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The connection between the name "Daryl Siedentop" and the model "Sport Education" has evolved over the past three decades to become a prominent brand of physical education. This paper attempts to capture the influence of Sport Education, not only within school physical education, but in ways and arenas far beyond Daryl's original imagination. It is now used in university physical education courses and teacher preparation programs, in summer camps, and there is evidence of some use in after-school and community sports settings. This evolution has manifest pedagogical iterations of the model far beyond the essential features articulated in his initial vision, and teachers, students, prospective teachers, and coaches have all found a renewed vigor in their sport experience. The paper describes some of these "beyond" iterations of the model as a tribute to how Sport Education has served to realize multiple objectives for multiple practitioners in ways beyond his original aspirations.

Purpose: To examine the consistency of findings between two studies examining the impact of sport education on Chinese physical education preservice teachers' content knowledge and performance of volleyball and basketball. Methods: One hundred and six preservice teachers' from a university in central China participated in six semester-long courses of basketball taught using either a Multi-Activity or Sport Education model of instruction. Pre- and postcourse measures of game performance were recorded for common content knowledge and specialized content knowledge. Results: After controlling for preintervention scores, statistically significant differences favoring Sport Education were found for common content knowledge as well as specialized content knowledge. Students in Sport Education had 62 times higher odds of reaching the specialized content knowledge benchmark depth for acceptable content development. Conclusion: These findings provide support for the idea that the accountability mechanisms specific to Sport Education, together with the tasks related to designing team training plans, serve to promote students' ability to design and sequence tasks based on their team's needs.

The limited amount of research on the influence of social status during group work in physical education has typically focused on interactions and power. What is less understood is whether social status has an impact on various physical education outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine physical activity, game performance, and knowledge outcomes of high- and low-status fifth-grade students during a physical education field hockey unit delivered utilising the Sport Education model. 44 students completed sociometric peer nomination surveys to determine the social status hierarchy of all students in the class. Students wore accelerometers to measure moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during the unit. Pre- and post-unit game performance and knowledge were assessed through the Team Sport Assessment Procedure and cognitive tests, respectively. Repeated measures analysis of variance showed no significant difference between high- and low-status students' average MVPA over all phases of the unit (pre-season, season and post-season), while analysis of covariances revealed significant differences in game performance and field hockey knowledge based on social status. Results suggest while physical activity levels were similar between high- and low-status students, some lower-status students were at risk in terms of developing skills and knowledge.

Purpose: Mobile applications (apps) may help students develop their motor skills by using instant, augmented feedback. This study incorporated an app technology that may support students' skill and game play development during a badminton unit. Methods: Two eighth-grade classes participated in the study (the teacher only used the app in Class A; students used the app in Class B). The Poole forehand overhead clear shot skill test, game performance assessment instrument, and opportunity to respond observation tool were used to measure students' skill and game improvement in the study. Students in both intervention classes improved in the clear shot skill, game performance assessment instrument scores, and opportunity to respond rates throughout the badminton unit. Further research on the use of such app technologies should focus on how the apps can be innovative to foster student learning in game play within a variety of contexts in physical education settings.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Play Practice instruction on the badminton content knowledge and skill of a cohort of Chinese physical education majors. Method: Seventy-two second-year students participated in semester-long courses following either the principles of Play Practice or skill-focused instruction. A control/comparison group experimental design with pre- and postmeasures was used in this study. Separate analyses of variance with repeated measures (Time × Group) were conducted to examine the effects of Play Practice and skill-focused instruction for each of four dependent variables: (a) forehand clear, (b) tactical understanding, (c) game performance, and (d) specialized content knowledge. Results: Students from both conditions made significant improvements in all four variables across the semester. However, students in the Play Practice condition showed significantly greater gains in tactical understanding, game performance, and specialized content knowledge. In particular, while 75% of students who experienced Play Practice reached the 3.0 benchmark score for adequate specialized content knowledge, only 8% of students in skill-focused instruction reached this standard.

Purpose: This study examined the pedagogical experiences of former graduate teaching assistants following their teaching experiences at a youth development center. Method: A case study approach was utilized to investigate each participant case while a phenomenological approach was employed to analyze each case. The participants, Malik, Dante, and Ray, previously taught physical education at a youth development center as graduate teaching assistants. Results: The results of this study are presented as three cases centered on the participants and their experiences. The first case, "developing people from where they are, not where you want them to be . . ." (Malik) highlights the participants' appreciation of their students' culture and context. The second case, "resiliency to teach well regardless of circumstance or situation . . ." (Dante) features the participants' ability to teach diverse learners. The third case, "uphill battles . . . you cannot learn this in a textbook . . ." (Ray) features the challenges faced while teaching at the youth development center. Discussion: Consistencies across participants' experiences, the impact on their current careers, and implications for introducing culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies via nontraditional settings are discussed.

The main objectives of this study were to determine the percentage of teachers applying the Sport Education (SE) model in a central region of Spain and to identify the features these teachers perceived they were using when applying it. As a secondary objective, an attempt was made to respond to the differences in the application of the model depending on the educational stage and gender, and to determine any differences between the curriculum features of teachers applying SE and those who follow other methodologies. One hundred and ninety-nine physical education (PE) teachers participated in this study and a survey research design was used. The results reinforce the notion that PE teachers apply SE in a contextualised and pragmatic way. A significant percentage of teachers (64.8%) reported using SE in their curriculums, which demonstrates the success in expanding this instructional model in this region. Teachers also perceived that they applied a high percentage of the SE elements, although there was low fidelity to most of those elements that were considered to be central to the model such as extended units and permanent teams. Results are discussed based on literature about which goals are achieved and which ones are not based on the degree of fidelity to the central elements of the model. Implications for teacher training and future research are provided.

