Whereas emerging technologies, such as touchscreen tablets, are bringing sensorimotor interaction back into mathematics learning activities, existing educational theory is not geared to inform or analyze passages from action to concept. We present case studies of tutor-student behaviors in an embodied-interaction learning environment, the Mathematical Imagery Trainer. Drawing on ecological dynamics-a blend of dynamical-systems theory and ecological psychology-we explain and demonstrate that: (a) students develop sensorimotor schemes as solutions to interaction problems; (b) each scheme is oriented on an attentional anchor-a real or imagined object, area, or other aspect or behavior of the perceptual manifold that emerges to facilitate motor-action coordination; and (c) when symbolic artifacts are introduced into the arena, they may both mediate new affordances for students' motor-action control and shift their discourse into explicit mathematical re-visualization of the environment. Symbolic artifacts are ontological hybrids evolving from things with which you act to things with which you think. Students engaged in embodied-interaction learning activities are first attracted to symbolic artifacts as prehensible environmental features optimizing their grip on the world, yet in the

Mixed Martial ArtsAs van Bottenburg and Heilbron (2006) note, there has been a surprising lack of interest in the emergence of the combat activities we might broadly term mixed martial arts (MMA). This limited analysis has largely been informed by figurational sociology and focussed on the relationship between MMA and Elias's theory of civilizing processes (1994). A range of interpretations exist: that the development of mixed combat disciplines either provides supporting evidence for (Sheard, 1992;1998a;Howes 1998), or a refutation of, Elias's theory of civilizing processes (Sugden, 1996); or alternatively, in that MMA exhibits evidence of barbarization and de-sportization processes, its development exposes some limitations in Elias's work on sportization Heilbron 1997, 2006). This article addresses the specific issue of trends in violence in combat sports and in so doing contributes to on-going debates about figurational sociology. More specifically, we draws on the work of Wouters (1986; and to propose an alternative interpretation of the rise of MMA; that is to say, that it illustrates processes of both informalization and the quest for excitement.The empirical data presented in this paper were gathered through content analysis of martial arts journals (Dojo, Budoka, Fightsport, Crosscombat) and websites, and the literature written by (or ghosted for) MMA insiders. During the course of a broader research project (Sanchez Garcia, 2006) the first named author also conducted semistructured interviews and informal conversations with practitioners from several combat sports, and took part in various boxing, kick-boxing and aikido training and competition, though these data are not presented here.

No abstract

No abstract

Sports started to gain relevance in Spain around the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century as a leisure and health option of the upper classes imported from Britain. Its early development was intertwined with the spread of other kinds of physical activities with much more tradition on the continent: gymnastics and physical education. First played by the ruling classesaristocracy and high bourgeoisie -sports permeated towards petty bourgeoisie and middle classes in urban areas such as Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastián and Santander. This pattern meant that the expansion of sports was unavoidably tied to the degree of industrialisation and cultural modernisation of the country. Since 1910, and mainly during the 1920s, sport grew in popularity as a spectacle and, to a much lesser degree, as a practice among the Spanish population.Keywords: sport; Spain; gymnastics; modernisation L'influence britannique sur la naissance du sport espagnol Le sport a commence á devenir significatif en Espagne autour de la fin du dixneuviéme siécle et au debut du vingtiéme siécle á la fois comme loisir et comme l'un des moyens importes de Grande-Bretagne pour développer la santé des classes supérieures. Ses premiers développements s'entrecroisent avec la diffusion d'autres formes d'activités physiques beaucoup plus traditionnelles sur le continent : gymnastique et education physique. D'abord pratique par les classes dirigeantes -l'aristocratie et la haute bourgeoisie -le sport a penetré la petite bourgeoisie et les classes moyennes des zones urbaines comme Madrid, Barcelone, Saint-Sébastien ou Santander. Ce modele signifie que ¡'expansion du sport a été inévitablement liée au degré d'industrialisation et de modernisation culturelle du pays. Depuis 1910 et surtout pendant les années 1920, le sport a accru sa populante comme spectacle et, á un moindre degré, comme pratique au sein de la population espagnole. La influencia británica en el nacimiento del deporte en EspañaEl deporte empezó a adquirir importancia en España hacia finales del siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX como una actividad de ocio y de salud para las clases altas importada del Reino Unido. Su desarrollo inicial estuvo imbricado con la difusión de otros tipos de actividades físicas con mucha más tradición en el continente: la gimnasia y la educación física. Inicialmente practicado por las clases dominantes -la aristocracia y la alta burguesía-, el deporte se difundió más adelante entre la pequeña burguesía y las clases medias en áreas urbanas como Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastián o Santander. Este esquema comportó que la expansión del deporte se viera inevitablemente vinculada al grado de industrialización y de modernización cultural del país. Desde 1910, y especialmente durante los años 20, el deporte fue adquiriendo popularidad como espectáculo y, en un grado mucho menor, como práctica entre la población española. 2 Sport 'travelled' with these social classes to their leisure places, where it would continue to be played by the local in...

No abstract

No abstract

How do expert trainers and athletes instruct and attend to new moves? The objective of this paper is to analize communication patterns in sports settings. We propose a pragmatic view on cognition through an integrated theoretical model. We claim that communication modalities cannot be reduced to individual minds but must be understood as distributed cognitive mechanisms among different individuals and resources. We compare two case studies, an aikido session in the USA and Olympic synchronized swimming training in Spain with a video‐aided cognitive ethnography and Conversation Analysis. By exploring these specific events we have a better understanding how athletes attend to instructions by using multiple modalities. Our findings show how trainers and athletes communicate augmented information that is not available in a self‐exploratory performance. They rely on augmented information through speech, but also gesture, marking, direction of gaze and body posture. Moreover, the skills of trainers and trainees include embodied and epistemic actions. They share visual assumptions on which are the right moves. Distributed attention is at the roots of these shared and embodied skills. Distributed attention is a type of distributed cognition in sports trainings.