Our Constructed Reality: Some Contributions of an Alternative Perspective to Physical Education Pedagogy

This paper describes a loose coalition of ideas that form an alternative perspective to the dominant research and development work currently being conducted in physical education pedagogy. It is argued that the profession will be best served if both perspectives better understand and share their assumptions, and especially if they recognize the subjective nature of their work.     

Interdisciplinary expansion of conceptual foundations: Insights from beyond our field

The field of gifted education is very complex, covering broad and deep conceptual terrain. Insights about giftedness and talent are available from diverse academic disciplines and at multiple levels of analysis. These levels are captured in an interpretive framework that moves from the macrolevels of broad sociopolitical, cultural, and economic contexts through the levels of the immediate classroom context and psychology of the individual to the microlevels of organic structure, microbiology and the subatomic realm. From each level, examples of insights of possible relevance to gifted education are provided as illustrations of the potential an interdisciplinary and interlevel search has for expanding the conceptual foundations of the field.     

Effective high school teachers: A mixed investigation

The researchers conducted a sequential qualitative–quantitative mixed analysis of the characteristics of effective high school teachers as perceived by 615 college students, predominantly Hispanic, at two Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Qualitative analyses revealed the presence of 24 themes: Caring; Communication; Creative; Disciplinarian; Fairness; Flexible; Friendly; Fun; Knowledgeable; Listening; Manages Classroom; Uses Different Modalities; Involving; Motivating; Organized; Passion for Teaching; Patience; Builds Relationships; Shows others respect; Challenges; Service; Teaches Well; Good Personality; and Understanding. These themes were quantitized and statistically analyzed to determine whether differences were present as a function of gender, ethnicity, student status, and generational status. All possible subtests discriminant analyses revealed statistically significant differences in dominant themes in these areas. In addition to providing a model of mixed analysis, implications are discussed.