Student Attitudes toward Physical Education

Abstract

A group of 199 college males completed the Wear physical education attitude inventory. The responding subjects were subsequently classified according to the size of the high school attended, the college of matriculation, and the physical education class in which they were currently enrolled. No significant variations in attitude scores toward physical education were found within the subgroups of each of the three classifications. However, a significant difference in attitude scores was found between the responses to the four categories of items of the inventory. A significant variation in response was obtained between the subset formed by the physiological and the social items and the subset created by the mental-emotional and general items of the Wear attitude inventory.     

Wear Attitude Inventory Applied to Junior High School Boys

Abstract

Form A of the Wear Attitude Inventory was administered to one randomly selected physical education class of seventh grade boys, one class of eighth grade boys, and one class of ninth grade boys in each of five junior high schools. The mean Inventory score for each grade was found to be equal to or superior to the mean reported in Wear's validation study. A significant X₂ value was found for the distribution of Inventory scores of the three junior high school grades. A biserial coefficient of correlation item analysis which was computed for each of the three grades established that the 30 items correlated significantly with the total score and that the item score also had a significant correlation with the Inventory category score. On the basis of these results, the conclusion was advanced that the Wear Attitude Inventory was an appropriate instrument to measure attitudes of junior high school boys toward physical education.     

Lumbo-pelvic loading during fast bowling in adolescent cricketers: The influence of bowling speed and technique

Abstract

This study aimed to assess changes in bowling technique and lumbar load over the course of a bowling spell in adolescent fast bowlers, and to investigate the relationship between lumbar loads during fast bowling and kinematic factors which have previously been associated with low back injury. Three-dimensional motion analysis was carried out on forty participants who performed an 8-over bowling spell. There were no significant changes in bowling technique or lumbar loads over the course of the spell. Bowling with a more extended front knee, faster ball release speed and increased shoulder counter-rotation were related to increased lumbo-pelvic loading – in particular peak transverse plane rotation moments and anterior-posterior shear forces. These lumbar loads may be a factor in low back injury aetiology and future studies should investigate the relationship between lumbar loading, injury incidence and other risk factors.     

Adolescent interest in human sexuality: the questions kids ask

This study demonstrates a method for obtaining data on developmental changes in adolescents' interest in human sexuality. A content analysis was done on a sample of 874 student-generated questions. Question boxes were placed in classrooms so students could anonymously submit questions. In deference to perceived community pressure, questions on abortion, homosexuality, and masturbation were not allowed. Students who wrote the questions are 7th, 8th, and 10th graders enrolled in 13 different public schools. The schools are located in several small communities and on an American Indian reservation in a rural area of northern California. All children who participated did so voluntarily and with parental permission. Of the total 874 questions. 7th and 8th graders provided 593, while sophomores accounted for 233. Gender information was available only for 7th and 8th graders. Boys asked 173 questions while girls asked 241. The data are broken down by gender and by grade (7th and 8th vs. 10th). Findings reveal that younger students show more interest in the meaning of slang terms, their reproductive physiology, and intercourse. Older students show greater interest in contraception and health risks. Males are interested in slang and intercourse while females are more concerned with health risks and communication. One unexpected finding indicates that among younger children, boys and girls are equally interested in birth control and pregnancy; in the lower grades then, may be the prime time to use sex education programs to strengthen the sense of dual responsibility for knowledge about contraception and pregnancy. Also, the relative absence of questions on disallowed issues (2.5%) makes it apparent that sex educators can effectively suppress inquiry into topics that are of great interest to youngsters; only about 1/3 of the students indicated that their parents had discussed these disllowed issues, yet 48% of the students expressed interest in knowing more about abortion.     

Role of the microcomputer‐based laboratory display in supporting the construction of new understandings in thermal physics

Teachers' failure to use the microcomputer‐based laboratory (MBL) more widely may be a result of not recognizing its capacity to transform laboratory activities. This research aimed to increase understanding of how MBL activities designed to be consistent with a constructivist theory of learning support or constrain student construction of understanding. The first author conducted the research with his Year 11 physics class of 15 students. Dyads addressed 10 tasks in thermal physics using a predict–observe–explain format. Data sources included video and audio recordings of students and teacher during four 70‐minute sessions, students' computer data and written notes, semistructured student interviews, and the teacher's journal. Analysis of students' discourse identified many instances in which students' initial understandings of thermal physics were mediated in multiple ways by the screen display. The findings are presented as eight assertions. Recommendations are made for developing pedagogical strategies incorporating MBL activities that will likely catalyze student construction of understanding. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 165–185, 2004     

A case study of scientific reasoning

Concern is increasingly being expressed about the teaching of higher order thinking skills in schools and the levels of understanding of scientific concepts by students. Metaphors for the improvement of science education have included science as exploration and science as process skills for experimentation. As a result of a series of studies on how children relate evidence to their theories or beliefs, Kuhn (1993a) has suggested that changing the metaphor to science as argument may be a fruitful way to increase the development of higher order thinking skills and understanding in science instruction. This report is of a case study into the coordination of evidence and theories by a grade 7 primary school student. This student was not able to coordinate these elements in a way that would enable her to rationally consider evidence in relation to her theories. It appeared that the thinking skills associated with science as argument were similar for her in different domains of knowledge and context. Specializations: science learning, scientific reasoning, learning environments, science teacher education. Specializations: cognition, reasoning in science and mathermatics.