Bryan A. McCullick

The Self-Monitoring of Expert Sport Instructors

This study identified the major facets of professional practice monitored by expert teachers. Specifically the skills and knowledge expert sport instructors regularly scrutinized in order to improve their teaching and coaching were categorized and examined. Data were collected from 31 teachers listed by Golf Magazine as the Top 100 Golf Instructors in America. The teachers listed aspects of their teaching they regularly monitored in assessing their own strengths and weaknesses. Data were analyzed in three steps. First, responses were reviewed to identify the characteristics monitored by the teachers. Second, characteristics grouped under each theme were reviewed and clustered into representative categories. Third, all categories were reviewed to ensure every characteristic identified by the teachers was accounted for by theme or category, and that the investigators unanimously agreed to the coding of each characteristic From this process, five themes were constructed that represented the activities and qualities most often monitored by expert teachers: (a) skills (i.e., things teachers do), (b) knowledge base (i.e., things teachers know), (c) personal characteristics (i.e., things teachers are), (d) philosophy (i.e., things teachers believe), and (e) tools (i.e., things teachers use).

How the best get better: an analysis of the self-monitoring strategies used by expert golf instructors

The purpose of this study was to analyse the self-monitoring strategies that 31 expert golf instructors used to improve their teaching. Specifically, criteria characteristic of both instructional strengths and weaknesses were identified, as were the strategies these teachers used to continue to develop their strengths and improve their areas of weakness. Data were collected at Golf Magazines Top 100 Teacher Summit held at Pinehurst, NC. Teachers were asked to complete a written survey, which asked them to list aspects of their teaching they considered strengths and aspects they considered weaknesses. Subsequently, the teachers were requested to identify strategies they used to maintain their strengths and improve their weaknesses. Data were analysed by identifying themes in the teachers’ responses. Results of the analysis indicated that the teachers identified both goals and actions in their self-monitoring strategies. Self-monitoring goals included improving communication, adjustments to personal lifestyle, examining teaching perspectives and increasing learning. Self-monitoring actions incorporated seeking help from others, reading, using technology, developing business strategies and adapting teaching practices.

Variability of practice as an interface between motor and cognitive development

In this commentary, we highlight intriguing commonalities between the research areas of exercise and cognition and motor skill development and learning. While these two research domains have developed on separate tracks, the focus on variability of practice is central to both. We adopt a joint sport science and neuroscience approach to identify the characteristics of designed motor learning experiences that can impact brain plasticity and cognitive development. Novelty, diversity, effort, and successfulness seem essential ingredients to render learning experiences meaningful to this aim. All these characteristics belong to the construct of variability as it is conceived in the informational and ecological approaches to motor skill learning. To transition theory into practice, we discuss how variability of practice can impact cognitive and particularly executive function development. In this context, we address the role of flexibility training to support key transitions in the development of cognitive control, looking at the relation between repetition and change in physical activity in terms of trade-offs between costs and benefits of stability and flexibility. We conclude by reframing variability of practice into emerging models of embodied cognition, highlighting the potential of the proposed intersection of chronic exercise and cognition, cognitive development, and motor learning evidence to unwrap a new venue for sport sciences and quality physical education.

The Boston Normal School of Gymnastics: An Unheralded Legacy

In the late nineteenth century, issues such as professionalization, the advancement of women, and the appropriate training of teachers faced our field. The Boston Normal School of Gymnastics (BNSG) was instrumental in addressing these issues, and perhaps addressed most thoroughly, the training of teachers. This paper examines the legacy of the BNSG on todays physical education teacher preparation (PETE) programs. Many have documented the infloence of the BNSG as one of the first successful physical education teacher training institutions. However, what has not been examined are the particular philosophies of the administrators and teachers at the BNSG that still persevere in colleges and universities today. The BNSG was instrumental in the professionalization of the field and in the advancement of women in physical education. The argument is made that perhaps the BNSGs greatest contribution was in the development of many philosophies and basic pedagogical concepts such as combining theory and practice, teaching with progressions, and using experts to train future teachers, and these philosophies and concepts that guide todays PETE programs were the same used in the BNSG over a century ago.

The life of a gay student in a university physical education and sports department: a case study in Turkey

While Turkey is mostly a Muslim country, officially it is a secular country; traditional gender roles are still maintained, and homosexuality is a taboo subject. The Turkish sporting world is no exception; it also excludes and ignores the existence of homosexuals and homosexuality. Using a single case study, this study aimed to contribute to fill the gap in the understudied subject of homosexuality in physical education (PE) and sports literature through investigating the experiences of a gay male Turkish PE and sports major. The respondent was aged 25 and a fourth-year undergraduate student at the time. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondent based on his willingness to participate in the study and a semi-structured interview allowed for data to be collected regarding being gay in Turkey, and in particular in the PE and sports environment. The four major themes derived from the analysed interview data were (1) conflicting feelings about coming out of the closet, (2) life in the Turkish community, (3) life in a PE and sports department and (4) perceived roots of homophobia. The findings indicated that the respondents disclosure of his sexual orientation to friends resulted in positive reactions; however, he still hesitates to acknowledge his homosexuality publicly. Traditional gender roles, misconceptions about homosexuality and homosexuals and religion were perceived as the most influential factors for homophobic attitudes and behaviour in Turkish society. His experiences in Turkeys world of PE and sports were rife with homophobia.

