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Highlights • This was one of the few large-scale curriculum intervention studies (n = 30 schools), that examined the effect of an elementary school constructivist physical education curriculum (i.e., the Science, PE & Me curriculum) on learners’ situational interest. • Based on the structured mean modeling analysis, the students in the intervention group showed statistically significantly higher perceptions of enjoyment, challenge, exploration, novelty, and attention demand about their physical education experiences than the students in the comparison group. • The findings suggest that the Science, PE & Me curriculum created a more interesting and motivational educational context than the traditional multi-activity sports-based physical education., Background The Science, PE, & Me! (SPEM) curriculum is a concept-based physical education curriculum that offers students coherent educational experiences for constructing health-related fitness knowledge through movement experiences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate students’ motivational response to the SPEM curriculum from the situational interest perspective. Methods The study used a cluster randomized controlled design in which 30 elementary schools in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the eastern United States were randomly assigned to an experimental or comparison condition. Although all students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades in the targeted schools were eligible to participate in the study, a random sample of students from the experimental (n = 1749; 15 schools) and comparison groups (n = 1985; 15 schools) provided data. Students’ motivational response to the SPEM curriculum or comparison curriculum was measured using the previously validated Situational Interest Scale–Elementary. Data were analyzed using structural mean modeling. Results The results demonstrated that the experimental group (as reference group) showed significantly higher enjoyment (z = –2.01), challenge (z = –6.54), exploration (z = –12.195), novelty (z = –8.80), and attention demand (z = –7.90) than the comparison group. Conclusion The findings indicate that the SPEM curriculum created a more situationally interesting context for learning than the comparison physical education curriculum., Graphic Abstract Image, graphical abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore and reveal naive conceptions and misconceptions about energy embedded in elementary school students' prior knowledge. Students' performance on standardized knowledge test was used to classify students into low, median and high levels of knowledge about the cardiovascular system. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with students in each group to extract their understanding of energy in relation to food choices, physical activities, and exercises. Analysis of the interview data generated six categories of naive conceptions and two categories of misconceptions. Different conceptual change theories, including Chi's ontological change theory, Ohlsson's resubsumption theory, and enculturation theory were used to analyze and understand these naive conceptions and misconceptions and why they could be robust to change. The analyses confirm the need to adopt a multi-theoretical approach to the understanding of students' naive conceptions and misconceptions (Chinn & Samarapungavan, 2009. Conceptual change-multiple routes, multiple mechanisms: A commentary on Ohlsson. Educational Psychologist, 44(1), 1-10). The findings encourage physical and health educators adopt different strategies to address the potential learning obstacles brought by students' naive conceptions and misconceptions.

Acquiring scientific knowledge about physical activity is necessary for students to become physically literate for life, and cognitive engagement and cognitive levels of tasks are two components that often determine the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition. This study sought to determine the extent to which students’ cognitive engagement in descriptive, relational and reasoning learning tasks contributed to their acquisition of knowledge and the extent to which cognitive engagement on lower-level tasks contributed to higher-level tasks (e.g. descriptive to relational to reasoning). The performance of students in descriptive, relational and reasoning tasks and knowledge acquisition was measured in 992 middle school students in active physical education lessons. The results revealed that students’ performance in relational (regression coefficient = 0.09, p < 0.01) and reasoning (regression coefficient = 0.06, p < 0.01) tasks directly contributed to their acquisition of knowledge (R2 = 0.14). The performance of students in descriptive tasks indirectly contributed to knowledge acquisition through influencing their performance in relational and reasoning tasks (indirect effect = 0.09, p < 0.01).

