly self-defence. The life skills that were most widely used in their everyday environment were highlighted by the themes of perseverance, commitment and academics.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om vas te stel of die deelname aan 'n bewegingsprogram, waartydens 21 lewensvaardigheid-ontwikkelingstrategiee gebruik word, beduidende bydrae tot die selfagting van die adolessente meisie sou lewer. Die adolessente meisies wat aan die program deelgeneem het, kom vanuit 'n voorheenbenadeelde gemeenskap in die Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika, en word as hoe-risiko jeug beskou. Die bewegingsverdelings waarmee die lewensvaardigheidstrategiee van die vyf en 'n half maandelange program vir die eksperimentele groep aangebied is, is deur die navorser ontwerp en sluit die volgende in: mode me dans, swem, selfverdediging en 'n individuele sessie van spanbou. Harter (1985) se "Sett-perception Profile for Children" is gebruik om die ses sub-skale van self-bevoegdheid/agting van 'n kontrolegroep (n = 8) en 'n eksperimentele groep (n = 13) van meisies tussen die ouderdomme van 13 - 16 te meet. Die ses dimensies van selfagting wat gemeet is, het die volgende ingesluit: globale selfwaardigheid, akademiese bevoegdheid, sosiale aanvaarding, atletiese bevoegdheid, fisieke voorkoms en gedragsbeheer. Na die afhandeling van die bewegings-intervensieprogram deur die eksperimentele groep is al die meisies (N = 21) getoets met behulp van dieselfde kwantitatiewe meetinstrument. Die eksperimentele groep het In addisionele Lewensvaardigheidsvraelys voltooi, wat deur die navorser ontwerp is om te sien of daar 'n kognitiewe oordrag van die lewensvaardighede was wat in die bewegingsprogram vanaf die bewegingservaring tot daaglikse aktiwiteite gebruik is. Na die vergelyking van die voor- en na-toetsdata van Harter (1985) se "Self-perception Profile for Children" is gevind dat deelname aan die bewegingsprogram 'n algehele positiewe en beduidende effek het op die ses sub-skate van die meisies se selfagting. Die analise van die meisies se terugvoer op die Lewensvaardigheidsvraelys het getoon dat hulle instaat was om al die 21 lewensvaardighede in die verskeie bewegingskomponente te gebruik wat in die program aangebied is en dat kognitiewe oordrag van die vaardighede plaasvind na hul daaglikse omgewing. Wat die bewegingsverdeling betref, het die stellings aangaande die gebruik van die vaardighede hoofsaaklik gehandel oor die swem, gevolg deur dans en laastens selfverdediging. Die lewensvaardighede wat die meeste gebruik is in hul daaglikse omgewing is sterk na vore gebring deur temas soos deursetlingsvermoe, verpligting en akademie.

Bibliography: leaves 207-218.
This study describes the development, validation, classification, administration and assessment of a compact programme of ten core practical task items chosen from a pool of 33 practical tasks developed for the purpose of this study in basic school physical science. The practical items encouraged and measured various science process skills laid out in the South African Revised National Curriculum Statement Draft. The derivation and classification of the specially designed diagnostic practical task items by experienced lecturers, teachers and academics constitutes an original and crucial part of the study. The objective is to assess the consensus of juries of four to eleven expert science educators on classification of the ten core practical activities, matching the categories. The investigation establishes whether there is a perceived relevant match or a perceived "irrelevant" mismatch between the science process skills tested by the current experimental programme of practical items and the descriptive theories of practical science and its classification schemes and criteria proposed by (a) Franus (1992), (b) Gardner (1983), (c) White (1988), (d) Solomon (1998), (e) Lock (1990), (t) Kapenda, Kandjeo-Marenga, Gaoseb, Kasanda and Lubben's (2001) the Cambridge-based International General Certificate of Education after Millar, Ie Marechal and Tiberghiea (1999), (g) Race (1997) and (h) OBE (Revised National Curriculum Statement Draft, 2001). Lock's assessment framework for practical tasks was found to be the most relevant scheme among the others. The study also identified eight process skills that are highly relevant to practical tasks of the compact programme. These skills included: (a) comprehension skills; (b) recognising given item of apparatus; (c) following instructions; (d) carrying out tasks and handling science apparatus; (e) observation skills; (t) interpretation of the observations; (g) making predictions; and (h) reporting and communicating scientific information.

