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A practical evaluation method using item response theory to evaluate children’s form of Jumping-over and crawling-under

In order to develop the test battery evaluating the movement of Jumping-over and crawling-under for young children, we measured and videotaped it performed by 350 kindergarten children. After that, 16 movements by body part were assess using three categories of “possible,” “no idea” and “impossible.” Since the change of eigenvalues derived from this data represented a one-dimensional structure having a high homogeneous each other, successively, the parameters of step difficulty and samples were computed using IRT. Among various IRT models, this study used Partial Credit model because obtained data is ordinal and the sample size is few. Then we found the outcomes as follows: 1) The correlation between the two sets of parameters of step difficulty computed from two sets of randomly divided samples was high, so that it can be concluded that the difficulty parameters are not depended on any ability level of samples. Again, the correlation between the two sets of sample parameters calculated from two groups of randomly grouped item parameters was also significant. This fact allowed us to conclude the obtained sample parameters did not depend on any difficulty level of items. 2) As significant difference between ages in obtained thetas was found, it is considered that thetas reflect motor ability that advances with maturity. There was also high correlation between thetas and measurements of Jumping-over and crawling-under. 3) Judging from information function consisting of 16 items, this test is suitable to determine the ability with from middle to a little low level because the information reached around there. 4) A practical estimation and evaluation sheet utilizing thetas by total score based on Zhu and Cole (1996) was developed and the application examples were represented. 5) As a result that the relationship between strictly computed indexes of fitness and the number of aberrant patterns detected in the practical method in this study was examined, the high correlation was found. Judging from this fact, it can be concluded that IRT is useful to estimate and evaluate the movement of Jumping-over and crawling-under.

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Technical Article Business & Management Economics Psychology and Education

A Survey on BeReal among University Students: Focus on Learning Motivation and Privacy Consciousness

The purpose of this study was to determine university students' thoughts on the use of BeReal. After clarifying these ideas, we compared and examined the differences in learning motivation and privacy consciousness by use, non-use, and differences in thinking. The survey population consisted of 368 university students. The survey included “items on thoughts about using BeReal”, “Learning Motivation Scale”, and “Privacy Consciousness Scale”. The results of this study indicated that BeReal is becoming more common among university students, and that many of them are willing to contribute during class.Also, It revealed that university students who use BeReal tend to be less learning motivation than those who do not use BeReal. Furthermore, the group that posts BeReal during class tends to have lower awareness of and behavior to maintain their own privacy than the group that does not post BeReal during class.

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Review Article Others

Methodological examination of methods for analyzing factors that affect home team advantage: from univariate analysis to multivariate correlation models and causal models

While most researchers agree that home advantage (HA) exists in soccer, baseball, field hockey, basketball, and other sports regardless of whether they are collegiate or professional, there is no common view on the relationship between “travel,” “familiarity with the game environment,” and “spectator effect” and the factors derived from them and home advantage. However, there is no common view on the relationship between “travel,” “familiarity with the game environment,” “spectator effect,” and their derived factors, and HA. In other words, unless there are new factors that are not addressed here, it is more appropriate to think of the factors that affect HA, which clearly exists, as “multiple factors that relate to each other and affect it comprehensively,” rather than as “factors that affect it independently. Therefore, a possible methodology for examining HA factors is the use of multivariate analysis, such as multiple regression analysis or logistic regression analysis. Then, when illustrating the findings obtained from correlation analysis, one-way arrows are used to show the relationship between the factors, and the focus shifts from the correlation relationship to the search for causal relationships. When the scope of correlation analysis is extended to include causal relationships, path analysis is used to examine not only direct effects but also indirect effects. Furthermore, as a natural development of the methodology of causal analysis, a new direction is considered to be the analysis of covariance structure, which examines the causal relationships between factors, rather than only the observed variables.

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Article Education Information Sciences Psychology and Education

An Inquiry-Based Learning Support System for Children in Sports Acquisition Processes

This study examined an inquiry-based learning support system for children in sports acquisition processes and describes the characteristics of a case study on the long-term collaborative process of children’s forward and backward cycle practices on horizontal bars. We analyzed 18 horizontal-bar practices for two elementary schoolchildren who had not succeeded in their backward cycle for approximately half a year. They were required to make practice plans collaboratively to succeed in their forward and backward cycles. To support their practices, we provided them with “HDMi (HDMi is the name of a system we developed in the past.),” which was developed to support reflecting on one’s physical movements using movies. The movies were also used for discourse analysis to determine where the children focused, and OpenPose software was used for motion analysis to examine how the children’s actions improved on a horizontal bar. Both the HDMi and the discourse analysis suggested that two children selected their focusing points for their practice and they gradually became referring to “move toes toward opposite side of the bar” in the periods of practices. However, the motion analysis revealed that the focused points and actual movement of the body did not match completely.

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Article Information Sciences Others Psychology and Education Sociology

Clarifying the Sharpened network diversity in French flair rugby

This study aimed that open rugby, known as flair rugby, drives the modern game by analyzing the 2022-2023 international test matches of France representative team. We examined the superiority of a spatial tactic called French flair rugby. First, the advantage of creating a relatively large number of networks was demonstrated. From the transitivity analysis of the network (CUG test; Conditional Uniform Graph test), the cooperation occurs at a higher level than in other networks. The network graph structure showed which players functioned centrally at which time of match as unusual positions, i.e., multi-position and multi-skill. In this study, we operationally defined this diversity as the sum of the standardized eigenvector centralities. We found that the increase in the time-series score balance tended to reduce and sharpened the diversity. As a result of examining a scale-free model in network theory, Sharpening the diversity (central and transitive role players) tended of the network power law scaling.