Based on the value orientation theory, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact of value orientation incongruence between physical education teachers and an externally designed curriculum on student learning in a concept-based fitness-centered physical education curriculum. Physical education teachers (n = 15) with different value orientations taught an externally designed, standards-based fitness/healthful living curriculum to their middle school students (n = 3,827) in 155 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade intact classes. A pre-post assessment design was used to determine whether student fitness/healthful living knowledge gains differed in terms of teachers’ value orientations. An ANOVA on class means of residual-adjusted knowledge gain scores revealed no statistically significant differences based on value orientations. The evidence suggests that teacher value orientation impact may be mediated by curriculum impact. This finding supports the observation that a well-designed physical education curriculum may minimize the impact of teachers’ diverse value orientations on the curriculum implementation and student learning.

Research has shown that interest in knowledge facilitates students' academic achievement in learning. Because individual interest is often based on how much one knows, in other words existing or prior knowledge, studying adolescents' interest in health-enhancing physical activity and its benefits should address the relation between the interest and their existing or prior physical activity knowledge. Understanding this relationship may help us facilitate students to not only develop interest in knowing more about but also actual adopt a healthy, active lifestyle. This study used a large-sample structural equation design to identify the relationship between middle school students' interest in physical activity knowledge and their prior physical activity knowledge, and to assess the change of this relationship over time. Guided by the declarative-procedural knowledge framework, latent growth models were developed and tested on data collected from a random sample of 3882 students from ten middle schools. The latent growth curve model indicated that, 1) on average, students experienced a significant interest decline in both procedural and declarative knowledge; 2) prior knowledge helped slow the decline and facilitated interest growth in knowledgeable students. The results suggest that existing knowledge determined the interest change.

Literate individuals possess knowledge and skill and can apply these to perform tasks in novel settings. Knowledge is at the heart of physical literacy and provides the foundation for knowing what to do and how and when to perform. In this paper I argue that physical literacy includes not only knowledge for performance but also the ability to apply knowledge and use knowledge for innovation. Scholars since the 1930s have addressed the role of knowledge in physical literacy designing curricula centered on transmitting knowledge through a range of interdisciplinary approaches to physical education. This emphasis on physical literacy curricula continues today in the Science, PE, & Me! and The Science of Healthful Living interdisciplinary curricula.

Students’ prior knowledge has been identified to play an important role in the learning process through conceptual change. In physical education, positive changes in students’ lifestyles may come from changes in their conceptual understanding. In this study 45 third grade students (mean age = 8.54 years) were interviewed during their regular physical education class to examine their mental models and naïve theories of blood circulation related to exercise. Results revealed one initial mental model (when you exercise, your blood goes everywhere in your body) and three synthetic mental models. These mental models were generated under the constraint of a naïve framework theory. Results are discussed in relation to: (a) the nature of gradual growth of students’ mental models through enrichment, (b) children’s prior experience of the physical world and their subsequent explanations of physiological changes related to exercise, and (c) physical education as a domain-specific knowledge.

For many years, pedagogical scholars and physical education (PE) teachers have worked to enhance effective teaching and learning environments. Yet for some children, youth, and young adults, many of the benefits associated with a physically active lifestyle remain elusive. Enhancing programming and performance to meet physical activity goals may require moving programs beyond "effective." It will require teachers and program leaders to focus programmatic attention on strategies to actually increase students' out-of-class physical activity behavior. Transformative PE provides physical activity content within a nurturing and motivating environment that can change students' lives. It focuses on PE students' role in cognitive decision making, self-motivation, and their search for personal meaning that can add connection and relevance to physical activities. In this SHAPE America - Society of Health and Physical Educators Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport Lecture, I have synthesized the research on these topics to emphasize useful findings applicable to teachers' everyday planning and teaching. Using sport, physical activity, dance, and adventure activities as the means to an end for personal and social growth, we can meet our commitment to effective standards-based education while preparing students for a lifetime of physical activity.

