Resting Electromyographic Triceps Surae Activity and Tonic Vibration Reflexes in Subjects with High and Average-Low Maximum Oxygen Uptake Capacities

This study was grounded in the belief systems and physical activity literature and investigated preservice teachers' belief systems toward curricular outcomes for physical education programs. Preservice teachers (N = 486; men = 62%, women = 38%) from 18 U.S. colleges/universities shared their beliefs about curricular outcomes. Preservice teachers completed a previously validated belief systems instrument designed to measure the relative importance of four outcome goals for programs (physical activity/fitness, self-actualization, motor skill development, and social development). Internal consistency reliability for the instrument was .98. A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a good fit of the current sample to the hypothesized outcomes model. Multivariate analysis of variance results revealed a significant interaction in outcome preservice teachers' priorities for year in school by region. The teachers' views also differed on the important outcome goals for physical education. Two critical “tensions” are discussed: (a) the need to examine more fully the consistency of preservice teacher/teacher belief systems, and (b) implications for teacher education and professional development programming. It is important to heed prospective teachers' voices and address their belief systems in teacher education programs.     

Psychometric Properties of the Eating Attitudes Test

The study was designed to develop an instrument to examine students' reports of the type and frequency of various student behaviors in physical education classes that might disrupt classroom management. This study had multiple phases, including instrument development, preliminary studies, content-related evidence study, and an exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency reliability study. Participants for the content-related evidence study were 27 experts in physical education pedagogy. They were sent items from the student disruptive behavior instrument and asked to organize them into 3 management severity categories. Participants for the factor analysis and internal consistency reliability study were 2,309 middle and high school students from 2 states. The following 6 factors emerged from the exploratory factor analysis: (a) aggressive, (b) low engagement or irresponsibility, (c) fails to follow directions, (d) illegal or harmful, (e) distracts or disturbs others, and (f) poor self-management. Alpha reliability coefficients for the factors were mostly above .70 and the rotated factor loadings for the items ranged from .26 to .73. Investigating students' reports of the type and frequency of potentially troublesome behaviors may lead to a better understanding of student disruptive behaviors in physical education contexts.     

Changing students' attitudes towards risky motor tasks: An application of the IZOF model

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention programme in the physical education setting designed to change attitudes and emotions triggered by potentially risky motor tasks. The individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) model was used as a theoretical framework for the study. Italian male and female high school students (N = 84) took part in a 12 lesson intervention and in test?–?retest sessions. The assessment was conducted using the Motor Activity Anxiety Test to measure the students' approach-avoidance attitudes in the face of physical education tasks purported to engender strong emotional reactions. An idiosyncratic emotional profile was also implemented using a list of pleasant/unpleasant emotional adjectives. Two experimental groups were involved in the learning and performing of several potentially risky, highly emotion-arousing tasks, while two control groups were engaged in low-risk team sports. According to the hypothesis of the study, the programme was effective in decreasing the students' avoidance tendencies towards thrilling tasks and in increasing optimal?–?pleasant emotions. Our findings also demonstrated the feasibility and utility of applying the IZOF model to the context of physical education.     

Investigating Attitudes Toward Physical Education: Validation Across Two Instruments

The Centers for Disease Control have suggested that physical education plays a role in promoting healthy lifestyles. Prior research suggests a link between attitudes toward physical education and physical activity outside school. The current study provides additional evidence of construct validity through a validation across two instruments measuring attitudes toward physical education by investigating their psychometric properties with a sample of 6th grade students (N = 377). Confirmatory factor analysis results indicate that the four-factor model fit the data well for both instruments based on fit indices, and a multitrait-multimethod analysis provides evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Cross validation of these instruments permits longitudinal investigations on the role of attitudes toward physical education and their impact on physical activity.     

Socialization of Prospective Physical Education Teachers: The Story of New Blood

There has been much criticism of how teachers are prepared to teach and physical education has not been immune from this criticism. Despite numerous efforts to improve the content and focus of teacher education programmes there is still a paucity of programme evaluation research on the efficacy of these teacher education programmes (Metzler & Tjeerdsma, 1998). This paper reports on part of a yearlong investigation on the efficacy of a graduate physical education teacher education programme to prepare teachers. The focus of this aspect of the study was to identify what attracted graduate students to pursue a teaching career and what beliefs they held about physical education teachers and teaching. This was a qualitative case study and multiple data sources were gathered to address the research questions. The data sources included interviews, analyses of the students' autobiographical statements, and observations of their teaching, critical incidents from their teaching and peer responses to critical incidents. Findings indicate that this cohort of graduate students, many embarking on a major career change, was more committed to teaching and their love for teaching children than coaching. While their own success and love of sport was a factor in their career choice, their experiences in helping young people engage in and enjoy physical activity was more significant than their desire to gain a teaching credential. They believed their role as a physical education teacher was to be a physically active role model and help students appreciate the importance of physical activity, to contribute to the development of student self-esteem, especially those sometimes marginalized in physical education classes, and to plan and teach lessons that would motivate all students to participate in class. This work is grounded in the occupational socialization literature and the findings are discussed in terms of what we know about how to maximize the impact of teacher education programmes especially when students' beliefs may not be aligned with those of the programme.     

