Trainer

Abstract: An experimental study was conducted to test the transfer of skills from a complex computer game to the flight performance of cadets in the Israeli Air Force flight school. The context relevance of the game to flight was argued on the basis of a skill-oriented task analysis, using the framework provided by contemporary models of the human processing system. The influence of two embedded training strategies was compared, one focusing on the specific skills involved in performing the game, the other designed to improve the general ability of trainees to cope with the high processing and response demands of the flight task and teach better strategies of attention control. Efficient control and management of attention under high task load are argued to be skills that can improve with proper training and generalize to new situations. Flight performance scores of two groups of cadets who received 10 h of training in the computer game were compared with those of a matched group without game experience. Both game ...

Abstract: Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking (iSTART) is a Web-based application that provides young adolescent to college-age students with high-level reading strategy training to improve comprehension of science texts. iSTART is modeled after an effective, human-delivered intervention called self-explanation reading training (SERT), which trains readers to use active reading strategies to self-explain difficult texts more effectively. To make the training more widely available, the Web-based trainer has been developed. Transforming the training from a human-delivered application to a computer-based one has resulted in a highly interactive trainer that adapts its methods to the performance of the students. The iSTART trainer introduces the strategies in a simulated classroom setting with interaction between three animated characters-an instructor character and two student characters-and the human trainee. Thereafter, the trainee identifies the strategies in the explanations of a student character who is guided by an instructor character. Finally, the trainee practices self-explanation under the guidance of an instructor character. We describe this system and discuss how appropriate feedback is generated.

Abstract: It is around 3 p.m. at my gym and I am waiting to interview Annette, afitness trainer. She has been in the fitness industry for over 20 years and worksas a personal trainer to mostly a well-to-do white female clientele. She herselfis a picture of perfection, with not one ounce of fat on her body. Her 5-foot,3-inch frame and well-defined arms, flat abdomen, and muscular all-over tonemake her clients want to replicate her physique. I often hear her clients jok-ingly say “I want your body!” Annette has agreed to speak to me about herexperiences as a trainer. I have known Annette for several years, and we havetaken many gym classes together, mainly yoga. I have what I would call acasual gym friendship with her and consider her more of an acquaintance thana friend. I have explained to her that I am interested in understanding women’s