In Sweden, physics education is supposed to contribute to developing the stu-dent's experimental skill. After a physics course, students should be able to plan, execute and evaluate an experiment. In this study, seven physics teachers are interviewed about their reasoning considering assessment of experimental skills. The study aims to describe teachers' stories about their work with as-sessment of laboratory work. The results of the study show a spread of how teachers, according to them-selves, are dealing with the assessment of experiments. Some teachers work thoroughly with getting a basis to be able to assess all parts of the laboratory skill, while others leave some parts out. The most common assessment is of reports that students write after a laboratory assignment. It is also possible to see tendencies that the school teachers work at influences how teachers reason about assessment.
I Skolverkets ämnesplan för fysik står det att fysikundervisningen ska bidra till att utveckla elevens experimentella förmåga. Efter en fysikkurs ska eleven kunna planera, utföra och även utvärdera en laboration. I denna studie har sju fysiklärare på gymnasiet intervjuats om hur de resonerar kring bedömning av den experimentella förmågan. Undersökningen ämnar åt att redogöra lärares berättelser om hur de arbetar med bedömning av laborationer. Resultatet i studien visar en spridning över hur lärare enligt dem själva arbetar med bedömning av experiment. Vissa lärare arbetar noga med att få bedöm-ningsunderlag av alla delar i den laborativa förmågan medan någon lärare väl-jer bort vissa delar. Det som är gemensamt är att de allra flesta bedömer labo-rationsrapporter som eleverna skriver efter ett utfört experiment. Det går också att se tendenser till att skolan som läraren jobbar på har betydelse för hur lära-ren resonerar kring bedömning.

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Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Objectives: Part I) To verify the effect of short-term training on reaching behavior in fullterm infants at the onset of reaching. Part II) To know the behavior of reaching, the reaching training protocols in full-term and preterm infants and to adjust these training for children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: In Part I, it was conducted a randomized controlled trial. 30 healthy infants at 3-4 months of age (M =14.0 ±1.6 weeks of age) were randomly assigned to: 1) reaching training group; 2) social training group (control group). The infants were submitted into 3 assessments (kinematics and qualitative) at 45° reclined position (until 5 days after the onset of reaching): 1) Pre-training, before the first session of training; 2) Post-training 1, after the first session of training, at the same day; and 3) Posttraining 2, after three sessions of training, at the following day. To perform the reaching training and social training, the infants were submitted into three short-term sessions of training, one performed on the first day and the two performed on the second day. All infants were seated reclined 45° in the researcher s lap. The infants of training group received three activities of interaction with the object under serial practice (i.e.: ABC, ABC, ABC) in each session. The infants of social group received no reaching training or stimuli for their upper limbs of each session. The variables considered were: characterizing the sample, the total reaching frequency, distal adjustments (hand orientation, hand opening, and surface of the hand contact), and spatio-temporal variables (duration of movement, mean velocity, straightness index, deceleration index, and movement unit). In Part II, we performed a literature review on: the reaching behavior in infants with typical developmental, preterm infants and infants with CP from 0 to 2 years of age; the main techniques of reaching assessment; models of reaching training protocols (immediate and short-term effects) developed for full-term and preterm infants and; on a way of adjusting reaching training for children with CP in clinical practice. Results: In Part I, a training session was effective in increasing the number of reaches and the percentage of reaches with ventral hand, and decreasing the percentage of reaches with closed and dorsal hand. In addition, three training sessions resulted in changes in the spatio-temporal variables (with shorter and more fluent reachs) and increased the percentage of reaches with vertical hand. For Part II, it was highlighted the importance of determining immediate, short, medium and long term goals, planning the therapeutic procedures directed to the goals. In addition, to use and adapt existing training protocols to intervene in infants at risk and / or diagnosis of CP, and others. Conclusions: A few short training sessions under serial varied condiction were effective in improving the reaching performance, such as changes in the number of reaches, in distal adjustments and spatio-temporal reaching variables. These results reflect the flexibility of the perceptual-motor skills development and the important role of experience in the improvement of motor behavior in infants. Furthermore, to direct the interventions to the functional objectives and, to use and adapt existing training protocols, may provide to the professionals one more tool of intervention in infants at risk and / or established diagnosis of CP.