The process of effective teaching--teaching that directly leads to student learning of standards-based content--is tenuous at best and easily disrupted by contextual and behavioral factors. In this commentary, I discuss the role of student support and mediation in teacher effectiveness and curricular reform. The most vocal students in physical education classes appear to thrive in the current multiactivity, recreation-oriented sport culture that dominates many U.S. physical education programs. They expect lessons with minimal skill and tactical instruction and with maximum opportunities to play ball. I also comment on Ward's emphasis on the value of content-rich definitions of teaching effectiveness and argue for additional disciplinary-based, concept-rich cognitive outcomes for physical education to complement and enrich skill, sport, and physical activity performance. I lend my voice to Rink's call for comprehensive measures of teacher accountability as the most critical next step in physical education reform. I conclude by contesting McKenzie and Lounsbery's accusation of "muddled goals" in physical education. Although physical education advocates may present diverse content perspectives, student learning is the primary goal of physical education.

Exergaming provides an initial situationally interesting environment in physical education (PE) that serves to motivate novice players to engage in PE or physical activity. Current research suggests, however, that as students persist in this activity their situational interest decreases as their ability to exercise consistently at moderate intensity levels increases. In this article I will briefly review the literature citing benefits of exergaming and the role of exergaming in contemporary PE curricula before turning to the question of the place of exergaming in a learning-oriented approach to PE. I will suggest that exergaming, when taught within a situated learning framework, can contribute to student understanding of the effects of exercise on their bodies and may produce meaningful lessons to assist students to create, monitor, and adapt a fitness plan to participate in life long exercise using a variety of physical activities.

Background: Students’ prior knowledge plays an important role in learning new knowledge. In physical education (PE) and physical activity settings, studies have confirmed the role of students’ prior knowledge. According to Placek and Griffin, these studies demonstrate that our students are not empty balls waiting to be filled with knowledge and skill (air) when they arrive at our gymnasium doors. Instead they come ready for action, each with her or his own conceptions (mental models) of activity in general and, more specifically, the focus of that particular unit, lesson, or skill. Currently, however, we have little understanding of how mental models are generated in PE and guide students’ understandings and activity choices.Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine third-grade students’ mental models of energy expenditure during exercise and identify the underlying conceptual structures from which they were generated.Method: Forty-five third-grade students were interviewed during their regular PE cl...

Teaching fitness-related knowledge has become critical in developing children's healthful living behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a science-based, constructivist physical education curriculum on learning fitness knowledge critical to healthful living in elementary school students. The schools (N = 30) were randomly selected from one of the largest school districts in the United States and randomly assigned to treatment curriculum and control conditions. Students in third, fourth, and fifth grade (N = 5,717) were pre- and posttested on a standardized knowledge test on exercise principles and benefits in cardiorespiratory health, muscular capacity, and healthful nutrition and body flexibility. The results indicated that children in the treatment curriculum condition learned at a faster rate than their counterparts in the control condition. The results suggest that the constructivist curriculum is capable of inducing superior knowledge gain in third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children.

Background:Increasing caloric expenditure in physical education is considered an effective school-based approach to addressing the child obesity epidemic. This study was designed to determine synergistic influences of student characteristics and lesson factors on caloric expenditure in elementary and middle school physical education. Methods:The study used a multi-level design. Level-1 factors included personal characteristics: age, gender, and body mass index. Level-2 factors included lesson length, content, and school level. Based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention age–gender adjusted growth chart, students in 87 classes from 14 elementary and 15 middle schools were pre-screened into “Overweight”, “Healthy weight”, or “Thin” groups. One boy and one girl were randomly selected from each group in each class as data providers (264 elementary and 294 middle school students). Caloric expenditure was measured in 243 physical education lessons using accelerometers. Results:Analysis of variance revealed and hierarchical linear modeling confirmed separate age by body mass index, age by gender, and content by lesson–length interaction effects, suggesting that the personal and lesson factors influenced caloric expenditure independently. Older male and heavier students burned more calories in all lessons. Students burned more calories in 45–60 min sport skill or fitness lessons than in shorter (30 min) or longer (75–90 min) game or multi-activity lessons. Conclusions:The hypothesized cross-level interaction was not observed in the data. Caloric expenditure can be optimized in 45–60 min sport skill or fitness development lessons. It can be recommended that schools adopt 45–60 min lesson length and provide skill and fitness development tasks in physical education to maximize caloric expenditure.

