Studies of Physical Education in the United States Using SOFIT: A Review

Purpose: An objective database for physical education (PE) is important for policy and practice decisions, and the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) has been identified as an appropriate surveillance tool for PE across the nation. The purpose of this review was to assess peer-reviewed studies using SOFIT to study K–12 PE in U.S. schools. Method: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses informed the review, and 10 databases were searched for English-language articles published through 2016. A total of 704 records identifying SOFIT were located, and 137 full texts were read. Two authors reviewed full-text articles, and a data extraction tool was developed to select studies and main topics for synthesis. Results: Twenty-nine studies that included direct observations of 12,256 PE lessons met inclusion criteria; 17 were conducted in elementary schools, 9 in secondary schools, and 3 in combined-level schools. Inconsistent reporting among studies was evident, including not all identifying the number of classes and teachers involved. All studies reported student physical activity, but fewer reported observer reliabilities (88%), lesson context (76%), teacher behavior (38%), and PE dosage (34%). The most frequently analyzed independent variables were teacher preparation (48%), lesson location (38%), and student gender (31%). Conclusions: SOFIT can be used reliably in diverse settings. Inconsistent reporting about study procedures and variables analyzed, however, limited comparisons among studies. Adherence to an established protocol and more consistent reporting would more fully enable the development of a viable database for PE in U.S. schools.     

Relationality as a response to challenges of participatory action research in indigenous contexts: reflections from the field

ABSTRACT

Three researchers share their reflections on the challenges and goodness of fit of using participatory action research (PAR) in studies with indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada. Three central challenges of participatory methodologies are identified: (1) defining what constitutes participation; (2) the extended time required for a PAR study; and (3) researcher positionality. The authors discuss tensions inherent in the western academy when shifting final decision-making authority over research processes away from the academic institution to the indigenous community. A model situating the principles of PAR alongside perspectives and values congruent with the indigenous concept of relationality is presented as a means of mitigating these challenges. This approach aligns PAR principles within culturally-congruent definitions of relationship and encourages researchers to re-imagine participation as a form of relationship, allowing them to engage more deeply and genuinely with indigenous participants.     

EFFECTS OF PARENTAL DIVORCE OR A FATHER'S DEATH ON HIGH SCHOOL COMPLETION

Associations between parental loss and high school (HS) completion were examined in data drawn from 1,761 male and 1,689 female offspring born in wedlock to mothers participating in a nationally representative study. Multiple logistic regression models were conducted predicting HS completion by age 19 among offspring whose parents divorced or father died, compared to offspring of continuously married parents. Models were estimated without and with adjustment for correlated sociodemographic characteristics, including maternal education and age at first childbirth and offspring age at last assessment and race/ethnicity. In unadjusted models, parental divorce predicted a 41% decreased odds of HS completion for males, and paternal death predicted a 79% decreased odds of HS completion for females. In models including sociodemographic risk factors, associations between parental divorce and paternal death reduced slightly. Findings highlight the importance of examining unique risks from paternal death versus parental divorce on educational attainment in male and female offspring.     

Missing the Chalkboard: Using Screencasting in the Online Classroom

This article describes the use of screencasting in online education courses. It defines and explores screencasting and how it can be used in online class environments. It also defines and gives a history of screencasting as well as examines how it can be used in a college online classroom. The article explains the step-by-step process for creating a screencast and the reasons why it would help online educators. Moreover, it presents how screencasting can be applied to various teaching settings and provides links to various free and fee-based online screencasting tools. This hands-on approach to education provides teachers with a creative and timely way to promote 21st-century learning in and out of the classroom.     