Background: The concept of engagement is a multidimensional construct that has long been used by researchers as a means of explaining student behaviour in classrooms and schools. However, the research using this construct within physical education has been particularly uneven. Purpose: The goal of this paper was to examine the application of the concept of student engagement with the research literature on physical education. Method: The scoping review was conducted using the boundaries of including the terms 'physical education' and 'engagement' in the title, being located specifically within physical education settings, and focused on student (rather than teacher) engagement. Results: Analysis of the corpus of papers led to the conclusion that studies could be grouped into five categories, with each differentiated by source, involvement of theory, methodology, definitions of engagement, and intended audience. These were given the following labels: (i) studies involving operational and multi-dimensional definitions of engagement (ii) figurative studies (iii) single dimension studies, (iv) qualitative studies, and (v) reviews and practitioner-oriented papers. Discussion: Given the considerable diversity in the application of the term engagement, it is recommended that future research in the field (no matter the intended audience), should consider the author's interpretation of the term formally somewhere in the introduction. In addition, it is proposed that future empirical research examining student engagement in physical education could also benefit from including evidence of both student self-perceptions about their engagement as well as observations of their in-class behaviours.

This paper presents a summary of the research on teacher (and preservice teacher) content knowledge within physical education teaching and teacher education. It is organized around the key terms that are predominant in the literature of this field, namely, content knowledge, common content knowledge, and specialized content knowledge. Each of the studies and their key findings are presented within tables. The result is a document that serves as a primer, allowing readers a good understanding of the vocabulary of the field, as well as knowledge of the topics that have been researched to date.

Purpose: Acknowledging the growing ethnic and cultural gap in diverse teacher and student populations, this study examined the pedagogical experiences of undergraduate physical education teacher education seniors following a teaching experience at a youth development center. Method: A phenomenological case study approach was employed in which preservice teachers taught and participated in over 45 secondary physical education lessons. The primary data sources were reflective journals and semistructured interviews. Results: Two major themes were constructed that describe the journeys of the physical education teacher education seniors teaching at both the youth development center field experience and in their internship placements the following semester. Initially, the preservice teachers experienced nervousness, uncertainty, and concern but, across time, experienced a degree of change and growth that saw them becoming particularly aware of and appreciating the personal biographies of their students. Discussion: The extent to which the physical education teacher education seniors' experiences at the youth development center were transferred into their internships is discussed in addition to implications for introducing culturally relevant pedagogies in nontraditional settings.

This study aimed to examine the common content knowledge (CCK) of tennis and volleyball among U.S. physical education PSTs at the time they entered their PETE program. A secondary purpose was to investigate the relationship between PSTs' CCK levels of volleyball and tennis when entering a PETE program. A total of 116 PSTs from seven universities in volleyball and 122 PSTs from eight universities in tennis participated in the study. The data sources included participants' demographic backgrounds and CCK assessments of volleyball and tennis. Descriptive statistics showed that PSTs' mean percentage of the correct scores for both volleyball and tennis CCK were below 45%. In addition, the linear regression analyses showed that university affiliation and playing experiences in volleyball accounted for 28.7% of CCK and university affiliation, sex, and playing experiences in tennis accounted for 22.2% of CCK. The findings of the study provide evidence to support the importance of teaching content knowledge in teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purposes: (a) To describe how more experienced and expert teachers interpreted and delivered sport education (SE) during their careers and (b) to discover and describe factors within their occupational socialization that sustained the teachers' enthusiasm for and ability to deliver SE. Method: Participants were nine teachers. Primary data sources were formal interviews. Secondary supporting sources were documents and film. They were analyzed by employing standard interpretive methods. Credibility and trustworthiness were established through a search for discrepant and negative cases and member checking. Findings: At different times in their careers, the teachers delivered SE in one of four ways: watered down, through a cafeteria approach, the full version, and the full+ version. A number of factors from their acculturation, professional socialization, and organizational socialization enabled the teachers to deliver the full+ version or led to them delivering other versions of the model. Conclusions: The findings allow us to make practical suggestions for preservice and inservice teacher education that may help university faculty facilitate the teaching of SE.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Play Practice (PP) instruction on badminton performance in college students. Method: A total of 66 students from the United States and China participated in units following either the principles of PP or skill-focused instruction. A nonequivalent control/comparison group experimental design with premeasure and postmeasure was used in this study. Separate analyses of variance with repeated measures (Time × Group) were conducted to examine the effects of PP and skill-focused instruction for each of the four dependent variables: (1) forehand clear; (2) wall volley; (3) game performance; and (4) tactical understanding. Results: Both PP and skill-focused instruction conditions were effective in improving participants' skills from pretest to posttest. However, PP was also effective in improving participants' game performance. Conclusion: PP effectively developed both fundamental skills and tactical aspects of badminton without diminishing the transfer effect from practice to games.

This study examined the impact of including a formal requirement of achieving predetermined energy expenditures as part of students' participation grades during a Sport Education-based college physical education class. Calorie consumption was measured using the Heart Zones Blink 3.0 sensor, and the percentage of students who reached the lesson target was calculated across a 15-week semester. The instructor kept a weekly journal and students participated in interviews at mid and end of term. Results showed that the average calorie consumption across the semester well exceeded the daily targets, while the percentage of students who reached the daily challenge cutoff ranged from 77% to 100% (average = 87%). Analysis of the journal entries and interviews resulted in the generation of four themes: students' commitment to reaching the activity targets, group-based strategies for achieving physical activity targets, activity consequences of officiating roles, and activity challenges problematized skill development for some.

Background: Sport Education (SE: Siedentop, D. 1994. "Sport Education: Quality PE through Positive Sport Experiences." Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics) remains the most researched of all the pedagogical models and thus has the strongest body of evidence that it has the potential to deliver on psychomotor, cognitive and affective student learning outcomes. Despite this evidence, there has been less discussion within the academic community regarding the future of the model itself, or the empirical evidence still needed to facilitate its position in school physical education programs. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to garner a reflective summary of collective SE scholarship to frame academics' perspectives on the potential of SE as a viable pedagogical model for physical education. This viewpoint included strategies that may facilitate an increased use of the model by teachers in school programs and the empirical evidence still needed to help validate its position. Method: Academic participants were 34 university faculty from 11 different countries who had published empirical research on SE. Participants responded to an online survey designed to prompt descriptive reflections on the topics of (a) limits, constraints, and/or challenges in assisting teachers in learning to implement the model, (b) the capacity of SE for framing effective learning, (c) potential need for the model to evolve, (d) challenges in demonstrating the efficacy of the model, and (e) appropriate research designs for evaluating this efficacy? In-depth qualitative content analysis was conducted using open, axial and selective coding techniques with trustworthiness established through processes of credibility, dependability and confirmability strategies. Findings: Findings revealed support for the contemporary utility of SE within school physical education programs. Perceived constraints to its continued proliferation in schools included teachers' beliefs and values about physical education, and the institutional contexts and curriculum policies that operate in schools. Academics highlighted the need for research that mapped teachers' use of the model, including what features they consistently use and why they persist with the model to navigate achieving student learning outcomes. Future empirical efforts need to address the model's contribution to broader curriculum outcomes and as a potential change agent in disrupting the status quo of contemporary physical education curriculum design.

