The 1991 C. H. McCloy Research Lecture: Unraveling the Mystery of the Response Complexity Effect in Skilled Movements

Abstract

From the records in three track-and-field events (standing broad jump, softball throw, and six-second run), the ages, the heights, and the weights were obtained from 882 boys and 900 girls ranging in ages from 9 to 17 years. The relationship between ability in athletics (as measured by the records in the three track-and-field events) and the variables of age, height, and weight was, for the boys and for the girls, found to be nonlinear.     

Pre-service physical education teachers' beliefs about competition in physical education

The discourse of competitive sport is, and has been, a defining feature of physical education for many years. Given the privileged and dominant position competition holds in physical education curricula, it is concerning that competitive physical education remains steeped in traditional pedagogies and that these pedagogies are constrained by teachers' everyday philosophies rather than any explicit understanding of pedagogy or the needs of pupils. This in turn affects pupils' experiences of physical education and specifically the type and form of activities that are offered to pupils. Physical education teachers' biographies generally show a profound attachment to sport, and in particular competitive sport, and the value of competitive sport is significant in the lives and identities of physical education recruits. However, there is a paucity of research specifically in relation to in-service and pre-service physical education teacher's beliefs about competition and its place in physical education. It is well documented that the implicit theories that pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers hold influence their reactions to teacher education and their teaching practice, with their beliefs acting as a filter through which a host of instructional judgements and decisions are made. Thus, it is important to understand pre-service physical education teachers' (PSTs') beliefs about competition. Thirty five (16 men, 15 women, 4 unknown) PSTs completed a reflective journal alongside their participation in a University-based module focused on models-based practice. The data generated were analysed using the procedures and techniques of grounded theory which revealed five major themes grouped in the discussion under the sub-categories of: (1) defining competition; (2) learning through competition; (3) competitive physical education and the sporting pathway; (4) competition needs to be got out of children; and (5) a little competition. The discussion challenges how we transform traditional views of competition and the competitive practices that alienate some young people from physical education.     

Correlates of school-day physical activity in preschool students

This study examined the relationship among sex, body mass index, motor skill competence (MSC), perceived physical competence (PPC), and school-day physical activity in preschool students (N = 34). Physical activity was assessed by steps accumulated during the school day, while MSC and PPC were assessed with the Test of Gross Motor Development-2nd edition (Ulrich, 2000) and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (Harter & Pike, 1984). Regression analyses revealed that preschool students' locomotor ability accounted for 21 % (p = .007) of the variance associated with school-day physical activity. The findings support an association between participants' ability to locomote and be physically active. The findings warrant future investigations to examine the relationship between locomotor skills and physical activity behaviors.     

Habitus, social fields, and circuits in rural science education

Schooling and science education are embedded within larger socio-cultural, political and economic contexts, influenced by global flows of capital, labor, ideas, and images. In this article we consider the ways in which ethnography traces the web of interactions (circuits), in a rural community and the ways that science inquiry was associated with character education. Our discussion examines the relationship between social fields, habitus, and meritocracy under new and ever-changing neoliberal conditions. These macro-level forces play out in everyday practices in the community and reveal schools, as well as science education, as sites for struggle.     

A rural math, science, and technology elementary school tangled up in global networks of practice

This is an ethnographic study of a newly created math, science, and technology elementary magnet school in a rural community fiercely committed to cultural preservation while facing unprecedented economic instability brought on by massive loss of manufacturing jobs. Our goal was to understand global- and community-level contexts that influenced the school’s science curriculum, the ways the school promoted itself to the community, and the implicit meanings of science held by school staff, parents and community members. Main sources of data were the county’s newspaper articles from 2003 to 2006, the school’s, town’s, and business leaders’ promotional materials, and interviews with school staff, parents, and community members. A key finding was the school’s dual promotion of science education and character education. We make sense of this “science with character” curriculum by unpacking the school and community’s entanglements with historical (cultural preservation), political (conservative politics, concerns for youth depravity), and economic (globalization) networks. We describe the ways those entanglements enabled certain reproductive meanings of school science (as add-on, suspect, and elitist) and other novel meanings of science (empathetic, nurturing, place-based). This study highlights the school as a site of struggle, entangled in multiple networks of practice that influence in positive, negative, and unpredictable ways, the enacted science curriculum.     

Municipal overburden: an empirical analysis

The municipal overburden hypothesis asserts the existence of a causal relationship between high levels of non-school municipal expenditure or tax rates and low levels of school spending. We estimate demand for expenditure on education using a median voter model. The hypothesis is tested by including in the estimating equation several versions of a variable representing municipal overburden. We find no evidence in support of the hypothesis.