Objetivos: Parte I) Verificar o efeito do treino de curta duração de alcance em lactentes nascidos a termo no período de aquisição da habilidade. Parte II) Conhecer o comportamento de alcance, protocolos de treino de alcance em lactentes a termo e prétermo e; ajustar esses protocolos de treino de alcance para crianças com paralisia cerebral (PC). Métodos: Na Parte I, foi realizado um estudo randomizado controlado, com 30 lactentes a termo, de 3-4 meses de idade (M= 14,0±1.6 semanas de idade), alocados em dois grupos: 1) grupo de treino de alcance, 2) grupo de treino social (grupo controle). Os lactentes foram submetidos à três avaliações (cinemática e qualitativa) na postura reclinada a 45° (até 5 dias após aquisição do alcance): 1) pré-treino, antes da primeira sessão de treino; 2) pós-treino 1, após a primeira sessão de treino, no mesmo dia e; 3) póstreino 2: após a terceira sessão de treino, no dia seguinte ao pré- e pós-treino 1. Para realizar o treino de alcance e o treino social, os lactentes foram submetidos à três sessões, uma realizada no primeiro dia, e duas realizadas no segundo dia. Todos os lactentes foram posicionados no colo do pesquisador em reclinado a aproximadamente 45°. O grupo de treino de alcance recebeu 3 atividades de interação com objeto em condição de prática variada seriada (ex: ABC, ABC, ABC) em cada sessão e o grupo treino social não recebeu estímulos em seus membros superiores em cada sessão. Foram consideradas variáveis de caracterização da amostra, frequência total de alcances, ajustes distais (orientação, abertura e superfície de contato das mãos) e variáveis espaço-temporais (duração do movimento, velocidade média, índice de retidão, índice de desaceleração e unidades de movimento). Na Parte II, realizou-se um revisão da literatura existente sobre: o comportamento do alcance em lactentes com desenvolvimento neurossensoriomotor típico, nascidos prematuros e com PC de 0 a 2 anos de idade; as principais técnicas de avaliação do alcance; os modelos de protocolos de treino de alcance, de efeitos imediatos e de curto prazo, desenvolvidos com lactentes a termo e pré-termos e; formas de como ajustar treinos de alcance para crianças com PC na prática clínica. Resultados: Para Parte I, uma sessão de treino foi eficaz em aumentar o número de alcances e a porcentagem de alcances com mão orientada ventralmente e diminuir a porcentagem de alcances com a mão fechada e dorsal. Além disso, três sessões de treino resultaram em mudanças nas variáveis espaço-temporais (alcances com menor duração e mais fluentes) e maior porcentagem de alcances com a mão orientada verticalmente. Para a Parte II, destaca-se a importância de traçar objetivos imediatos, de curto, médio e longo prazo, planejando as condutas terapêuticas de forma direcionada aos objetivos. Além de utilizar e adaptar os protocolos de treino (efeitos imediatos e de curto prazo) existentes para intervir em bebês com risco e/ou diagnóstico estabelecido de PC, entre outras alterações neurossensoriomotoras. Conclusões: Sessões de curta duração em condição de prática variada seriada foram efetivas em aprimorar o desempenho do alcance, como mudanças no número de alcances, nos ajustes distais e nas variáveis espaço-temporais do alcance. Esses resultados refletem a flexibilidade do desenvolvimento de habilidades percepto-motoras e o importante papel da experiência no aprimoramento do comportamento motor de lactentes. Além disso, direcionar as intervenções aos objetivos funcionais e; utilizar e adaptar os protocolos de treino existentes, podem fornecer à profissionais mais uma ferramenta para intervir em bebês com risco e/ou diagnóstico estabelecido de PC.