Purpose: To examine the consistency of findings between two studies examining the impact of sport education on Chinese physical education preservice teachers' content knowledge and performance of volleyball and basketball. Methods: One hundred and six preservice teachers' from a university in central China participated in six semester-long courses of basketball taught using either a Multi-Activity or Sport Education model of instruction. Pre- and postcourse measures of game performance were recorded for common content knowledge and specialized content knowledge. Results: After controlling for preintervention scores, statistically significant differences favoring Sport Education were found for common content knowledge as well as specialized content knowledge. Students in Sport Education had 62 times higher odds of reaching the specialized content knowledge benchmark depth for acceptable content development. Conclusion: These findings provide support for the idea that the accountability mechanisms specific to Sport Education, together with the tasks related to designing team training plans, serve to promote students' ability to design and sequence tasks based on their team's needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A teacher cannot teach what they do not know. Previous studies have demonstrated that increasing teachers' content knowledge (common content knowledge [CCK] and specialized content knowledge [SCK]) enhances teachers' teaching effectiveness, which in turn results in better student learning. In the limited curricular space available in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs, maximizing the allocated time for developing content knowledge among preservice teachers is crucial. The purpose of this article is to propose strategies for teaching content courses to develop preservice teachers' content knowledge using examples from volleyball. Various pedagogical strategies to develop content knowledge that can be used in classroom settings (e.g., repeated assessment, scaffolding, and modeling in different forms) are introduced. Increasing the amount of peer teaching and teaching of preK-12 students are also effective strategies to promote preservice teachers' learning of content knowledge and its application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) increases, there is a growing need to develop physical activity interventions that address the behavioral challenges experienced by individuals with ASD. Physical education teachers have employed behavioral supports that add more structure and adapt the environment for individuals with ASD, which are associated with increased engagement for individuals with ASD during PE. The purpose of this study was to quantify motor engaged behaviors (i.e. motor appropriate (MA)), motor inappropriate (MI), motor supported (MS) during skill practice in 18 individuals with ASD (ages 7-19 years) participating in an adapted tennis program (ACEing Autism) using the Academic Learning Time in Physical Education (ALT-PE) instrument. Overall, the supports provided during the program may have enabled participants with ASD to spend more time in MA and MS than MI. Indeed, the participants spent over 50% of their time in MA during the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to plan and enact appropriate learning environments in physical education (PE) teachers are increasingly directed to models based practice. The Sport Education model is one of these models for PE curriculum and teaching design that informs the content and pedagogical direction of sport teaching in PE. Despite Sport Education being well researched internationally, there are few examples of research consideration of this model in Australian PE in the last ten years. In this paper the aim is to appreciatively examine two secondary school PE teachers use of the Sport Education model in the context of their familiarisation of the new Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education. At the same time, exploring the use of Appreciative Inquiry to examine models based practice in PE was also an aim of the study. Data were collected from pre and post interviews with the teachers and an end of unit survey of the Year 9 students undertaking the Sport Education unit. The Sport Education model was found to be most suitable to teaching for student evidence of the personal and social skills elements of the Achievement Standard. Appreciative Inquiry was found to be suitable for foregrounding existing examples of teacher use of models based practice, highlighting what it is about the teachers that led them to stay with the model when the literature particular to Australian PE suggests mostly a continuation of the "traditional" physical education method.

This study examined the impact of including a formal requirement of achieving predetermined energy expenditures as part of students' participation grades during a Sport Education-based college physical education class. Calorie consumption was measured using the Heart Zones Blink 3.0 sensor, and the percentage of students who reached the lesson target was calculated across a 15-week semester. The instructor kept a weekly journal and students participated in interviews at mid and end of term. Results showed that the average calorie consumption across the semester well exceeded the daily targets, while the percentage of students who reached the daily challenge cutoff ranged from 77% to 100% (average = 87%). Analysis of the journal entries and interviews resulted in the generation of four themes: students' commitment to reaching the activity targets, group-based strategies for achieving physical activity targets, activity consequences of officiating roles, and activity challenges problematized skill development for some., For over 100 years, colleges and universities in the United States have offered physical education or physical activity programs to their students for course credit. Although these programs have been [...]

The goal of China's new guidelines for physical education within universities is to promote greater levels of active engagement and an emphasis on the development and cultivation of students' individual abilities. This study follows an engagement perspective to examine the responses of stakeholders to the incorporation of the essential elements of Sport Education within an elective physical education basketball sports club. Participants were 152 students who after five weeks of term could elect to participate in a Sport Education season or continue to practice individually. Dependent measures included club attendance, students' perceptions of competence, knowledge/understanding and enjoyment of basketball. In addition, the teacher kept a reflective log across the season and participated in a formal interview at season's end. The students who participated in the Sport Education option had significantly greater attendance than their skill practice classmates. Further, they reported significant improvements in competence, as well as a higher level of enjoyment over their previous college physical education experience. These results demonstrate that highly autonomous format of the basketball club is conducive in supporting students' engagement in physical education.