Expectancy-Value Questionnaire (EVQ) measures student expectancy beliefs and task values of the domain content (Eccles & Wigfield, 1995).In this study the authors examine measurement invariance of EVQ in the domain of physical education between elementary and middle-school students. Participants included 811 students (3rd–5th grades) from 13 elementary and 903 (6th–8th grades) from 13 middle schools. Students completed the EVQ in their physical education classes within the same semester. A series of hierarchical steps for testing the measurement invariance were conducted based on means and covariance structures. The results suggest that the questionnaire possesses configural and metric invariance, but noninvariant item intercepts between these two groups of students (|∆CFI | > .05). EVQ can be used to measure expectancy-value constructs in physical education for both middle-school and elementary students. Yet the noninvariant item intercepts posted questions on how the measured construct difference should...

One question facing kinesiologists today is how to implement findings from research into society, in this case, physical education. In this paper I examine the role of a balanced approach to educational physical education in promoting physical activity. I argue that limiting physical education to simple tasks that encourage students to workout at target heart rate to expend calories is not an effective solution to the long-term challenge of promoting physically active lifestyles. As an alternative, I discuss research findings associated with motor skill competence, perceived competence, and knowledge growth that can increase individuals' options to participate in many different types of physical activity at greater intensities and for longer durations. I conclude by considering the role of educational physical education in public health initiatives with the goal of influencing students' decisions to embrace physical activity for a lifetime.

New opportunities exist in graduate and undergraduate kinesiology programs for both enhancement and innovation. Professional master's degrees prepare students for careers at the intersections of academic disciplines and the business world. Interdisciplinary study can result in opportunities not only for innovative research discoveries, but also for students to find meaningful connections within the kinesiology subdisciplines. Designing core courses for intentional far transfer of fundamental concepts using specific research supported strategies can enhance student satisfaction, retention, and learning.

Students' learning has been the center of schooling. This study examined the contribution of situational interest motivation and cognitive engagement in workbooks to student achievement in learning health-related fitness knowledge. Situational interest, performance on solving workbook problems, and knowledge gain in cardio-respiratory fitness and benefits were measured in 670 third-grade students from 13 randomly selected urban elementary schools. Structural equation modeling and regression curve estimation analyses revealed that situational interest contributed little to workbook performance and knowledge gain. Performance on solving workbook problems contributed significantly to knowledge gain. The results also show that skipping workbook tasks had stronger negative impact on knowledge gain than performing the tasks incorrectly, suggesting the importance of engaging students in the learning process by attempting the workbook tasks. The findings reinforced the value of using workbooks to facilitate cognitive knowledge learning in physical education, but raised questions about the direct function of situational interest on engaging students in cognitive learning.

The curriculum may superimpose a content-specific context that mediates motivation (Bong, 2001). This study examined content specificity of the expectancy-value motivation in elementary school physical education. Students’ expectancy beliefs and perceived task values from a cardiorespiratory fitness unit, a muscular fitness unit, and a traditional skill/game unit were analyzed using constant comparison coding procedures, multivariate analysis of variance, χ2, and correlation analyses. There was no difference in the intrinsic interest value among the three content conditions. Expectancy belief, attainment, and utility values were significantly higher for the cardiorespiratory fitness curriculum. Correlations differentiated among the expectancy-value components of the content conditions, providing further evidence of content specificity in the expectancy-value motivation process. The findings suggest that expectancy beliefs and task values should be incorporated in the theoretical platform for curriculum development based on the learning outcomes that can be specified with enhanced motivation effect.