Title: The evaluation of gross motor function and coordination in primary school children Defining the issue: The physical activity and sport are highly discussed topics in current time. The physical activity itself has a positive effect on our body in many ways, on the contrary the lack of it has a negative effect. In the younger school age there should be a diversity of physical activity and it should often vary. If, in this period of age, the physical activity would be in the form of specialized sport training with dominant asymetric load without any compensating activity, the effect of that training would be probably negative and even harming for the growing body of young children, who are not prepared for that type of burden. To ensure an adequate development of specific skills and gaits the appropriate level of gross motor function and coordination is required. The evaluation of such movement features after reaching bipedal locometion is mediocre at best and the current test batteries are limited in application. For these reasons the goal was to create new battery of tests and use it to evaluate the gross motor function and coordination in primary school children and assessment of the impact of gender and extracurricular activity on the results. The purpose of the study: The purpose of this...

O presente foi realizado em contexto escolar e teve como objetivo comparar competências motoras de crianças do 2º ano de escolaridade a nível nacional, regional (Concelho de Oeiras) e local. A nível local foram selecionadas três escolas do Concelho de Oeiras. Para o efeito foram utilizados os respetivos resultados obtidos nas provas de aferição do 1º ciclo do ensino básico, na disciplina de Expressão Físico-Motora do Ministério da Educação. A relevância deste tipo de análise deve-se à importância da aquisição de competências motoras para um adequado crescimento e desenvolvimento e consequentemente à relevância de um rastreio em idades jovens. Foram utilizados os resultados das avaliações conduzidas no 2º período escolar de 2019, na disciplina de Expressão Físico Motora, pós implementação do programa de “apoio à expressão físico motora do 1º ciclo”. Como forma de comparação, foram utilizados os resultados nacionais das provas de aferição de Expressão Físico Motora do ano 2018, que foram retiradas do site do Instituto de Avaliação Educativa (IAVE), e utilizadas as médias das provas de aferição de Expressão Físico Motora do concelho de Oeiras em 2018, que foram cedidas pela Câmara Municipal de Oeiras, sendo que ambas as médias são resultados pré implementação do programa. A amostra contou com um total de 145 alunos, com idades compreendidas entre os sete e os oito anos de idade, dos quais 69 são rapazes e 76 são raparigas. As competências motoras avaliadas foram agrupadas em matérias: Perícias e Manipulações; Deslocamentos e Equilíbrios; Jogos. As menções foram categorizadas como: Conseguiram; Conseguiram Mas…; Revelaram Dificuldades; Não Conseguiram. Foi também realizada uma análise por categorias, isto é a separação dos alunos mais capazes (categoria superior) dos alunos menos capazes (categoria inferior), em termos motores: Categoria Superior (Conseguiram + Conseguiram Mas…); Categoria Inferior (Revelaram Dificuldades + Não Conseguiram). Os resultados evidenciam que o “programa de apoio à expressão físico-motora” parece ter sido mais efetivo nas matérias dos jogos, uma vez que para todas as escolas do concelho em 2019 as médias foram superiores às encontradas no concelho de Oeiras e a nível nacional, antes do programa ter sido implementado. Por outro lado, na categoria inferior (“Revelaram Dificuldades e Não Conseguiram”), nos deslocamentos e equilíbrios só a escola EB ARA ficou abaixo da média nacional em 2018 e da média de Oeiras em 2018 com 16,3%, ao passo que a EB SM com 20,71% e a EB SAT com 23,70% ficaram acima de Oeiras (20,20%) e a baixo da nacional (26,50%).