Given the concern of presenting physical education environments that promote equity, it is appropriate to study innovations that can achieve that goal. In this study, that innovation took the form of student-designed games (SDG). SDG is the process in which students create, practice, and refine their own games and in which the teacher acts more as a facilitator. In this project, we focused the influence of gender on two main topics with a cohort of 82 junior high school students in ten 75-min lessons over 5 weeks. These topics were (a) enjoyment and engagement and (b) game design outcomes. The research was conducted under case study design and involved three sources of data (field notes observations, focus group interviews, and survey). The quantitative data indicated that although all students appreciated the opportunity to design their own games, girls enjoyed the SDG process more than boys did. Further, from the interviews and observations, three themes related to students' enjoyment/engagement were generated and a notable difference was observed in terms of game design outcomes. The students said that they "enjoyed being able to work with groups chosen by themselves," that they did not believe that "boys and girls work well with the opposite sex," and that "playing games with your own group members is preferable." In terms of game design outcomes, girls created more ludic games, whereas boys created more strategic games. These findings show that SDG may be a powerful mechanism for empowering girls within physical education.

Background: There have been calls for research that provides a description of how physical education teachers persist in integrating student-centred pedagogical models, such as Sport Education (SE), in their professional practice [Hastie, P. A., and T. Wallhead. 2016. 'Models-Based Practice in Physical Education: The Case for Sport Education.' "Journal of Teaching in Physical Education" 35 (4): 390-399]. Specifically, more information is required on how physical education teachers navigate the contextual challenges that schools provide to deliver the core structural features of SE. This study adds to the existing literature in this domain by using social media as a novel platform to explore an international sample of physical education teachers' perceptions of implementing SE. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the range of dilemmas physical education teachers face when integrating SE into their curricula. Method: This qualitative research was completed through conducting a Twitter #chat with fifty-two physical education teachers who self-identified through their participation in the #chat as having an interest in SE. An inductive content analysis was used to analyze the data, grounded in Windschitl's (2002) dilemmas framework. Findings: The main benefits/successes of the physical education teachers' use of SE were related to pedagogical dilemmas. However, several conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political constraints affected physical education teachers' implementation of the model. A conceptual shift was needed to embrace a student-centred modality of instruction, however, the associated student learning outcomes related to this shift were viewed positively. Contextual challenges such as existing curricular structures and available resources often led to a pragmatic (and modified) version of SE manifesting in practice. Conclusions: Using Twitter enabled the capture of the realities of physical education teachers' practice with SE, suggesting they were interpretatively pragmatic in adapting the model to their situated context.

The purpose of this article is to provide information on how to teach a Sport Education fitness season with the intent to improve students' physical activity, fitness development, and health-related fitness knowledge as to work towards achieving SHAPE America's goal of 50 Million strong. Readers are provided with a daily lesson schedule, detailed information on each lesson, and figures on how to set up three different fitness challenges. Also included are notes that provide helpful tips to ensure trouble-free implementation of the season. This season has been tested in schools and the results showed significant improvements in health-related fitness knowledge and fitness tests, as well as the number of students reaching various healthy fitness zones.

The connection between the name "Daryl Siedentop" and the model "Sport Education" has evolved over the past three decades to become a prominent brand of physical education. This paper attempts to capture the influence of Sport Education, not only within school physical education, but in ways and arenas far beyond Daryl's original imagination. It is now used in university physical education courses and teacher preparation programs, in summer camps, and there is evidence of some use in after-school and community sports settings. This evolution has manifest pedagogical iterations of the model far beyond the essential features articulated in his initial vision, and teachers, students, prospective teachers, and coaches have all found a renewed vigor in their sport experience. The paper describes some of these "beyond" iterations of the model as a tribute to how Sport Education has served to realize multiple objectives for multiple practitioners in ways beyond his original aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was the first to examine game performance according to the tactical structures of invasion games throughout three consecutive model-based units. Twenty-six seventh grade students participated in three Sport Education seasons (basketball, handball, and football) taught through the tactical framework Invasion Games Competence model. Team membership remained the same throughout the three seasons and pre- and post-test game-play of three-a-side games involving the same opponent teams was assessed. Measures included overall game performance and four tactical structures indices: creating scoring opportunities (CSO); setting up an attack (SUA); prevent CSO; and prevent SUA. A 3 (group) × 2 (time) repeated measures analysis of variance tested differences between sports in the five performance measures. Correlations between the four tactical structures and game performance were tested and a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the predictive weight of the four tactical structures indices on game performance. While there were significant improvements in game performance of handball and football, but not in basketball, the breaking down of performance into tactical structures indices showed improvements in all seasons. The correlations increased across time between tactical structures indices and game performance and the predictive model of game performance extended to include the four tactical structures. Performance improvements were associated with contextual features of extended team membership and consequent attunement of game-play interpersonal dynamics, nature of peer-teaching mediation, and game forms design. Future research should examine the effects on game performance development of student augmented participation in problem-solving processes and asymmetric opposition game forms.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of ability grouping on game performance and physical activity levels of elementary school students during an invasion game. Method: Forty-eight fifth-grade students (22 girls) participated in eight games of "Over the Line Ball." Four of these games saw students in matched-ability teams (either all higher skilled or all lower skilled players), whereas in four games teams consisted of two higher skilled and two lower skilled players. A full factorial mixed analysis of variance was conducted, where ability grouping served as a within-subjects variable, and student gender and skill level served as between-subjects variables. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to determine the influence of game performance, grouping condition, and gender on moderate--vigorous physical activity. Results: There was a disordinal interaction between skill level and ability grouping on each of three performance variables (percentage success, rate of play, and game performance). Students' skill level and the homogeneity of games provided the best prediction of moderate--vigorous physical activity over and above the game performance scores alone. Conclusion: Grouping students into matched-ability-level games increased opportunities for success and physical activity for lower skilled students.

The purpose of this study was to analyse 18 Portuguese high school students' game play performance improvements across three hybrid Sport Education-Step-Game-Approach volleyball seasons. Students' play performance at the entry and exit points of each season was evaluated using the Game Performance Assessment Instrument during 2vs2 games. A series of hierarchical linear models was then constructed in order to quantify the impact of gender, skill and time on the students' Game Performance Index scores over the three seasons. The best predictive model showed a nonlinear effect of time on student performance such that all participants' levels improved from their first experience at the seventh-grade through to the end of the ninth-grade season. This study has shown the value of implementing multiple seasons of the same sport within Sport Education, as the implementation of three seasons seemed to produce a fading in the gaps between skill levels.