Child Care Decision Making: Understanding Priorities and Processes Used by Low-Income Families in Minnesota

Research Findings: Few studies have described parents' child care decision-making process, yet understanding how parents make child care choices is fundamental to developing effective services to promote the selection of high-quality care. This study used latent profile analysis to distinguish subgroups of low-income parents identified as having commonalities in the number of options, duration, and sources of information sought as part of their child care decision-making process. Study participants included 260 parents who participated in the baseline wave of the Minnesota Child Care Choices study, a longitudinal phone survey of welfare applicants. Two subgroups of parents were identified. The majority of parents (82%) made choices within 2 weeks and considered on average 2 arrangements. Fewer than half of these parents considered information from experts, public lists, or family members/friends when making a child care choice. The remaining 18% of the sample took on average 11 weeks to make a child care choice, considered on average 3 options, and relied more heavily on information from experts and family members/friends. Practice or Policy: Findings from this study have implications for the marketing of resource and referral counseling services, Quality Rating and Improvement Systems, and consumer education aimed at facilitating the selection of high-quality care.     

The Development and Validation of the eHealth Competency Scale: A Measurement of Self-Efficacy,Knowledge, Usage,and Motivation

The purpose of this study is to construct and validate a scale of electronic health (e-health) communication competence. Based on a comprehensive review of e-health literature, this scale was constructed using two studies to gather data and validate the scale; four dimensions emerged in the final measurement: e-health self-efficacy, knowledge, usage, and motivation. Results suggest the e-health competence scale is useful for researchers to develop online health interventions and other domains of computer-mediated communication.     

Evaluating engineering thinking in undergraduate engineering and liberal arts students

ABSTRACT

This study explored if it is possible for liberal arts students to develop engineering professional competencies without detailed engagement with the engineering sciences. Students on a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences programme were compared with their undergraduate peers in Civil Engineering. A new method for evaluating such competencies was developed. Two one-hour individual problem-solving exercises were devised to assess capabilities against 14 criteria, based on the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Competency framework for professional development (2011 The BASc cohort’s scores for each criterion improved notably from the start of term to the end. This cohort rated their capabilities more highly at the end of term and was more satisfied with the answers they gave. Engineering students showed a slight decline in performance against the criteria. Self-evaluation in this group revealed a smaller increase in perceived capability but increased dissatisfaction. Both cohorts felt more anxious about the assignment at the end of the term. PBL environments can improve student competence in attributes associated with professional engineering. The scope of the study is constrained by the small cohort but the findings and evaluation method provide the basis for further development, including detailed statistical evaluation and validation of the evaluation instrument.     

Observational,physiological, and self-report measures of children's anger: relations to reactive versus proactive aggression

The goal of this study was to examine the relations of reactive versus proactive aggression to children's anger, as assessed using observational, physiological, and self-report measures. Anger was hypothesized to be related to reactive aggression, but not to proactive aggression. Children (N = 272 second-grade boys and girls) participated in a procedure in which they lost a board game and prize to a confederate who cheated. Skin conductance reactivity and heart rate reactivity were measured throughout the procedure. Following the interaction, children viewed a videotape of the game and self-reported on their level of anger after each turn of the game. Observational coding of children's angry facial expressions and angry nonverbal behaviors was conducted. Reactive aggression, but not proactive aggression, was positively related to skin conductance reactivity and angry nonverbal behaviors, both at an aggregated level and in terms of rate of increase over the time span of the game.     

Peer interaction effects in the activation of categorical concepts

This study was aimed at investigating the effects of social interaction in a task involving the utilization of categorical concepts by 7- and 9-year-olds from two contrasting socio-economic backgrounds (upper class and lower class). The task, presented as a guessing game, was performed under two experimental conditions: an individual condition (one subject alone asked his/her partner questions) and a dyadic condition (two subjects formulated questions together to ask two other partners). In both experimental conditions, the «questioned» subjects answered «yes» or «no» to their partner’s (or partners’) questions. Two pre-test and post-test tasks (a nonmember task and a similarity task) involving the same categorical concepts as the training tasks were set up to assess the effects of training condition and socio-economic background on progress. An untrained group of subjects served as the control group. The results showed that the experimental setup was very beneficial for all subjects, regardless of what kind of training they had undergone (individual or dyadic) and what background they came from. These findings provide evidence of the effectiveness of the social regulation at work in both of these experimental conditions (yes/no feedback) for a task where the socially-defined goal to be attained by the subjects is represented in an unambiguous manner.