This study was carried out in a school context and aimed to compare the motor skills of children in their second year of schooling at national, regional (Oeiras municipality) and local levels. At local level, three schools were selected from the Oeiras municipality. For this purpose, the respective results obtained in the tests of measurement of the 1st cycle of basic education, in the subject of Physical-Motor Expression of the Ministry of Education were used. The relevance of this type of analysis is due to the importance of the acquisition of motor skills for adequate growth and development and, consequently, to the relevance of screening at young ages. The results of the evaluations conducted in the 2nd school year of 2019, in the subject of Motor Physical Expression, were used after the implementation of the program of "support for motor physical expression in the 1st cycle". As a way of comparison, the national results of the 2018 Motor Physical Expression tests were used, which were taken from the website of the Educational Assessment Institute (IAVE), and the averages of the Oeiras municipality's Motor Physical Expression tests in 2018 were used, which were provided by the Oeiras Municipal Council, with both averages being pre-implementation results of the program. The sample included a total of 145 students, aged between seven and eight years, of whom 69 were boys and 76 were girls. The motor skills assessed were grouped into subjects: Skills and Manipulation; Displacement and Balance; Games. The mentions were categorized as: Achieved; Achieved But...; Revealed Difficulties; Not Achieved. An analysis by categories was also carried out, i.e. the separation of the most capable students (upper category) from the least capable students (lower category), in motor terms: Higher Category (They managed + They managed But...); Lower Category (They revealed Difficulties + They did not manage). The results show that the "support program for physical-motor expression" seems to have been more effective in the subjects of games, since for all schools in the municipality in 2019, the averages were higher than those found in the municipality of Oeiras and at national level, before the program was implemented. On the other hand, in the lower category ("Disclosed Difficulties and Couldn't"), only the EB ARA school was below the national average in 2018 and the Oeiras average in 2018 with 16.3%, while the EB SM with 20.71% and the EB SAT with 23.70% were above Oeiras (20.20%) and below the national average (26.50%).

O estágio pedagógico em Educação Física é o momento derradeiro da formação inicial dos professores de Educação Física, surgindo, por isso, como uma etapa fulcral da sua formação, oferecendo ao novo professor, a oportunidade de prática do ensino em contexto real, conjetura essencial para o desenvolvimento das suas competências profissionais. O presente relatório incorpora o relato e a análise reflexiva das experiências vividas ao longo do estágio pedagógico realizado na Escola Básica e Secundária de Gama Barros no ano letivo 2014/2015, e integrado no Mestrado em Ensino da Educação Física nos Ensinos Básico e Secundário da Faculdade de Motricidade Humana. O documento apresenta como objetivo a exposição, reflexão e análise das atividades desenvolvidas, dificuldades encontradas, estratégias utilizadas e decisões tomadas no âmbito das diferentes áreas trabalhadas neste processo de formação. Isto é, a organização e gestão do ensino e da aprendizagem (nas dimensões de avaliação, planeamento e condução), a investigação e inovação pedagógica, a participação na escola e, ainda, a relação com a comunidade. Esta análise reflexiva permitiu a avaliação dos fatores que condicionaram o processo, evidenciando as mais-valias deste relatório para a formação do professor enquanto futuro profissional na área disciplinar de Educação Física.
The pedagogical internship in Physical Education is a defining moment of the initial preparation of physical education teachers, emerging, therefore, as a crucial stage of its formation, offering the new teacher, the opportunity to practice teaching in the real context of education, essential framework for the development of its Professional Skills. The present report incorporates the description and reflective analysis of the experiences lived during the pedagogical internship, conducted in Escola Básica e Secundária de Gama Barros, in the school year of 2014/2015, integrated as a part of the Master’s degree in Teaching Physical Education in Elementary and High schools, of the Faculty of Human Kinetics. The document presents as an objective the exposition, reflection and analysis of developed activities, difficulties encountered, used strategies and decisions made within the scope of the different areas developed in this training process. Which were the organization and management of teaching and learning (in the dimensions of assessment, planning and conduction), the research and educational innovation, the participation in school and the relationship with the community. This reflexive analysis allowed the evaluation of the factors that conditioned the process, showing the capital gains of this report to the teacher formation as a future professional in the subject area of Physical Education.