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Article Education Interdisciplinary Sciences Psychology

Review matching task to diagnose basic review ability

Software development begins with writing a requirement definition document (RDD) specifying what software is to be built, and the RDD should define the necessary and sufficient conditions the software must satisfy. Preferably, the RDD is reviewed to guarantee its quality. However, the quality of reviews of such documents is not easy to evaluate, due to various review styles and the logical complexity of RDDs. Therefore, we regarded the review ability as the ability to match an RDD with a software and developed a game to make a matching task that can assess review quality. The task has four types of relationships, two-by-two classes of necessity (i.e., the RDD has no irrelevant sentences to define the given software) and sufficiency (i.e., the RDD covers all the parts of the software), between requirements and software, which are expressed in verbal and nonverbal forms. Results suggest that the game likely sufficiently simulated the process of making/reviewing RDD in the requirement definition process. Therefore, it is suggested that the matching task created through the game can be adequate to assess the review ability.

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Special Issue Education Psychology and Education

Japanese elementary teachers’ problem-based learning through online professional development on teaching Japanese language learners in physical education  

Public schools in Japan have become increasingly linguistically, ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse (Furuta et al., 2022). In rural regions, the number of Japanese-national students is declining in schools, and education services are shrinking (Mantanle, 2014) because of the aging population and low birth rate. This has led to serious economic concerns such as a smaller workforce and fewer taxpayers. This means that school districts in Japan will need new immigrant residents who can contribute to the sustainable future of education in Japan. However, in order to adequately serve this new population, Japanese teachers will need to receive training and demonstrate pedagogical knowledge and skills in relation to social justice and diversity, and facilitate inclusive and effective learning opportunities for all students. Our research team conducted two exploratory studies focusing on (a) Japanese elementary school teachers’ positioning in teaching physical education to Japanese language learners (Furuta et al., 2022) and (b) Japanese elementary classroom teachers’ experiences with the involvement of immigrant parents regarding physical education (Tomura et al., 2024a). Based on the findings of these studies, our research team developed online professional development modules for teachers using a problem-solving approach as part of a project funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Special Issue Environmental Sciences Psychology and Education Sociology

The Effects of Positive and Negative Ions on esports Performance and Arousal Levels Part 2 -Testing Higher Ion Density-

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological effects of higher positive and negative ion conditions on the arousal levels of esports players during a racing game. Participants (10 males) from a collegiate esports team were the participants in the study. The effects of higher concentrations of positive and negative ions were evaluated in a randomized crossover. Each participant performed two experiments four weeks apart; two experimental environments were used: positive and negative ions filling the atmosphere (PNI) condition and a control (CON) condition. A car racing game was employed as the performance task. Arousal was measured by the two-dimensional mood scale (TDMS) and electroencephalogram (EEG). EEG was used to measure arousal. The results showed that the level of arousal in the subjective assessment and the level of arousal in the EEG were significantly higher in the CON condition for PNI. In addition, PNI performed significantly better on the game task than in the CON condition. The present study demonstrated in positive and negative ion environments with higher concentrations than in the previous study, and the results showed higher arousal levels in subjective assessments, indicating that higher concentrations of ionic environments are beneficial for esports players.

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Special Issue Psychology and Education

Practical research on the use of digital pens in high school rugby club activities

Tactics play a crucial role in sports; however, coaching presents various challenges. This study examined the impact of utilizing practice notes created with a digital pen capable of simultaneously recording and playing back both audio and texts/drawings on tactical understanding. The participants were high school rugby team members and coaches. The results of a four-month practical investigation revealed that the learning experiences of tactical understanding in high school rugby teams manifested through four categories: awareness of the difficulty of tactical understanding, exploration of experiential facts, contemplation, and integration into practice. It is speculated that the utilization of the digital pen not only encouraged a deeper understanding of tactics through the formation of a meta-perspective but also led to learning strategies aimed at activating knowledge.

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Special Issue Psychology

Transferability of Multiple Object Tracking Skill Training to Professional Baseball Players’ Hitting Performance

This study aimed to determine the effects of multiple object tracking (MOT) skill training on elite baseball players. Baseball demands athletes to exhibit a high level of dynamic movement and quick and accurate situational judgment in multiple situations, including offense, defense, and base running. However, current research has not clarified whether the effects of MOT skills training are transferable to baseball performance. We investigated whether MOT skill training influenced baseball hitting performance before and after the intervention. Twelve players from a Japanese professional baseball team participated, and the intervention spanned approximately five months. The MOT skills of all players significantly improved (n=12). Additionally, we assessed the changes in hitting performance following MOT skill training. The results revealed a significant trend toward an improvement in the zone contact rate, zone swing strike rate, and outside swing strike rate in the breaking ball condition, such as the curveball and slider, indicating a large effect size (n=6). Further research across various competition levels is necessary to explore the transfer effects of MOT training on baseball-specific parameters.

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