Development process of content validity of pedagogical knowledge assessment in swimming

This study aimed to validate the content of items regarding an instrument of assessment of substantive contents, its organization and forms of practice, and pedagogical feedback in swimming sessions by the use of the coefficient of content validity (CVC). This analysis encompass the validation of instruments in a theoretical way, which has generated a grid of occurrences on items related to pedagogical knowledge of teaching and learning contents in swimming sessions. Three examiners took part in the sample. The three of them hold active experience of at least ten years in the teaching of swimming and have assessed 31 items according to the agreement related to criteria of clarity of language, practical relevance, theoretical relevance, and dimension. According to the minimum accepted agreement for the CVCi?0.7, three items from the grid were excluded, for they presented results under the expected regarding practical and theoretical relevance. Then, a new CVCtotal was measured, considering the 28 remaining items. CVCtotal was satisfactory in the three criteria, which demonstrated that the items were described clearly, they are adequate for the teaching and learning of swimming, and indicate to be in compliance with the competences the coach must have on the pedagogical knowledge when it comes to swimming. Subdivided in the dimensions of: nature of the task, organization and types of practice, pedagogical feedback and its subdimensions (objective, type, direction, and reference), the 28 items will pedagogically assist the swimming coach as to contents, organization of practice, and feedback.

Tight knit under stress: colony resilience to the loss of tandem leaders during relocation in an Indian ant

The movement of colonies from one nest to another is a frequent event in the lives of many social insects and is important for their survival and propagation. This goal-oriented task is accomplished by means of tandem running in some ant species, such as Diacamma indicum . Tandem leaders are central to this process as they know the location of the new nest and lead colony members to it. Relocations involving targeted removal of leaders were compared with unmanipulated and random member removal relocations. Behavioural observations were integrated with network analysis to examine the differences in the pattern of task organization at the level of individuals and that of the colony. All colonies completed relocation successfully and leaders who substituted the removed tandem leaders conducted the task at a similar rate having redistributed the task in a less skewed manner. In terms of network structure, this resilience was due to significantly higher density and outcloseness indicating increased interaction between substitute leaders. By contrast, leader–follower interactions and random removal networks showed no discernible changes. Similar explorations of other goal-oriented tasks in other societies will possibly unveil new facets in the interplay between individuals that enable the group to respond effectively to stress.

The DiViSA’s Predictive Validity by Age: An Objective Online Test of Attention

The purpose of this study was to analyze the DiViSA’s predictive validity in school-age children. To do so, two groups of school-age children were compared: one with low school achievement (N = 1,174), and one with typical development (N = 1,426). The obtained results show that: (1) in all grades, children with poor school performance exhibited lower levels of attention and task organization, greater hastiness, and made more commission errors; (2) the combination of variables that best differentiated between groups was not the same in all grades; (3) level of organization improved with age in the low-school-achievement group, and did not in the typical-development group; (4) the data regarding sensitivity (81% to 93%) and specificity (79% to 90%), for the first time computed for each grade separately, support the test’s predictive validity in the grades we evaluated. The discussion focuses on the DiViSA test’s usefulness in diagnosing attention problems. It is the first computerized test to include separate scores for: (a) how children complete the task (organization) and (2) the source of their errors (distraction or hastiness).