Swedish Golf Success: Its History and Future

Swedish elite golfers have been unusually successful on the golf circuit, despite coming from a country with only 9 million people and with a climate that makes it impossible to play golf for more than 6 months a year. The study aimed to find an explanation for this success through interviews with professional players, their coaches and other experts in the field. Results point to a number of factors, including: A): the structure and organization of Swedish golf, b) well established training programs in the clubs, c) motivated and skilful coaches, d) a priority on developing the whole person rather than a singular focus on the golfer, and e) a team spirit that made golf the most fun sport imaginable for the players. As for the future, many respondents stressed the importance of: a) all-round training, b) a higher priority on developing the mental side of the game, and c) the need for a holistic approach to developing the player Organization and structure seem to be what most respondents –players and experts alike – consider the key factor when trying to explain the success of Swedish golf. Yet, at the same time having fun emerges as an important aspect

Experts' Content Knowledge of Fundamentals

This study examined the content knowledge of expert sport instructors in order to understand the nature of fundamentals in sport instruction. Data were collected through a questionnaire of expert golf teachers (n=50) from GOLF Magazines Top 100 Teachers list. These expert golf instructors were asked to identify what they believed were the five fundamentals of golf. Researchers found disagreement within the population. Two groups were then identified – the Element Instructors and Compound Instructors - based upon similar responses. Element Instructors were characterized by agreement within their group that grip, posture, and alignment were the fundamental skills of golf. Compound Instructors had no set of agreed-upon fundamentals. Researchers found no discernible rationales for this division-based on collected data. These results suggest that at least two “schools of thought” regarding content fundamentals exist and could indicate disagreement among expert golf instructors as a whole.

From the Cheap Seats: One Consideration of School-Based PE's Position in Contemporary American Schools.

Background: As the USA enters the second decade of the twenty-first century, it does so in a polarized political, social, and educational climate heretofore unseen in its relatively short history. Such a climate has implications for what role schools play in American society and especially how school-based physical education (SBPE) may need to reinvent how and what it contributes to the schooling of American children and, ultimately, the common good. Currently, SBPE receives verbal endorsement from the public and politicians yet little in the way of policy and financial support from legislators at national, state, and local levels. Aims: The purpose of this essay is to present a US-centered perspective on the current ‘position’ of SBPE and offer some modest (and hardly earth-shattering) suggestions for the immediate future from the perspective of a mid-career physical education teacher educator. Recommendations are made that may enable SBPE to make valuable contributions (perhaps even more that it currently does) and, hopefully, remove SBPE from the divided debate on what public schooling should include and how it should be provided. Conclusions: SBPE is in a precarious position where it can be severely wounded or even wiped out by those issues plaguing it or it can emerge from this time as a subject matter of great import. More importantly, it can emerge as this important piece of education on its own terms.

Discovering Golf's Innermost Truths: A New Approach to Teaching the Game: A Commentary

INTRODUCTION While there is abundant empirical support for what constitutes good teaching, it is a social science, and establishing certainties about it is a nearly impossible task, regardless of the subject matter being taught. After reading Peter Lightbown’s article, I emerged both fascinated and confused. I was fascinated because it provided an interesting biographical piece on how a teacher has adjusted his approach to teaching golf and has informed his approach with perspectives from diverse sources. The confusion stemmed from whether Peter was describing “truths,” a golf instructional method, a pedagogical approach, a philosophical view of the golf swing, or an epistemology. From my reading, it seemed as if it was a little of all. To any teacher, especially fellow golf teachers, Peter’s journey to his current stance on teaching golf is illustrative of an excellent and scholarly way to learn about teaching and develop teaching skills. His description of how he became open to other instructional philosophies and teachers is worth considering and should be lauded. Some of his points are well-taken and underscore major findings in the body of literature regarding teaching and sport pedagogy. At the same time, however, it would be prudent to confront some of his claims before deeming his views as the “innermost truths” or the way to teach golf. In this commentary, my purpose is twofold: i) to offer a balanced critique that will highlight some valuable and supportive points made; and ii) to offer challenges to some of the assertions.

Discovering Golf's Innermost Truths: A New Approach to Teaching the Game

INTRODUCTION While there is abundant empirical support for what constitutes good teaching, it is a social science, and establishing certainties about it is a nearly impossible task, regardless of the subject matter being taught. After reading Peter Lightbown’s article, I emerged both fascinated and confused. I was fascinated because it provided an interesting biographical piece on how a teacher has adjusted his approach to teaching golf and has informed his approach with perspectives from diverse sources. The confusion stemmed from whether Peter was describing “truths,” a golf instructional method, a pedagogical approach, a philosophical view of the golf swing, or an epistemology. From my reading, it seemed as if it was a little of all. To any teacher, especially fellow golf teachers, Peter’s journey to his current stance on teaching golf is illustrative of an excellent and scholarly way to learn about teaching and develop teaching skills. His description of how he became open to other instructional philosophies and teachers is worth considering and should be lauded. Some of his points are well-taken and underscore major findings in the body of literature regarding teaching and sport pedagogy. At the same time, however, it would be prudent to confront some of his claims before deeming his views as the “innermost truths” or the way to teach golf. In this commentary, my purpose is twofold: i) to offer a balanced critique that will highlight some valuable and supportive points made; and ii) to offer challenges to some of the assertions.