Nvivo-8视频分析技术在篮球教学中的实验研究

主要通过实验法和数理统计法,从学生的技能掌握水平、具体环节动作得分和运动情境动机得分等角度分析比较了视频分析软件教学法和传统体育教学法下学生的成绩。结果显示,在篮球教学中应用NVIVO-8视频分析技术提高了教学效果,较好地提高了学生体育技能的掌握水平,应用前景较好。     

Development of a Questionnaire for Self-Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness in Physical Education (SETEQ-PE)

The purpose of the present study was to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire for the self-evaluation of teacher effectiveness in physical education (SETEQ-PE). Initially, 90 items, based on the findings of the international bibliography on teacher effectiveness and effective teaching, were formed and then categorized in 11 thematic units (phase 1). The questionnaire was completed by in-service physical education teachers (N?=?470) in phase 2 (N?=?250) and phase 3 of the study (N?=?220). In each phase, the appropriate modifications were made on the basis of internal consistency and construct validity of the instrument. The final form of the SETEQ-PE consists of 25 items that evaluate six domains of teaching in physical education. The results showed that the self-evaluation questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool that can be used for assessing the work of the physical education teacher. Further, this tool might probably enhance a teacher's knowledge, understanding, motivation, and attitudes towards teaching.     

Einstellungen von Sportlehramtsstudierenden zur Sprachbildung im Sportunterricht

An assessment of attitudes toward language awareness in physical education classes offers the possibility to evaluate learning and teaching opportunities related to this topic offered at universities. However, valid research instruments for this undertaking are currently lacking. The present article reports on the development and validation of a questionnaire for assessing attitudes toward language awareness in sports classes (“Erfassung von Einstellungen zur Sprachbildung im Sportunterricht,” ESBiS). A validation study of the ESBiS included N?=?254 student physical education teachers, 37.8% female, mean age 22.16 years, standard deviation 2.74 years. Explorative factor analysis identified a five-factor structure with the ESBiS factors linguistic goal and performance transparency, promotion of writing, language-corrective feedback, use of scaffolding, and advancement of technical vocabulary. The analyses indicate good factorial validity and reliability of the individual scales. The ESBiS factors can be satisfactorily modelled using confirmatory factor analyses. The ESBiS instrument thus demonstrates good psychometric quality. Furthermore, in some instances, very low positive correlations of the ESBiS factors with the validation criterion of multicultural attitudes could be shown. Additionally, correlation analyses with individual characteristics of the student physical education teachers showed that the developed instrument has sensitivity and discriminatory ability.     

African-American children's representation of personal and social responsibility

This study examines 12 grade five elementary school students' attitudes and beliefs concerning personal and social responsibility in physical education. Factors used to identify students' attitudes and beliefs were initially divided into the six levels of Hellison's Taking Personal and Social Responsibility Model (TPSR), namely: irresponsibility, respect for the rights and feelings of others, participation and effort, self-direction, helping and caring for others and transfer into real-life situations. Through a variety of data collection techniques such as drawings, narrations, interviews and observations, a representation of the students' attitudes and beliefs regarding personal and social responsibility was identified. Results from the study showed the emergence of the following themes: (1) an emphasis on one on one interactions; (2) a focus on negative actions; (3) responsibility is complying with teachers to avoid punishment; (4) responsibility is determined by the family and not the school; and (5) responsibility and race differences. Further research needs to be conducted to determine how children's entry characteristics can be used to strengthen behavioural change in models such as TPSR.     

What is PE?

