Learning to teach sport education: investigating a pre-service teacher’s knowledge development

The pre-service teacher (PST) learning process has been claimed to include multiple and complex forms of learning because various areas of knowledge growth occur at the same time. In the Sport Education (SE) literature, there has been a noticeable dearth of research regarding how PSTs learn, interpret and deliver the model. While several studies report PSTs having experienced SE prior to the formal study being carried out, to our knowledge, only one study has followed PSTs through a series of learning experiences. In this study, we used the three-level model of learning as a framework to investigate a PST’s continuing process of learning to teach SE as part of a PETE program and while teaching during the school placement component of the PETE program. The study was guided by the question, ‘How does a PST’s knowledge of teaching and learning SE develop?’ This study reports on one physical education PST learning to teach SE. The learning experience was composed of four PETE courses (two content courses and two school placements) divided into five phases. Data collection employed five semi-structured interviews, coursework and a focus group. Data were analyzed using a hybrid approach of inductive and deductive theme development. Results revealed that the PST progressively developed conscious awareness and understanding about teaching and learning SE. The comprehensive learning experience made the PST develop understanding of teaching and learning SE that reflected knowledge on an abstract level. Studying the relationships between SE concepts, while connecting them with knowledge from various PETE courses, the theoretical foundation of SE became accessible. We encourage physical education teacher educators to allow for a continuing growth of understanding where PSTs develop knowledge through various SE learning and teaching experiences tailored around their needs and concerns.     

Initial steps in creating a developmentally valid tool for observing/assessing rope jumping

Background: Valid motor development sequences show the various behaviors that children display as they progress toward competence in specific motor skills. Teachers can use these sequences to observe informally or formally assess their students. While longitudinal study is ultimately required to validate developmental sequences, there are earlier, pre-longitudinal steps that can be used to screen hypothesized sequences to see if they are worthy of the time and expense of longitudinal study. These same steps can also provide teachers with preliminary tools for observation/assessment. Purpose: At the request of physical educators in a midwestern suburb in the United States, the investigators screened developmental sequences for the action of arms and legs in self-turned rope jumping. The goal was to create a preliminary assessment tool that could be used in physical education classes. Participants: The physical educators took videos of 216 children attempting to jump rope. The children were 5–10 years of age. Data analysis: The investigators categorized the videos using the hypothesized developmental sequences as a checklist. The incidence of each level in the sequences was then graphed to see if the percentages of occurrence rose and fell across age as would be expected if the levels were developmentally valid. The investigators also looked at whether children who varied their behavior across trials varied only to adjacent levels in the sequences. Results: Results indicated that one hypothesized arm category was not developmental, and two leg categories needed further study in younger children. Based on these results, the investigators modified the proposed sequences and provided decision rules so teachers could use them as preliminary observation/assessment tools.     

Archeological and Natural Resource Collections of the National Park Service: Opportunities and Threats

Archeological and natural resource collections are nonrenewable and become increasingly valuable over time. Some would argue that collections and collecting have been severely threatened by decreasing financial and other support, especially over the last decade. However, this situation does not fully apply to the National Park Service (NPS). NPS archeological and natural resource collections have grown, as has the rate of collecting, though less than 2% of NPS collections are natural resource specimens, whereas 52% are archeological. (The other 46% are historical, ethnographic, and archival collections.) When the NPS began compiling annual statistics in 1983, it found that the rate of collecting far exceeded the rate of cataloguing. In addition, many collections were stored or exhibited in substandard conditions. The NPS developed a strategy identifying the problems and estimating the cost for correction. The plan influenced Congress to increase appropriations to the NPS for collections management, which, from 1988 through 1994, have totaled $26.7 million. Following the lead of the NPS, the Department of the Interior has adopted a similar strategy.     

Normative data and reliability estimates for eight dimensions of reading attitude

The Survey of Reading Attitudes was administered to a sample of 159 fifth graders and 156 sixth graders enrolled in a middle school in rural Northeastern Ohio. The 92 attitudinal items comprising the Survey were read aloud by the teacher while the students followed along reading silently from their booklets. Statistical analysis consisted of computing means, standard deviations, standard errors of measurement, and coefficient alpha reliability estimates for the eight dimensions of reading attitude included in the Survey. The reliability estimates ranged from .89 for Reading as Enjoyment and .88 for Expressed Reading Difficulty to .74 for Reading Group and .76 for Reading as Direct Reinforcement. The reliability estimates for the other four dimensions were as follows: Alternative Learning Modes, .79; Reading Anxiety, .78; Silent vs. Oral Reading, .78; and Comics, .77.     

Relationship between PPVT and WISC-R in children with reading disabilities

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), Form A was compared to the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) in two samples of children with reading disabilities. One group of 14 children, referred to a university clinic, were administered the WISC-R, followed by the PPVT. The second group of 38 children from a private learning disability center were administered the PPVT first, followed by the WISC-R. In the combined sample, the PPVT IQ (X̄ = 109.2) was significantly higher than the WISC-R Verbal IQ (X̄ = 98.9), Performance IQ (X̄ = 97.0), and Full Scale IQ (X̄ = 97.5). Similarly, the PPVT IQ was significantly higher than the WISC-R Full Scale in both samples separately, regardless of which test was administered first. In one case, the PPVT IQ was 50 points higher than the WISC-R IQ. Correlations between the PPVT and WISC-R Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs were significant (rs = .56, .29, and .50, respectively). The results suggest that the two tests do not provide interchangeable IQs for a population of reading disabled children.     

Parental estimates of children's receptive vocabulary

Samples of 13 mothers and fathers of normal preschool children and 11 mothers of high-risk preschool children estimated their children's vocabulary ability by predicting their child's responses to individual PPVT-R items and by making a global rating of their child's vocabulary ability. Prior to the parental estimations, the children had been administered the PPVT-R. Accuracy of parental estimates, as measured by d', was low, although the mothers' average estimates were significantly higher than zero and higher than fathers' estimates. Accuracy of estimation was similar for mothers of normal preschoolers and for mothers of high-risk preschoolers. Time spent reading to the child, mothers' employment, and children's ability level were not related to parental accuracy. Although correlations between the children's scores and parental estimates all were significant, parents tended to overestimate their children's abilities by approximately 9 to 10 points on the average. Overall, parental estimates of their children's vocabulary ability, using a global rating scale, provide a somewhat useful measure for placing their children in a broad classification range.