Since the beginning of the 20th century, professionals in language teaching have strived for ways that could guarantee better outcomes in language teaching classes. Different methods were used mostly in the first half of that century. Then some language teaching professionals moved beyond methods with the hope of gaining greater results. In one…

Many physics teachers assign projects where students are asked to measure real-world motion. One purpose of this student-centered activity is to cultivate the relevance of physics in their lives. Typical project topics may include measuring the speed of a student's fastball and calculating how much reaction time batters are given. Another student…

The ability to inhibit an ongoing action in response to a signal from the environment is important for many perceptual-motor actions. This paper examines a particular example of this behavior: attempting to inhibit or "check" a swing in baseball batting. A model of motor inhibition in batting is proposed. In the model there are three different…

The book "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game", by Michael Lewis, has intrigued management practitioners and researchers. This article describes the use of the book as a supplementary reading in a management course. The book was found to be a useful complement to a traditional textbook when addressing topics such as organizational change…

Group work with men who batter has traditionally consisted predominantly of psychoeducational programs that ignore concepts such as self-determination, goal setting, and positive engagement with men. More recently, this paradigm has begun to shift to include cognitive approaches and the utilization of strength-based strategies. The present sample…

Bat/ball contact produces visual (the ball leaving the bat), auditory (the "crack" of the bat), and tactile (bat vibration) feedback about the success of the swing. We used a batting simulation to investigate how college baseball players use visual, tactile, and auditory feedback. In Experiment 1, swing accuracy (i.e., the lateral separation…

In baseball, it is believed that "hitting is contagious," that is, probability of success increases if the previous few batters get a hit. Could this effect be partially explained by action induction--that is, the tendency to perform an action related to one that has just been observed? A simulation was used to investigate the effect of inducing…

The purpose of this manual is to provide a written tool for those participating in a 3-day workshop designed to train mental health professionals from diverse settings and communities to counsel court-mandated batterers. The manual consists of: (1) an outline of the workshop; (2) an introduction; (3) six chapters/sections; (4) notes; and (5) three…

Examines factors associated with wife abuse and describes major components of a small group program designed to help men who batter. These include self-observation, cognitive restructuring, interpersonal skills training, relaxation training, and establishing a small group environment for intervention. (JAC)

Younger children often have problems playing baseball using adult rules because pitchers lack ability to throw consistently and batters have trouble hitting erratically thrown balls. A modification of adult rules allowed the team coach to pitch to batters. More offensive and defensive activity occurred in the nontraditional games than in…

Reviews literature comparing risk that battered women and men who batter will physically abuse their children. Challenges several tenets of social work practice lore and cautions practitioners about use of psychological tests and profiles to judge child abuse potential and parenting ability. Discusses hazards of mediation and joint custody and…

In "Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin," Stephen Jay Gould swats at nostalgia over extinction of the .400 batter--due more to game improvements than slumping batters. The better the averages, the harder it is to be a standout. As for grade inflation, today's students are studying harder subjects, and general…

Reviews observational research on infant wariness of strangers. (CM)

When played in their standard form, striking/fielding games are often a favorite among elementary students; yet they allow for only limited participation, which is contradictory to quality physical education. This article presents a sequence of lessons leading to Batter's Choice, a modified striking/fielding game, designed to maximize the…

Female fast pitch softball batters served in an examination of the dynamic characteristics of the bat during the swing through the use of three-dimensional cinematographic analysis techniques. These results were compared with those from previous studies of baseball batting. Findings are listed. (Author/DF)