Physical education is a socially constructed activity that forms one component of a wider physical culture that includes sport and health/physical activity . The terms sport and physical education are often used interchangeably in school contexts, where sport and health continue to shape what is understood by the term physical education. This study explores discourses shaping pre-service primary teachers' understandings of the nature and purposes of physical education within an Irish context and the relationship between these understandings. A 10-minute writing task prompted by the question ‘what is physical education?’ was completed by a sample of pre-service teachers (n=544, age range 18–46, 8.8% male) from two colleges of education, prior to the physical education component of their teacher education programme. Content analysis involved an initial text frequency search to create categories which were collapsed into three broad areas of students' understandings of physical education—sport, health and physical education. The research design allowed access to pre-service teachers' understandings of physical education. Participants' understandings reflected their own school experiences and were framed within health and sport ideologies of physical education. Although acknowledged as an important part of school life physical education was perceived as a break from academic subjects where the purpose of learning was to learn sports and activities to stay fit and healthy. While the overwhelmingly positive nature of participants' experiences and the changing discourses around competition and team games are encouraging the dominant discourses of physical education continue to reflect the dominant aspects of wider physical culture in Ireland. The capacity of physical education to move beyond reproducing dominant sport and health ideologies provides a significant challenge to teacher education contexts, to challenge dominant discourses and recreate understandings of physical education for future action.     

Children's Activity Levels and Lesson Context during Third-Grade Physical Education

Abstract

Little is known about children's activity levels during physical education classes and how they relate to the national health objectives for the year 2000 (U.S. Public Health Service, 1991). We systematically observed students' physical activity and associated variables in 293 third-grade physical education lessons in 95 schools in 4 Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardio-vascular Health (CATCH) centers in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas. The influence of independent variables was assessed simultaneously by analysis of variance. Significant differences among study centers were evidenced for both physical activity and lesson context variables. Additionally, there were differences among variables for lesson location and teacher specialty, but not for teacher gender. Boys were more active than girls, but only during free play opportunities. The findings have widespread implications for educators responsible for developing and implementing health-related physical education programs, as well as for designing and conducting staff development.     

Developing a Psychometric Instrument to Measure Physical Education Teachers’ Job Demands and Resources

Based on the job demands–resources model, the study developed and validated an instrument that measures physical education teachers’ job demands–resources perception. Expert review established content validity with the average item rating of 3.6/5.0. Construct validity and reliability were determined with a teacher sample (n = 397). Exploratory factor analysis established a five-dimension construct structure matching the theoretical construct deliberated in the literature. The composite reliability scores for the five dimensions range from .68 to .83. Validity coefficients (intraclass correlational coefficients) are .69 for job resources items and .82 for job demands items. Inter-scale correlational coefficients range from –.32 to .47. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the construct validity with high dimensional factor loadings (ranging from .47 to .84 for job resources scale and from .50 to .85 for job demands scale) and adequate model fit indexes (root mean square error of approximation = .06). The instrument provides a tool to measure physical education teachers’ perception of their working environment.     

The development and validation of a self-report instrument to assess attitudes and self-efficacy of preservice teachers toward teaching linguistically and culturally diverse PE classes

This study aimed to develop and psychometrically evaluate a self-report instrument to assess attitudes and self-efficacy of Physical Education (PE) preservice teachers toward teaching linguistically and culturally diverse PE classes. An 18-item instrument was developed for the initial tests. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted on two independent samples of PE preservice teachers (n_efa = 254; n_cfa = 183). The EFA revealed a four-factor structure: attitudes toward multilingualism, attitudes toward linguistic simplification, language awareness in lesson planning, and self-efficacy to teach culturally diverse classes. The reliability scores for the four factors range from .61 to .76. CFA showed that the constructs demonstrated a good fit to the model (S-B Bχ²(48, 183) = 70.40, p = .02, robust RMSEA = .05, robust CFI = .94), confirming the construct validity with high-dimensional factor loadings (ranging from .54 to .94). Discriminant validity was revealed through correlational analysis.     

Girls' and boys' perceptions of physical education teachers' feedback: Effects on performance and psychological responses

Abstract

In this study, we examined the perceptions of physical education (PE) teachers' feedback patterns with female and male high school students (n = 325). Eight physical education teachers (4 females and 4 males) were involved. We examined (a) whether teachers' feedback was perceived differently by boys and girls, and how the sex of the teacher influenced these perceptions, and (b) the effects of types of feedback (praise, no response-successful, encouragement, technical information, criticism, no response-unsuccessful, and teacher's invested time) on students' perceived competence, effort, enjoyment, and their PE performance. A multivariate analysis revealed an interaction between teacher and student gender on perceptions of teacher feedback. Hierarchical regression analyses highlighted that the perceived feedback significantly predicted students' perceptions of competence (ΔR ² = 0.088), effort (ΔR ² = 0.119), enjoyment (ΔR ² = 0.085), and their PE performance (ΔR ² = 0.039) after accounting for the gender of the students and teachers and the students' initial PE performance. The perceptions of praise and teachers' invested time were positively linked with the dependent variables, whereas encouragement and technical information and criticism were negatively linked. The findings are discussed in terms of teaching effectiveness and gender equity.     