It has been demonstrated that situational interest in physical activity may derive from five dimensional sources, Novelty, Optimal Challenge, Attention Demand, Exploration Intent, and Instant Enjoyment. The purpose of this study was to examine the multidimensional sources in elementary school physical education. The five dimensions were measured in 5,717 students in third, fourth, and fifth grades from a random sample of 30 elementary schools. Students' responses were randomly divided into two samples for a two-step confirmatory factor analysis. The results confirmed that the five dimensions are primary sources of situational interest for elementary school physical education. The findings implied that situational interest should be taken into account as a necessary curricular component in elementary physical education.

Constructivist physical education emphasizes cognitive engagement. This study examined the impact of a constructivist curriculum on in-class physical activity. Caloric expenditure in metabolic equivalents (MET) and vector magnitude count (VM) data from a random sample of 41 constructivist lessons were compared with those from a random sample of 35 nonconstructivist lessons. Statistical analyses revealed that students in both curriculum conditions were active at a similarly law-moderate level (MET = 2.6 for experimental, 2.5 for comparison, p = .30). Differences (p < .05) were found between the three units within the constructivist curriculum. The findings suggest that the constructivist approach may facilitate knowledge learning with little risk of reducing in-class physical activity.

In physical education, it has become necessary for children to learn kinesiological knowledge for understanding the benefits of physical activity and developing a physically active lifestyle. This study was conducted to determine the extent to which cognitive assignments about healthful living and fitness contributed to knowledge growth on cardiorespiratory fitness and health. Fourth grade students ( N = 616) from 15 randomly sampled urban elementary schools completed 34 cognitive assignments related to the cardiorespiratory physical activities they were engaged in across 10 lessons. Performance on the assignments were analyzed in relation to their knowledge gain measured using a standardized knowledge test. A multivariate discriminant analysis revealed that the cognitive assignments contributed to knowledge gain but the contribution varied assignment by assignment. A multiple regression analysis indicated that students’ assignment performance by lesson contributed positively to their knowledge growth scores. A content analysis based on the constructivist learning framework showed that observing–reasoning assignments contributed the most to knowledge growth. Analytical and analytical–application assignments contributed less than the constructivist theories would predict.

This paper highlights events and issues in the development of physical education as a school subject. From the origin of physical culture in the German and Swedish “Battle of the Gymnastics Systems” to the advent of the New Physical Education in 1927, physical education curriculum has been a contested terrain. This remains true today as physical educators must compete for school funding and other resources with highly valued subject areas. Unfortunately, serious contextual constraints continue to hamper the efforts of highly motivated, effective physical educators to teach physical education content in schools. Perhaps in the future, better opportunities can be found in other venues where physical education can one day be perceived as a high need, high demand priority for children and their families.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of three theoretical frameworks that appear related to teachers who manifest an ethic of care. An in-depth review of related literature develops Noddings' theory of the ethic of care, focusing on defi ning care in teaching. It is further supported with theories of moral development, the theory of relational knowing, and the role of self in teacher development. This article provides support for considering and incorporating the development of an ethic of care as fundamental pedagogical content knowledge to be included in pre-service teacher education

Student achievement motivation has become a complex construct in physical education because of the competitive nature of sports and physiological discomfort associated with exercising. With updated national standards, physical education has been undergoing a long-deserved curriculum reform that is expected to enhance student motivation by addressing personal, instructional, and curricular influences on students' intent to continue a physically active lifestyle. In this article, the authors summarized findings from research on 2 major achievement motivation constructs in physical education (rather than sports): achievement goals and interests. The authors also attempted to interpret the findings in relation to students' learning knowledge and skills in physical education. Advances made and issues evolved in the research were conceptualized, critiqued, and interpreted in the dynamics of teaching and learning. During the process, the authors further examined the efficacy of the findings and potential contribution of motivation research to the much-needed curriculum reform in physical education.