Practical work plays an important role in the teaching and learning of science. This study was conducted to determine whether the methods and practices employed by physics teachers in Zimbabwe as required by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) ‘A’ Level Physics Syllabus (9188) on the assessment of practical work skills assist the students in developing other crucial practical skills like manipulation, observational, planning and designing apart from presentation and analysis skills. The convergent parallel mixed methods approach of Creswell (2014) was used to collect, present and analyse data. Quantitative data were collected using the structured observation schedule to get assessment marks for a student using both methods of indirect assessment of practical work skills (IAPS) and direct assessment of practical work skills DAPS for the same practical work activity. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with the physics teachers and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the ‘A’ level physics students. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) of the percentage rating of marks obtained by the student as observed during practical work sessions compared to the obtained mark from the submitted practical work report for the same practical work activity was calculated and found to be 0.135 with a Pvalue of 0.432. Both the narrative approach (Creswell, 2007) and conservation analyses (Gray, 2011) were used to present and analyse data from focus group discussions with ‘A’ level physics students and interviews with the physics teachers. The major finding from the analysis of quantitative data was that there was no association between the grades obtained by the student from DAPS as compared to IAPS for the same practical work activity as the value of r was found to be very low. This implied that passing practical work through the assessment of practical work report did not necessarily mean that the student could have mastered the basic skills of manipulation, designing, observation and planning. The views of physics teachers and students who participated in the study were that, the current method of practical work assessment used by Zimsec is not relevant in encouraging students to develop a variety of practical work skills as students concentrated on mastering presentation and analysis skills in order to pass practical work examinations. The study recommends that an alternative model of practical work assessment that integrates both DAPS and IAPS should be used to ensure valid and reliable assessment of practical work skills of ‘A’ level physics students.
Curriculum and Instructional Studies
D. Ed. (Didactics)

碩士
國立臺南大學
數位學習科技學系碩士班
98
In nursing education, instructors emphasize the application of combined knowledge with clinical skills. In a traditional education, the course structure of classroom learning and clinical training result in separating knowledge and skills when students are applying the standard operating processes in nursing. This teaching pattern makes educating students difficult. Therefore, it is important to utilize an integrated curriculum when teaching standard operating process in Health Assessment & Physical. This study attempts to design a mobile support system with ubiquitous learning for nurse training. This system not only trains students to make a full assessment of respiratory diseases with standard operating process, but also helps students to completely and rightly establish concepts and skills of the assessment model through the addition of a mastery game model during the training of standard operating process. A Mastery mechanism enhances the students’ ability to complete the training in a limited time and helps reach the goal of enabling students to evaluate respiratory diseases rapidly and correctly. A preliminary experiment shows that the learning outcome of students is notable increased by utilizing a mobile support system in nursing training.

