Physical education's role in public health: steps forward and backward over 20 years and HOPE for the future

The 1991 paper, "Physical education's role in public health" described the importance of physical education in addressing public health problems. On its 20th anniversary, this article reviews accomplishments in improving the health impact of physical education and identifies areas lacking progress. Major accomplishments include development of evidence-based programs, documentation of health and academic benefits of physical education, and acceptance of physical education as a public health resource. Additional work is needed to evaluate the uptake of evidence-based programs, improve national surveillance of physical education quantity and quality, establish stronger policies supporting active physical education, and achieve wide acceptance of public health goals within the physical education field. These opportunities constitute an agenda for actualizing the promise of health-optimizing physical education before the next 20 year anniversary.     

The utility and challenges of using ICD codes in child maltreatment research: A review of existing literature

ObjectiveThe objectives of this article are to explore the extent to which the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) has been used in child abuse research, to describe how the ICD system has been applied, and to assess factors affecting the reliability of ICD coded data in child abuse research.MethodsPubMed, CINAHL, PsychInfo and Google Scholar were searched for peer reviewed articles written since 1989 that used ICD as the classification system to identify cases and research child abuse using health databases. Snowballing strategies were also employed by searching the bibliographies of retrieved references to identify relevant associated articles. The papers identified through the search were independently screened by two authors for inclusion, resulting in 47 studies selected for the review. Due to heterogeneity of studies meta-analysis was not performed.ResultsThis paper highlights both utility and limitations of ICD coded data. ICD codes have been widely used to conduct research into child maltreatment in health data systems. The codes appear to be used primarily to determine child maltreatment patterns within identified diagnoses or to identify child maltreatment cases for research.ConclusionsA significant impediment to the use of ICD codes in child maltreatment research is the under ascertainment of child maltreatment by using coded data alone. This is most clearly identified and, to some degree, quantified, in research where data linkage is used.Practice implicationsThe importance of improved child maltreatment identification will assist in identifying risk factors and creating programs that can prevent and treat child maltreatment and assist in meeting reporting obligations under the CRC.     

Promoting Physical Activity in Youth: Focus on Middle SchooI Environments

The sharp decline in physical activity during adolescence is a national concem. However. few studies of adherence to exercise and physical activity have heen conducted with youths. This paper focuses on ecological approaches for promoting physical activily in middle schools. Baseline data collected in physical education classes. leisure time settings, and suuctured extracurricular programs during the four-year Middle School Physical Activity and Nutrition (M-SPAN) project are reviewed. Refocusing physical education goals, promoting gender equity in physical activity opportunities. and linking schools with conimunity agencies are recommended as means for promoting physical activity among adolescents.     

SPARK, a confidential web–based template for self and peer assessment of student teamwork: benefits of evaluating across different subjects

Students often enjoy learning in teams and developing teamwork skills, but criticise team assessment as unfair if there is equal reward for unequal contributions. This paper describes the design, implementation and evaluation in four subjects of the Self and Peer Assessment Resource Kit (SPARK), a web–based template which aims to improve learning from team assessment tasks and make the assessment fairer for students. Students benefit because the web–based template improves confidentiality and the potential for accurate assessment of relative contributions. Academics benefit through the potential for improving student learning from teamwork tasks, and saving time by automating the process of calculating self and peer adjustments of assessment grades, especially attractive for large enrolments. Benefits accrue to the institution and wider academic community because the template suits a range of group assessment situations. Based on experiences gained over five years of developing, evaluating and implementing SPARK, this paper aims to illustrate the potential benefits of the template to potential users and more critically, to use what was learned from implementing the template across a range of subjects to alert others to key issues for evaluating and disseminating educational technology innovations.     

Scholarship neglected? How levels are assigned for units of study in Australian undergraduate courses

Undergraduate units of study are typically differentiated by level as introductory, intermediate or advanced. This paper considers the processes used to create such differentiations together with their implications. Results from a survey of current policy and practice in Australian universities are presented. They reveal a paucity of guidance for lecturers as they design their unit presentations and assessment expectations to reflect the level assigned to their unit. There is also a widely held view that academics intuitively know how to interpret unit levels. The authors contend that current policy and practices associated with determining levels of units are inadequate and argue that more explicit definitions and educationally defensible processes are required.     

Acquisition,Preference and Follow-up Comparison Across Three AAC Modalities Taught to Two Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Identifying an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) method for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might be informed by comparing their performance with, and preference for, a range of communication modalities. Towards this end, the present study involved two children with ASD who were taught to request the continuation of toy play by: (a) signing MORE, (b) exchanging a picture card representing MORE, and (c) touching a MORE symbol from the screen of a speech-generating device. The children were also given opportunities to choose among the three modalities to identify their preferred method of communication. Both children performed better with picture exchange and the speech-generating device than with manual signing, but had variable performance during follow-up. Both children more often chose the speech-generating device, suggesting a preference for that modality. We conclude that concurrent intervention across several communication methods can generate data to inform the selection of an AAC modality.     

Effects of health-related physical education on academic achievement: project SPARK.

The effects of a 2-year health-related school physical education program on standardized academic achievement scores was assessed in 759 children who completed Metropolitan Achievement Tests before and after the program. Schools were randomly assigned to condition: (a) Specialists taught the Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids curriculum; (b) classroom teachers were trained to implement the curriculum; and (c) controls continued their usual programs. The Trained Teacher condition was superior to Control on Language, Reading, and Basic Battery. The Specialist condition was superior to Control on Reading, but inferior on Language. Despite devoting twice as many minutes per week to physical education as Controls, the health-related physical education program did not interfere with academic achievement. Health-related physical education may have favorable effects on students' academic achievement.