In social constructivist educational theory, the classroom is seen as a community of learners. According to social constructivists, learning occurs through peer interactions, student ownership of the curriculum and educational experiences that are authentic for students. The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers used social constructivist strategies to encourage student construction of knowledge and meanings, and how students constructed knowledge and meanings in two middle school physical education classrooms. A qualitative naturalistic design was used to collect data over a five-month period with two experienced middle school physical education teachers. Data included 11 weeks of observational field notes and interviews with teachers and students. Data were analyzed using cross-case and inductive analysis. Findings indicated that the teachers' strategies created a learning environment in which students actively constructed knowledge and meanings by making connections to their peers and b...

Developing trusting relationships between teachers and students in urban secondary schools everywhere is a challenging task that is essential to maintaining an effective learning environment. Trust involves a fragile web of relationships nurtured through positive daily interactions. We examined strategies that US urban high school teachers used to encourage hard-to-teach students to comply with school and class rules and engage in learning. Based on recommendations of these alienated students, we interviewed 18 teachers and observed four of their classes regularly for 4 months. We examine themes supporting an emerging theoretical framework of educational trust. Teachers encouraged their marginalized students to participate in learning by creating a curriculum and class environment that permitted many opportunities for engagement, provided positive interactions, encouraged the development of shared curriculum, and fostered student ownership. These features provided the foundation for educational trust based on themes of shared expectations, persistence, commitment, and voice.

As typically taught, sport-based, multiactivity approaches to physical education provide students with few opportunities to increase their skill, fitness, or understanding. Alternative curriculum models, such as Sport Education, Teaching Games for Understanding, and Fitness for Life, represent a second generation of models that build on strong statements of democratic, student-centered practice in physical education. In the What Goes Around section of the paper, I discuss the U.S. perspective on the origins of alternative physical education curriculum models introduced in the early and mid-20th century as a response to sport and exercise programs of the times. Today, with the help of physical educators, scholars are conducting research to test new curricular alternatives or prototypes to provide evidence-based support for these models. Yet, the multiactivity, sport-based curriculum continues to dominate in most U.S. physical education classes. I discuss reasons for this dogged persistence and propose reforms to disrupt this pervasive pattern in the future.

Physical educators have critical roles to play in assisting communities and schools to increase physical activity for all citizens. They can assist classroom teachers in increasing physical activity in the academic school day and can serve as school wellness directors to increase the amount of physical activity students and school staff members receive during the day. Additionally, physical educators can implement innovative approaches to physical education curricula to enhance students' opportunities to be active and to learn concepts to assist them to be physically active now and for a lifetime. When implementing evidence-based approaches to physical education, teachers need to teach the curriculum coherently and with fidelity. New programs such as Science, PE, & Me! and the Science of Healthful Living provide opportunities for students to examine the effects of exercise on their bodies in a physically active, learning-oriented approach to physical education. Educadores físicos têm um papel fundamental a desempenhar na ajuda às comunidades e escolas para aumentar o engajamento em atividade física por todos os cidadãos. Eles podem auxiliar professores de sala de aula inserindo atividade física no seu conteúdo acadêmico escolar e direcionar as escolas ao bem-estar e aumentar a oferta diária de atividade física a estudantes e funcionários da escola. Além disso, educadores físicos podem desenvolver abordagens inovadoras nos currículos de educação física de modo a aumentar as oportunidades dos alunos se tornarem ativos e aprenderem conceitos sobre ser fisicamente ativos agora e para toda a vida. Ao desenvolver abordagens baseadas em evidências sobre a educação física, os professores precisam implantar o currículo de forma coerente e com fidelidade. Novos programas, como o Science, PE, & Me! E o Science of Healthful Living oferecem oportunidades para estudantes examinar os efeitos do exercício sobre seus corpos sob uma educação física ativa, e abordagem da aprendizagem orientada. Educadores físicos tienen un papel clave que desempeñar para ayudar a las comunidades y las escuelas para aumentar la participación en la actividad física de todos los ciudadanos. Ellos pueden ayudar a los maestros en el aula mediante la inserción de la actividad física en su contenido académico escolar y las escuelas directas para el bienestar y aumentar la oferta de actividad física diaria para los estudiantes y el personal escolar. Además, los educadores físicos pueden desarrollar enfoques innovadores en los programas de educación física para aumentar las oportunidades para los estudiantes a participar activamente y aprender conceptos sobre la actividad física actual y para la vida. Desarrollar enfoques basados en la evidencia sobre la educación física, los profesores tienen que poner en práctica el plan de estudios coherente y fiel. Nuevos programas como Science, PE, & Me! y Science of Healthful Living, ofrecen oportunidades a los estudiantes para analizar los efectos del ejercicio en el cuerpo bajo una educación física activa, y el enfoque orientado al aprendizaje.