Background: Sport Education has a dual interest in promoting active student engagement in games and improvements in their game-play. However, very few studies have concurrently examined how learners' game-play development is influenced by cognitive, social, and situated constraints, especially over consecutive Sport Education seasons. Purpose: The purposes of this study were threefold: (i) to concurrently examine the evolution of students' game-play participation and performance; (ii) to examine the transfer of game-play configurations across three seasons of invasion games; and (iii) to investigate how students' game-play development was influenced by various situational constraints (e.g. nature of instruction, student engagement in instructional processes, and modifications imposed on the game forms). Participants and setting: The participants were 26 seventh-grade students (10 girls and 16 boys, mean age 12.3) from a middle school in northern Portugal. Students participated in three consecutive Sport Education seasons of basketball (19 × 45-minute lessons), handball (12 × 45-minute lessons), and football (16 × 45-minute lessons). Team membership remained the same throughout the three seasons. Two teams of five players (mean age 12.2), who played three-a-side games in every initial and final lesson of each season were sampled for game-play tracking across the three seasons. Methods: Digital video records were taken of 53 lessons. Pre-test to post-test quantitative measures were conducted on students' game involvement (sum of total game actions) and performance (decision-making, skill-execution, and efficacy). Descriptive narratives of play were created to capture the effects of contextual circumstances on participants' game-play behaviours and the evolution of their prototypical configurations of play. A field diary provided a chronological matrix of the principal instructional strategies and the instructional responsibility taken up by the teacher and students during the seasons. On-going student team interviews were conducted to gather learners' perceptions of how situational constraints influenced their game-play development. Findings: The narratives of play showed a noticeable evolution in the quality of players' game-play configurations over time. The progress in students' ability to play invasion games was influenced by an interdependent relationship between the nature of the instructional processes used, the level of cognitive and social engagement of students with the subject matter, and specific constraints imposed on the game forms (level of defensive pressure, the dimension of the field). Conclusions: Although most research in Sport Education has shown a positive trend of student game-play development, this study revealed that the evolution of game involvement and performance is neither linear nor concurrent. Both game-play development and the transfer of tactical solutions and decision-making processes across games within the same category were critically and differentially influenced by various situational constraints.

Purpose: Children who do not learn their fundamental motor skills (FMS) are more likely to be unskilled, sedentary adults. By consequence, it behooves those teaching physical education to put in place mechanisms that promote as well as motivate children to master their FMS. One approach to achieving this goal is through the adoption of mastery motivational climates (MMC) in physical education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a year-long (9-month) MMC physical education program on preschool children's FMS learning. Method: Participants (N = 96, MMC = 58, Comparison = 38) completed the Test of Gross Motor Development-Third Edition prior to and after intervention. Intact classrooms were randomly assigned to either a MMC or comparison group. A repeated measures nested MANOVA was used to test changes by group. Follow-up measurements included univariate repeated measures and simple effects analyses. Results: There were no significant multivariate differences based on class membership (p = 0.249), indicating the nested structure was not associated with any meaningful differences in test scores. There was a significant multivariate difference based on the interaction of time (pre- versus post-test) and group (p < 0.001). Both locomotor and ball skills significantly varied between groups and across time. Children in both groups improved from pre-test to post-test, but the rate of improvement was significantly greater for the MMC group. Conclusions: A year-long MMC intervention is beneficial for improving children's FMS.

Purpose: This study followed a strengths-based approach to identify the pathway children follow as they develop from novice to skillful learners during a mastery-motivational physical education setting. Method: Eleven 4-year-old children (nine boys) participated in a motor activity program delivered twice weekly across 26 weeks. The teacher participated in monthly 30-45-min interviews that sought to identify the critical moments of the program as it had progressed to that point in time. Photographic images of the children's experiences in the climate acted as prompts during interviews. Interview transcripts were subject to a deductive analysis in which the ideas of "what was working well" and "what the future might look like" were the initial categories. Results: Interview and photo analyses revealed that the children moved through three phases on their pathway towards mastery. In phase 1, "captivation" and "exploration," the children presented the teacher with challenges in developing the managerial system. In phase 2, "cooperation" and "consolidation," there was significantly less task modification and more time in deliberate practice. In phase 3, "dedication" and "collaboration," the children began to actively seek out the teacher as a resource to help them learn. Conclusions: The identification of critical teaching behaviors during the program adds support for our contention that the teacher is a critical component in helping children advance along the pathway of mastery when placed in an autonomy-supportive climate. These are allowing time for exploration and experiencing freedom, adding structure, and helping students learn to manage themselves.

Purpose: Mobile applications (apps) may help students develop their motor skills by using instant, augmented feedback. This study incorporated an app technology that may support students' skill and game play development during a badminton unit. Methods: Two eighth-grade classes participated in the study (the teacher only used the app in Class A; students used the app in Class B). The Poole forehand overhead clear shot skill test, game performance assessment instrument, and opportunity to respond observation tool were used to measure students' skill and game improvement in the study. Students in both intervention classes improved in the clear shot skill, game performance assessment instrument scores, and opportunity to respond rates throughout the badminton unit. Further research on the use of such app technologies should focus on how the apps can be innovative to foster student learning in game play within a variety of contexts in physical education settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the concern of presenting physical education environments that promote equity, it is appropriate to study innovations that can achieve that goal. In this study, that innovation took the form of student-designed games (SDG). SDG is the process in which students create, practice, and refine their own games and in which the teacher acts more as a facilitator. In this project, we focused the influence of gender on two main topics with a cohort of 82 junior high school students in ten 75-min lessons over 5 weeks. These topics were (a) enjoyment and engagement and (b) game design outcomes. The research was conducted under case study design and involved three sources of data (field notes observations, focus group interviews, and survey). The quantitative data indicated that although all students appreciated the opportunity to design their own games, girls enjoyed the SDG process more than boys did. Further, from the interviews and observations, three themes related to students' enjoyment/engagement were generated and a notable difference was observed in terms of game design outcomes. The students said that they 'enjoyed being able to work with groups chosen by themselves,' that they did not believe that 'boys and girls work well with the opposite sex,' and that 'playing games with your own group members is preferable.' In terms of game design outcomes, girls created more ludic games, whereas boys created more strategic games. These findings show that SDG may be a powerful mechanism for empowering girls within physical education., Society has promoted many forms of hierarchy based on ethnicity, religion, origin, culture, sexual orientation, and gender. Although physical education should be a site that minimizes prejudices, ample evidence suggests [...]

