Examining the Impact of a Content Knowledge Professional Development Workshop Using a Knowledge Packet on a Teacher's Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Student Learning in an Upper Elementary Tennis Unit

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a two-hour professional development workshop g focused on content knowledge (CK) utilizing an upper elementary knowledge packet on the task selection and instruction (PCK) of a teacher delivering a three-day tennis unit to 4th and 5 th grade students. A secondary purpose was to examine student learning of tennis skills in a three-day tennis unit prior to (comparison condition) and following (experimental condition) the professional development workshop. The study was conducted in an elementary school with one physical education teacher and four classes of students (2 comparison [4th n = 9; 5th n = 17] and 2 experimental classes [4th n = 7; 5th n = 10]). The same teacher taught both the comparison and the experimental conditions. First, the teacher taught the students in the comparison condition, and then, the teacher received a two-hour CK professional development workshop using an upper elementary knowledge packet framed by Rink's stages of game development. Lastly, the teacher taught students in the experimental condition. The impact of the professional development workshop on the teacher's CK in tennis was examined by four different tests. The teacher's PCK was evaluated by the teacher's task selection and instruction. The students' learning was evaluated by the tennis skill performance test on a pre-and posttest. Descriptive statistics indicated that the teacher improved his CK after the professional development workshop (the skill performance test from 63.3 to 95%, more Stage 2 tasks lead students to be able to play games [2 to 7 tasks], and the test on student common errors from 55 to 85%). These improvements in his CK improved his PCK with more appropriate task selection (more appropriately sequenced tasks [61.05% to 91.12%] and more Stage 2 tasks [7.32 to 29.45%]) and better instruction (more accurate and appropriate cues [41.43 to 66.71%] and more congruent feedback [5.83 to 10.66]). Consequently, the Mann-Whitney test ran on gain scores (posttest - pretest) reported that the students in the experimental condition improved more in tennis skills than the students in the comparison condition (U = 84.50, [ Z = -2.99], p = 0.003, r = -0.46). This study successfully assisted the students performing skills in an isolated environment to a more dynamic environment by using Rink's stages of game development. Furthermore, the findings of this study also provided the first evidence in the line of CK intervention studies in the upper elementary age-band. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]