Disengaged students do not find the physical education curriculum interesting or meaningful and are unwilling to expend effort or participate in physical education activities. Like canaries kept in the coal mines, disengaged students warn us of the danger of continuing with current policies that fail to meet current students' needs. In this paper I examine the context of contemporary sport-based physical education that I believe contributes to student disengagement. I then argue that thematic interventions using a social constructivist perspective on curriculum development, such as “Sport for Peace,” can he used to enhance physical education experiences for disengaged students. I conclude by summarizing characteristics of a social constructivist approach to theme-based curricula that appear to hold promise for reconnecting disengaged students with sport-based physical education.

Major obstacles to educational effectiveness exist for many Low-income students of color who attend urban public schools. Many obstacles appear to be correlated with low incidences of physical activity in children and adolescents. Three factors—immediate and continual success, a relevant currculum, and trusting and caring relationships between students and teachers—appear essential to catching and holding the attention and interest of urban adolescents, opening possibilities for regular participation in an educational physical education environment.

Findings from physical education research conducted over the last two decades suggest that girls' experiences in and perceptions of physical education in many team sport-based programs are less than satisfactory. Team sports taught within a traditional multi-activity format often permit dominant aggressive male players to control the game, marginalizing and alienating low-skilled girls and boys. This paper critiques the circumstances often found in sport based physical education and reports the use of an innovative approach to team-sport curriculum entitled, 'Sport for Peace', to enhance girls' levels of engagement and satisfaction in urban high school physical education. In this research, seven teachers and 15 girls were involved in the curriculum innovation in three urban high schools. Teachers trained and mentored using the curriculum implemented the program in two classes in each school. The implementation process was described using observation protocols and the teachers and girls were interviewed formally at the conclusion of the observation period. Data were analysed using constant comparison. Findings suggested that the Sport for Peace curriculum improved the sport environment for girls by enhancing their perceptions of success, promoting ownership of the sport content and the class processes, creating authentic cooperative environments for boys and girls, and encouraging the use of second chances to promote understanding and learning. Boys' attitudes towards girls' ability and motivation became more positive and girls indicated that they enjoyed participating with boys in these sport programs. The findings were analysed within Ladson-Billings' conceptualization of culturally responsive pedagogy.

Establishing a line of research always begins with a plan of action that I call a research plan. For untenured faculty members, developing and implementing a research plan may seem more like racing through an orienteering course than creating a systematic plan to contribute new information to a knowledge base. Young scholars often feel as though they must dash madly from one orienteering flag (i.e., publication) to the next in their attempt to create products as quickly and efficiently as possible. Although products are important, I would like to encourage young scholars to slow their pace for just a moment and think about the development of their respective research plans as more like solving a puzzle than running a race. In the research puzzle, the central piece is the development of a theoretical framework to guide your research decisions. The theoretical framework is a structure that identifies and describes the major elements, variables, or constructs that organize your scholarship. It is used to hypothesize, understand, or give meaning to the relationships among the elements that influence, affect, or predict the events or outcomes you specify. The theoretical framework grows out of the research focus, guides the design of individual studies, and structures your research presentations and publications. It is important to begin to assemble the theoretical framework and the other pieces you will need to solve the research puzzle rather than racing around in a scattered attempt to produce a few disjointed products.