This study was the first in sport education to provide a yearlong, in-depth examination of the scaffolding processes used by a teacher during student participation in four consecutive seasons. Given the peer teaching format of the learning activities and curriculum ownership allocated to students, a focus was placed on the preparation of the students in the role of team coaches to conduct instruction in student-centred interactions (active engagement of teammates in problem-solving, discovery, and the construction of knowledge). Twenty-six seventh grade students participated in four consecutive seasons of sport education (basketball, handball, soccer, and volleyball). The research involved four action-research iterative cycles of planning, acting, monitoring, and reflecting. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with teams and exclusively with the student-coaches, lesson observations, and a field diary kept by the first author, who assumed the role of practitioner-researcher. Findings showed the scaffolding of the student-coaches' instructional leadership was a non-linear process contingently adjusted in reference to aspects such as student-coaches' progress in the mastery of instructional processes, the complexity of the domain-specific content, and the nature of the sports. As the student-coaches developed knowledge of content and instruction, they became increasingly self-assisted in the conduct of the learning activities. The ability to use simplified questioning to scaffold teammates' prior learning experiences, to prompt teammates' analysis and active discovery of solutions to game problems, and independent adjustment of instruction to the particular context were the key achievements. Specific training is necessary if student-coaches are to engage teammates actively in learning interactions.

A student-designed games (SDG) teaching unit could be described as the process in which students create, organise, practice and refine their own games within certain limits established by the teacher. This study compared how two different teaching approaches had an impact on students and their teacher. The researcher taught two SDG units to junior high school students. The information and communication technology (ICT) teaching approach provided students with the opportunity to design their games online beyond class time. The non-technological (NT) teaching approach provided a more traditional approach, having students designing their games with face-to-face interactions. Using a case study methodology, four different data collection methods were used: field note observations, Edmodo posts, interviews, and lesson plans. Both teaching approaches presented positive and challenging outcomes, with key differences being found. For teachers, these were: (i) introducing students to new culture; (ii) providing resources to support game design; (iii) teacher direction of student work; and (iv) the degree of linearity in students' work. For students, the main differences were: (i) students' overall engagement; (ii) intra-group and inter-group interactions; and (iii) the quality of playbooks. The ICT teaching approach was considered a more difficult teaching methodology that required more experience with SDG, constructivism, and ICT. Nevertheless, the ICT teaching approach also provided more equity among students as they were given more opportunity to share their ideas in online discussions. Future research may consider a hybrid model that focuses on the major benefits that can be derived from each teaching approach.

This article will provide a detailed account of a fishing sport education season focusing on the six key features of the model. Five specialty roles were created for this season, specifically for the fishing content. With this fishing content, teams participated in a variety of skill challenges, and fishing derbies that were staggered throughout the 19-day season. In this iteration, the culminating event was composed of a two-day Bass Master Classic, and an award ceremony held during the final class period. The instructor incorporated extracurricular fishing by allotting additional points to teams that not only fished outside of school, but also chose to participate with family and friends. Using the sport education model for instruction helps to produce children who are not only literate and competent in lifetime physical activities but are also enthusiastic about future participation.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide an integrated analysis of a teacher's peer-teaching mediation strategies, the student-coaches' instruction, and the students' gameplay development across 3 consecutive seasons of sport education. Method: Twenty-six 7th-grade students participated in 3 consecutive sport education seasons of invasion games (basketball, handball, and soccer). The research involved 3 action research cycles, 1 per season, and each cycle included the processes of planning, acting and monitoring, reflecting, and fact finding. Data collection consisted of videotape and audiotape records of all 47 lessons, a reflective field diary kept by the first author in the role of teacher-researcher, and a total of 24 semistructured focus-group interviews. Trustworthiness criteria for assuring the quality of qualitative research included extensive data triangulation, stakeholders' crosschecking, and collaborative interpretational analysis. Results: Through the application of systematic preparation strategies, student-coaches were able to successfully conduct team instruction that resulted in students' tactical development and improved performance. Aspects such as the study of predominant configurations of players' gameplay and similar tactical principles across games within the same category prevented a setback in the complexity of the learning content addressed at the beginning of each season. Players also showed an increasing ability to adapt gameplay to game conditions. Conclusions: While sport education has the capacity to develop competent players, different levels of teacher guidance and learners' instructional responsibility are necessary when teaching tactics.

Background: The template for the current study was the project conducted by Rosenthal [1973. "An Ecological Study of Free Play in the Nursery School." Doctoral diss., Wayne State University] where she investigated the attraction and holding power of various learning centres during free play in a naturalistic preschool setting. Rosenthal's most significant conclusion was that the characteristics of individual settings were more significant predictors of free play than demographic variables. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to follow Rosenthal's design within a physical education setting to answer three key questions; (i) across lessons, what is the extent and range of engagement across different activity stations, (ii) which activities have a stronger or weaker attractiveness in terms of enticing children to practice, and (iii) which activities have stronger or weaker holding power in terms of their capacity to sustain engagement? Participants and setting: The participants in this study were 12, four-year-old children (10 boys, 2 girls) who attended a daycare centre that serves mostly African American children. The children participated in a biweekly motor programme promoting motor-skill instruction over a ten-week period (~600 minutes). The mastery motivational climate of the programme was based on achievement goal theory and included six to eight motor-skill stations designed to promote locomotor and object-control skills, core balance, spatial awareness, as well as leg and arm strength. Methods: All sessions were videotaped using two wall-mounted cameras located in the top corners of the play area. The total and percentage of time each child spent directly engaged "in" each station was determined, as well as source (self, peer, or teacher) responsible for redirection of activity. Attraction power was measured as the number of different children who visited a station at least one time during a lesson, while holding power was measured as the mean time per focal child entry. Deductive analysis was then conducted by systematically looking for similarities or differences between each activity's attraction/holding power and those elements suggested by Rosenthal that would lead to satiation or prolonged engagement. Findings: The data on initiation and termination showed that 86.1% of station entries were spontaneously instigated by the children themselves, where on average they visited 4.43 different stations per 30-minute session. The most attractive settings were characterized by having elements of novelty, authenticity, and appeared to match the skill of the children. There was a wide range of setting differences in holding power, extending from just a little under a minute's average stay at kicking stations, to involvement lasting four times as long at jumping stations. Holding power was rooted in the extent to which the activity stations were built for success, had the potential for modification, and provided frequent indicators of progress. Conclusions: The major findings from this study would be that inter-setting variation is perhaps a more appropriate target for consideration in the design of learning tasks than is inter-individual variation, because settings are considerably more amenable to teacher control than are individual personalities. Implications for the design of tasks in physical education are included.