Theoretical Analysis of Aggressive Golf Putts

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between students' perceptions of the motivational climate and beliefs about the causes of success, preference for challenging tasks, and satisfaction in physical education. Responses of 50 female and 46 male students (M age = 12.08 years; SD = .72) showed that perceptions of a mastery-oriented motivational climate were related to the belief that motivation or effort caused success and satisfaction. In contrast, perceptions of a performance climate were related to the belief that deception caused success and related negatively to the students' preference for challenging tasks. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that perceptions of the motivational climate explained a significant amount of unique variance in the students' responses after controlling for dispositional goal orientations. The results suggest that the teacher can influence the salience of a mastery-oriented climate and, in so doing, optimize a child's motivation in physical education.     

Factors Affecting the Creation of a New Ecology in a Boys-Only Physical Education Class at a Military School

Abstract

This study describes the changes which occurred in the instructional ecology of a boys' physical education class with a change of teacher. Moreover, it examines the critical incidences which promoted and inhibited that teacher's attempts to change the accountability system of the class from one of attendance and minimal participation to one of performance quality. Twenty-two eighth and ninth grade boys participated in a 6-week program of physical activity with the researcher as the new teacher. Through an action research methodology, using the teacher's reflective accounts of lessons together with formal and informal interviews with the students, it was determined that three factors were critical in the change process: the students' previous history with the subject, the nature of the set tasks, and the emotional climate of the class.     

体育教师教学效能感量表的建构

在问卷调查的基础上 ,通过对Bandura自我效能理论和Tschannen -Moran教师自我效能整合模型的分析 ,采用探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析方法 ,建构体育教师教学效能感量表。结果表明 ,体育教师教学效能感为 4因素相关结构 ,即由课堂管理、教材呈现清晰度、师生互动和教学策略与技巧应用 4个维度构成 ;体育教师教学效能感 4因素相关模型不存在识别问题 ,并与实际资料拟合较好 ;该量表具有较好的内部一致性及稳定性 ,其信度符合要求     

Factorial Validity and Reliability of the Curricular Goals in Physical Education Questionnaire

This study aimed to examine the validity and reliability of an instrument designed to measure student perceptions of curricular goals in physical education, the Curricular Goals in Physical Education Questionnaire. Participants were 879 Finnish students from grades 7 to 9 (412 girls, 467 boys; mean age 13.81). An exploratory factor analysis was performed on Sample 1 (n = 287), revealing a four-factor solution and suggesting that factor structure be cross-validated with confirmatory factor analysis in Sample 2 (n = 592). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated an acceptable fit and supported the four-factor model. Tests for gender invariance supported configural, metric, and scalar invariance. Analyses of factor mean differences indicated that girls attributed more importance than boys to physical education’s health-related goals, social and emotional learning, and motor skill development. This study confirmed the validity of the Curricular Goals in Physical Education Questionnaire to assess student perspectives on curricular goals across gender. In order to improve factor structure the authors suggest the addition of an item measuring skill acquisition to future versions of the instrument.     

Perceived Characteristics of Selected Movement Activities

The investigation used factor analytic procedures to identify dimensions which describe variations in college students' perceptions of selected movement activities. A sample of 1,421 college students completed a word pair association instrument in which each subject rated one of 24 movement activities on 21 word pairs. A range of dance, sport, and exercise activities representative of physical education curricular offerings were included in the study. The alpha factoring procedure with varimax rotation produced seven factors which accounted for 37.19% of the common variance: I Evaluation, II Potency, III Social Dynamics, IV Complexity, V Pace, VI Spontaneity, and VII Interaction. Incomplete principal components analysis was used to produce factor scores for each isolated factor. One-way ANOVA revealed that significant differences (α = .01) existed between activities on each of the seven factors.     

Survey development to assess parental satisfaction with adapted physical education teachers' abilities working with children with autism

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to systematically develop and validate an instrument to assess parental perceptions toward adapted physical education (APE) teachers, who work with children with autism.

Methods: Participants included two expert panels and parents of children and youth with autism. The survey used a Likert-scale design where parents rated their level of satisfaction regarding communication with, qualifications of, and rapport with the APE teachers.

Results: Based on α coefficients for each of the three subscales, it was concluded that the survey had high internal validity. Split-half reliability determined by the Spearman Brown Prophecy coefficient indicated high reliability.

Conclusion: Preliminary evidence demonstrated that the survey may be a useful tool in assessing parental perceptions of their child's APE teacher.