Student engagement is a critical issue in education. A key component of engagement is the student’s sense of membership. When students believe in and feel a part of the purposes of school and physical education, they are more likely to engage in activities and conform to norms. The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ perspectives on school membership and its relationship to physical education. Three teachers and 16 students from a large, urban high school were observed and interviewed. The data were analyzed via constant comparison. The results indicated that school and departmental practices interacted to influence students’ sense of membership. In particular, students failed to believe in the relevance and value of their experiences, and felt few social attachments. As a result, students frequently lacked the willingness and ability to engage in physical education.

Teachers’ educational values appear to influence their decision-making, but they are not the only decision-makers in the classroom. Students are also actively deciding on courses of action, yet educators know very little about students’ values or the interaction of teacher and student values. The purpose of this study was to examine levels of congruence between students’ and teachers’ values, and between their values and the curriculum. A multiphase research design involving observations, interviews, and Q methodology examined the educational values of 4 urban high school teachers and their students. Observation and interview data were analyzed via constant comparison. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the Q-sort data. Results indicated that teachers and students held potentially conflicting values about the educational and noneducational aspects of physical education, the role and value of social aspects, and the role of fun. Additionally, there was incongruence between participants’ values and the curricular model.

The purpose of this study was to model expert judgment in test and instrument development using the many-faceted Rasch model. A 150-item value orientation inventory-2 (VOI-2) assessing the value of...

Educational value orientations reflect teachers' philosophical beliefs about schooling and serveas the basis on which teachers make their decisions. Five value orientations have been identifiedempirically among physical educators: disciplinary mastery (DM), learning process (LP), selfactualization (SA), ecological integration (EI), and social responsibility (SR) (Ennis & Chen,1993). The Ennis Value Orientation Inventory (EnnisVOI) was designed and used in valueorientation research to elicit physical educators' educational values by having teachers prioritizea set of curricular decisions. The original inventory (VOI-1) (Ennis & Hooper, 1988) consistedof 75 decision statements organized into 15 five-statement sets. Each statement in a setrepresented one value orientation. In testing, teachers first read and consider statements in a set.Then, they rank the five statements using a different number on a 5-point scale (in which 1 =least important and 5 = most important) to indicate their value priority. Teachers' valueorientations emerge when they consistently rank the statements representing one particular valueorientation higher than others throughout the 15 sets.

The purpose of this study was to examine situational and personal contextual factors that teachers and students reported as enhancing or minimizing student engagement in urban high school physical education classes. In this ethnographic study, 21 physical education teachers and their students in six high schools were observed, and all teachers at six schools and 51 students at five schools were interviewed to examine their perspectives on physical education. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Findings suggested that students found some tasks to be embarrassing, boring, and irrelevant. Some students preferred to receive a failing grade rather than participate. All participants reported a sense of fear and alienation in the school or class environments. Students, however, described several teachers who created contexts of engagement in these schools. These teachers connected personally with students and worked to provide an innovative curriculum that students felt was relevant and worthwhile.

Research on physical educators’ value orientations has identified five orientations: disciplinary mastery, learning process, self-actualization, social responsibility, and ecological integration. An interpretive research design was used to compare the extent to which 2 physical education teachers’ content differed because of their value orientations. Findings revealed that the 2 teachers established curriculum goals and emphasized aspects of the physical education content that were associated with their individual value orientations. Dan, a learning-process-oriented teacher, stressed teaching students learning skills by breaking down movement skills into simple elements. John, a social-responsibility-oriented teacher, emphasized teaching social responsibility through physical activities. Both teachers viewed learning physical activities as a means to develop students’ analytic or social skills. However, philosophical differences were found in how curricular goals and content were determined. The findings suggest that clarifying teachers’ value orientations should be considered an appropriate initial step in curriculum innovation and change.