This article addresses the many ways in which schools can provide physical activity opportunities for students by taking advantage of hours that students might otherwise spend waiting for school to begin or playing computer games after school has ended. The article presents creative strategies for engaging students in activities that are inexpensive--such as activity prompts, intramurals, and facility sharing--as well as ideas that require more effort and community collaboration, such as the Walking School Bus.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Play Practice instruction on the badminton content knowledge and skill of a cohort of Chinese physical education majors. Method: Seventy-two second-year students participated in semester-long courses following either the principles of Play Practice or skill-focused instruction. A control/comparison group experimental design with pre- and postmeasures was used in this study. Separate analyses of variance with repeated measures (Time × Group) were conducted to examine the effects of Play Practice and skill-focused instruction for each of four dependent variables: (a) forehand clear, (b) tactical understanding, (c) game performance, and (d) specialized content knowledge. Results: Students from both conditions made significant improvements in all four variables across the semester. However, students in the Play Practice condition showed significantly greater gains in tactical understanding, game performance, and specialized content knowledge. In particular, while 75% of students who experienced Play Practice reached the 3.0 benchmark score for adequate specialized content knowledge, only 8% of students in skill-focused instruction reached this standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examined the pedagogical experiences of former graduate teaching assistants following their teaching experiences at a youth development center. Method: A case study approach was utilized to investigate each participant case while a phenomenological approach was employed to analyze each case. The participants, Malik, Dante, and Ray, previously taught physical education at a youth development center as graduate teaching assistants. Results: The results of this study are presented as three cases centered on the participants and their experiences. The first case, "developing people from where they are, not where you want them to be..." (Malik) highlights the participants' appreciation of their students' culture and context. The second case, "resiliency to teach well regardless of circumstance or situation..." (Dante) features the participants' ability to teach diverse learners. The third case, "uphill battles... you cannot learn this in a textbook..." (Ray) features the challenges faced while teaching at the youth development center. Discussion: Consistencies across participants' experiences, the impact on their current careers, and implications for introducing culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies via nontraditional settings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In physical education (PE), children frequently participate in teams and the exchanges that transpire shape their perspectives and subsequently, influence learning. While Sport Education is one pedagogical model designed to enhance social exchanges through team membership, we previously identified the need for additional research to monitor these exchanges more closely. This study examined the verbal exchanges of students in two fourth grade PE classes participating in a season of team handball. One mixed-skill team from Class 1 (a heterogeneous skill league) and one low-skill team from Class 2 (a homogeneous skill league) were selected for in-depth study. Data collection included videotaped lessons from each team. Data analysis produced descriptive results of the frequency and focus of students' individual exchanges. Our results indicated middle-to-high status students had higher rates of exchanges at the commencement of the season segments. Students in the homogeneous league had higher frequencies of exchanges than those in the heterogeneous league, and the focus of exchanges predominantly included on-task exchanges for the skill, in both skill leagues. This study highlights the potential for varied rates of exchange, based on student characteristics and unit design. Careful consideration for these factors should be employed to determine optimal learning environments for students.

This study was designed to examine and intervene into student behaviours to promote a democratic, inclusive and participatory focus within Sport Education. To achieve an increased understanding of and changes within student behaviours, a collaborative participatory action research methodology was applied to provide voice to students as agents of change. The research progressed throughout an entire school year and was cast in two stages. The first was a season of Basketball that provided some baseline with respect to issues of equity and inclusion. This was followed by an intervention stage (seasons of Handball, Soccer and Volleyball) in which the identified issues were acted upon. Based upon issues unearthed during the action research cycles the intervention focused on legitimating different levels of participation through (1) a reconfiguration of the learning content, peer teaching activities and competition formats, (2) the discussion of inequity, exclusion, gender stereotyping and discrimination emerging from group dynamics within focus groups interviews and (3) the promotion of positive leadership behaviours of the student coaches through leadership seminars conducted outside the gym. By the end of the year, there was significant evidence of inclusive membership accompanied by the development of mutual trust among students and shared contributions towards a common and inclusive goal. A close interrelatedness was found between game competence development, trajectories of participation and sense of membership, the restructuring of power relations and the sharing of knowledge and investment of dominant and higher-skilled students towards more inclusive team goals. The Sport Education curriculum alone was insufficient to dismantle the deeply rooted negative cultural influences of community-based sports that influenced equity and inclusion. However, by planning and implementing a specific intervention that used the educational resources of Sport Education proactively it was possible to promote a more inclusive and equitable learning environment.