Trabalho Final de Mestrado Integrado, Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Farmácia, 2015
Ob ject ive: Effective communication is an essential aspect of high-quality patient care and an important ability for physicians and for other health professionals. Therefore, interpersonal and communication skills have been identified as a core competency that must be demonstrated by physicians. To date, assessment of communication skills, in the portuguese context, has not been well established. The Communication Assessment Tool (CAT), developed by Makoul e t a l assesses patient perceptions of physicians' interpersonal and communication skills. We undertook this study to explore patient perceptions about communication with physicians of different specialties, using the CAT, a psychometrically validated instrument for patient assessment of physician communication skills. For this study we used an european portuguese translated version of CAT that we pretend to validate in the portuguese context. M e th o d s : We began to translate the CAT, a psychometrically validated survey, into european portuguese. We then conducted a field, prospective, cross-sectional questionnaire study, considered exempt, in the Associação Protetora dos Diabéticos de Portugal (APDP), during a three month period, starting on April of 2015 and ending on July of 2015, using the CAT, a 15 items instrument, with physicians and patients from a variety of specialties. 14 items focus on the physician and one targets the staff. Items were answered via a five point response scale, in which one means poor and five means excellent. Pilot testing established that the CAT differentiates between physicians who rated high or low on a separate satisfaction scale. All patients are adults, with more than 18 years old, with diverse ethnic back-grounds, and were eligible if the following exclusion criteria did not apply: primary psychiatric issues, critically ill or physiologically unstable. Part of the sociodemographic characteristics was soon answered, even before the medical's appointment, to engage in a compromise; nevertheless, CAT's questions were immediately answered after the end of the same medical's appointment. CAT filling took place in the waiting room of the APDP. Resu lts: 172 patients were enrolled, but only 150 patients completed the CAT properly, so we analyzed 150 patient surveys, ranged in age from 18 to over 84 years old (50.7% of participants aged between 45 and 64 years), 51.3% were female. Highest ratings were "treated me with respect" (64.0% excellent), "greeted me in a way that made me feel comfortable" (62.0% excellent), and "showed care and concern" (54.7% excellent). The lowest scoring items were for encouraging the patients to ask questions (34.7% excellent), involving the patients in decisions as much as they wanted (38.7% excellent), letting the patients talk without interruptions (46.0% excellent), and checking to be sure the patient understood everything (46.0% excellent) with the same score. Overall scale reliability was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.97). Con clusio n : The CAT is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring patient perceptions of physician performance in the area of interpersonal and communication skills in the portuguese context, as already happens in other countries. The field test demonstrated that the CAT can be successfully completed by both physicians and patients across clinical specialties. The CAT can be used, since it is a useful tool, to gauge patient perceptions of physicians' communication skills during an appointment.

Orientação: António Luís Rodrigues Faria de Carvalho ; co-orientação: Alcina Manuela de Oliveira Martins
Ensino, aprendizagem e avaliação são variáveis do mesmo fenómeno com processos e interações comuns, os quais têm sido objeto de variados estudos. O conceito de avaliação educacional evoluiu ao longo dos tempos e a operacionalização desta é crucial no processo ensino-aprendizagem. É, assim, razoável esperar que os docentes tenham adquirido na sua formação académica uma sólida bagagem em avaliação, e que a complementem e atualizem ao longo da sua carreira através de formação continua e que, portanto, as suas práticas avaliativas sejam as mais adequadas. Neste estudo, vamos averiguar a validade destes pressupostos. Assim, estabelecemos os seguintes objetivos: Identificar, para o exercício da avaliação das aprendizagens em Física e Química A, a formação académica; as dificuldades que os docentes sentem, as necessidades de conhecimentos e habilidades para tal e, propor um programa de desenvolvimento de competências dos professores para otimizar a avaliação. Foi utilizada uma abordagem qualitativa, centrada em análise documental, entrevistas e focus group. Concluímos que a formação inicial e contínua tem vindo a trazer poucos contributos para a capacitação dos professores na avaliação das aprendizagens e que existem dificuldades na operacionalização dos processos avaliativos. Consideramos, deste modo, ser importante a necessidade de implementação de um modelo de capacitação para adotar um dispositivo avaliativo potenciador de aprendizagens significativas.
Teaching, learning and evaluation are variables of the same phenomenon with common processes and interactions, which have been object of several studies. The concept of educational evaluation has evolved over time and its implementation is crucial for the teaching-learning process. It is, therefore, reasonable to expect that teachers have developed during their academic training a solid evaluation background, and that they complement and update it throughout their career through continuous training and that, therefore, their evaluation practices are the most adequate. In this study the validity of these assumptions will be checked. Hence, the following goals have been established: Identifying, for the exercise of evaluating learning in Physics and Chemistry A, the academic training; the difficulties teachers encounter; the need of knowledge and skills and proposing a teacher ability development program in order to optimize evaluation. A qualitative approach was used, focusing on documentary analysis, interviews and focus group. We conclude that initial and continuous training has been making few contributions to the qualification of teachers under evaluation and that there are difficulties in the operationalization of evaluation processes. In this way, we consider the need to implement a training model to adopt an evaluative device that promotes meaningful learning.