The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of the systemic approach to the analysis of play in team sports. We first focus on the theory of dynamical systems and consider the interactions between the main variables of the different components of systems and subsystems in soccer. In team sports, these variables represent fluctuating conditions, which momentarily constrain the organization of action for the players. Thus changes in the momentary configuration of the game have to be examined in the light of previous configurations, the outline of the defensive strategy and the tactical choices involved. To study this problem, we analyse the antecedents of goals in soccer. A procedure is proposed which analyses transitions between configurations of play, thus allowing time to be taken into consideration when studying the evolution of a match. To illustrate the use and benefit of the analytic procedure, two goals are described in terms of dynamic configurations of play and opportunity of choices made by attackers.

Texas provides a unique opportunity to examine teachers without standard university preparation, for it prepares more teachers through alternative pathways than any other state. We find two advantages for mathematics and science teachers prepared in the standard way. First, since 2008 they have been staying in the classroom longer than those who pursued alternative routes. Second, we analyze student performance on Algebra 1 and Biology exams over the period 2012-2018. Algebra I students with experienced teachers from standard programs gain .03 to .05 in standard deviation units compared to students whose teachers were alternatively prepared. For Biology students there are fewer statistically significant differences, although when differences exist they almost all favor standard programs. These effects are difficult to measure in part because teachers are not assigned to teach courses with high-stakes exams at random. Nevertheless, we find strong evidence in Algebra I that students learn more when their teachers have standard preparation. In Biology there is also evidence but less compelling. Thus, we recommend that all states bolster traditional university-based teacher certification, that Texas not take drastic action to curtail alternative certification, and that other states not allow it to grow too quickly.

is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in STEM Education at the University of Texas at Austin, where he holds an appointment as a Graduate Research Assistant and serves as a Teaching Assistant in the UTeach program. In 2011, he received his B.S. in Physics, and in 2012, he received his M.Ed. in Secondary Teaching in Physics, both from Boston College. During his M.Ed. program, Bernard was awarded the Science Educators for Urban Schools Scholarship funded by the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. Immediately prior to doctoral study, Bernard worked as a middle and high school science teacher at a public charter school in Washington, D.C, where he coordinated the schoolwide science fair and mentored students in after school enrichment programs. Bernard's current research interests include equity in STEM education and student cognition in STEM.

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Scientific programming in environmental science often relies on short-term (3 to 5 years) trend-based projections for contextual elements like the demography or the economy to construct or justify its choice of priorities. However, this approach does not take into account numerous factors of change or disruption over a longer term (10 to 20, or even 50 years), although a decade or two are needed to effectively deal with the stakes of research. These stakes become more acute over the long term, as consequences of predicted changes (e. g. climate) or other factors such as pollution, biodiversity erosion, reduction of ecosystemic services.... This complex question justifies turning to a foresight approach. Because it enables tipping points to be envisaged for some key variables of the system studied (in this case, the environment), the scenario method seems well adapted to proposing several contrasting visions of the future.. The research question is: how a large screening of international studies on environmental scenarios can help framing the reflection on research priorities about environment? To help take its strategic reflection forward, in June 2015 the French national research alliance for the environment (AllEnvi) commissioned its transversal foresight group to identify the major families of scenarios described in foresight studies dealing with the environment since 2000. The summary of the 307 scenarios produced by analyzing 99 international studies highlighted 11 possible societal and environmental pathways. Analyzing these families of scenarios thus makes it easier to clarify the multiple roles that science can play, according to contrasting dynamics. Consequently, this study shows how a systematic review of foresight studies and their related visions of the future of environment can stimulate and enlighten the reflection on the ways societies can (re)define their future, by combining environmental, governance and social sciences. Highlights ► A French foresighters team had been asked to cluster the main environmental scenarios described in international studies. ► The synthesis of the 307 scenarios described in 99 studies highlighted 11 societal and environmental pathways. ► Those 11 pathways can be clustered in 3 groups: Decline, No priority to environment, With priority to environment. ► Governance, economy and societies, in that order, showed to be the main drivers of the scenarios. ► Ocean, coastal areas and forest are rarely cited as driving factors for environmental scenarios.