Background: Fundamental motor skill proficiency is essential for engagement in sports and physical play and in the development of a healthy lifestyle. Children with motor delays (with and without disabilities) lack the motor skills necessary to participate in games and physical activity, and tend to spend more time as onlookers than do their peers. As such, intervention programs are crucial in promoting motor skill development of children with motor delays. While mastery climate (MC) interventions have shown to positively impact children's motor performance, what is unknown is the impact of cognitive strategies used by children within these climates. Furthermore, although vigorous play seems to be related to the development of gross motor skills, it is still unknown if children with and without disabilities would benefit from exercise play (EP) interventions. Purpose: This study examined the effects of MC and EP interventions on the motor skill development and verbal recall (VR) of children with motor delays. The sample included children with and without disabilities. Research designs: One hundred and thirty-eight children from 27 urban public schools were referred to the present study. Children were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development second edition (TGMD-2) and a VR checklist. Sixty-four children (18 with disabilities and 46 without) met the inclusion criteria, which was a score less than the fifth percentile on the TGMD-2. Participants were randomly assigned to the MC or EP 14-week interventions emphasizing gross motor skill practice. Data collection and analysis: Children were assessed at pre- and postintervention. A 2 (groups) × 2 (disability) × 2 (time) analyses of variance with repeated measures on the last factor was conducted. Change scores, t-test comparisons on the delta scores and Cohen's D were also calculated. Results: The MC group demonstrated significant and positive changes over the intervention period. Further, the MC group showed superior locomotor and object control performance and higher recall of verbal cues (p = .05) at post-intervention compared to the EP group. Children with and without disabilities within the MC showed similar patterns of improvement. The EP intervention did not demonstrate significant improvements. Conclusion: Children with and without disabilities showed improvements in motor skills and VR when exposed to an MC, incorporating the six TARGET structures. These structures included (a) providing feedback and encouragement, providing opportunities for decision-making and establishing personal goals, (b) including parents in the recognition of children's achievements, (c) creating opportunities to experience leadership and self-pacing, (d) guiding children to use verbal cues and modeling when practicing gross motor skills, and (e) providing demonstrations and teaching children to self-monitor their performance. Instruction is therefore seen as critical to learning gross motor skills, as demonstrated from the findings. Although there were opportunities for vigorous play within the EP intervention, the children did not show improvements in motor performance or VR. These findings suggest that new trends in teacher education physical education to prioritize physical activity over good motor skill instruction may not be advantageous for children in the early years, and should be reconsidered.

Background: A guiding principle of Sport Education is that all students get equal opportunity to play, which is expedited through the use of small-sided contests. One element included within the philosophy of Sport Education is that of "graded competition." In graded competition, leagues are arranged that match students of similar skill level against one another, and in some cases, even the game forms are different across the competition levels. To date, there are no studies that have examined the utility of graded competition as promoting either student engagement or learning. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that using graded competition would increase opportunities for game involvement and success rates of both higher and lower skill level students. Participants and setting: The participants in this study were 106 fourth-grade students (51 boys and 55 girls, aged 10-11) from two physical education classes within an elementary school in the southeastern United States. The content was an 18-lesson season of mini-handball taught following the principles of Sport Education. While the overall season format for both classes was the same, the composition of teams varied between the two. In the first class, all teams were heterogeneous with a mix of higher and lower skilled players. These students were able to divide into their sub-teams in any combination they wished. In the second class, two homogeneous leagues were formed; one consisting of teams with all higher skilled students and the other with teams of all lower skilled students. There was no inter-league play. Rather, there were two parallel competitions and two championships. Methods: Digital video records were made of 76 games played during the seasons. Each time a player (a) made contact with the ball (a pass, catch, or interception), (b) was the target of a pass but did not receive it (overthrow or interception), or (c) was involved with a shot on goal (as shooter or goalkeeper), that activity was recorded. A 2 (skill: high/low) × 2 (sex) × 3 (grouping: all low/all high/mixed) full factorial mixed analysis of variance was conducted on the following dependent variables: (a) percent success, (b) ball engagement rate, and (c) efficiency, with the game being the unit of analysis. Findings: The key finding from this study was that in terms of success rates, engagement rates and playing efficiency, lower skilled students seemed to be at a disadvantage when they participated alongside higher skilled classmates. While less severe, there were also decrements in higher skilled student success rates and efficiency in these mixed-skill conditions. By consequence, while higher skilled boys could thrive in either homogenous or mixed level competitions, many girls and all students with lower skill levels benefitted from playing against students of similar skill levels. Conclusions: The grouping of students in terms of skill level has implications for their in-game behaviors, for the extent to which they can develop improved game performance, and potentially for their motivation to persist during play.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to review the research literature in physical education to establish what is currently known about the extent to which the national outcome goals have been achieved. Method: Papers were selected through an initial search of the EBSCO database, with main identifiers included being physical education, physical activity, and physical fitness, combined with the descriptors that represented the key idea of each of the give content standards. Further journal articles were then obtained through the citations and references in the original documents. Results: While there is a dearth of results that directly accounts for the accomplishment of the standards, the research suggests that the expectations of performance, as outlined in the standards, are being realized by less than half of all students participating in physical education. Discussion: The discussion presents a model for moving research in the field forward, and suggests there is a need for descriptive studies which provide rich details of the contexts where highly effective, as well as sophisticated interventions whose goal is to produce significant change in selected student outcomes.

Purpose: This study sought to determine how children's participation in physical activity during a mastery-motivational climate changed during a 20-week intervention and to compare it to children's free-play activity during a typical day at their local day-care facility. Method: Twelve 4-year-old children participated in a mastery-motivational climate physical activity program delivered 2 days a week for 20 weeks during a period of 8 months. All children were fitted with an Actigraph GT3X triaxial accelerometer. Data from the accelerometers were reduced to determine minutes of sedentary time, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during (a) all 20 weeks, and (b) Weeks 1 through 4, Weeks 9 through 12, and Weeks 17 to 20 for the mastery climate. Activity levels in the mastery condition were compared to the children's activity during unplanned free play in Weeks 1, 10, and 20. Results: During the course of the mastery-motivational climate program, participation in sedentary behavior decreased statistically significantly, while participation in MVPA increased statistically significantly. Within the free-play condition, there were no changes in the levels of activity across time, with the children spending on average more than 80% of their time being sedentary. Conclusions: Findings indicate that when specific task structures associated with a mastery climate are included in an instructional setting, these climate manipulations seem to have a direct effect on physical activity levels once the children learned how to manage themselves in the setting. Free-play activity in and of itself does not appear to stimulate MVPA.