Catherine D. Ennis

Students' Experiences in Sport-Based Physical Education: [More Than] Apologies are Necessary

Those of us who have been participants in sport for much of our lives often find it a time-consuming and irrelevant task to defend the joys and rewards of physical activity to the uninformed or the uninitiated. Some physical education teachers are amazed at the energy they must spend motivating students to dress and participate in physical activity at the lowest intensity levels (Ennis, 1995). Even physiologists are modifying the “criteria” for health-enhancing exercise to make it more palatable for the majority of Americans who enjoy a sedentary lifestyle and are unconcerned with target heart rate zones. While many Americans watch sport, far fewer participate in sport as aphysical activity. Corlett, in his efforts to focus on the benefits of sport, glazes over the problems insidious in some sporting contexts. I will focus on problems plaguing sport-based, public school physical education that lead to discriminatory and abusive practices. I am most concerned with the policies used to perpetuate discrimina...

Curriculum: Forming and Reshaping the Vision of Physical Education in a High Need, Low Demand World of Schools

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.

Creating urban classroom communities worthy of trust

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.

Value Orientations: A Description of Teachers' Goals for Student Learning

This study examined the extent to which physical educators made consistent decisions regarding goals for student learning within five educational value orientations. The research examined value orientations within hypothetical educational situations as represented by a paper and pencil inventory. Ninety physical educators in three school districts in the midwest completed the Value Orientation Inventory (VOI). Total scores from each value orientation on the VOI were converted to T-scores and used to divide teachers into two groups representing high and low priority categories. Chi-square tests were used to examine the data by gender, teaching level, and teachers years of experience. Results indicated that 97% of the physical educators made consistent curricular and instructional decisions within one or more of the value orientations. There were no significant differences based on gender, level, or teaching experience.

On Their Own

JOPERD • Volume 81 No. 5 • May/June 2010 A s I have talked with physical educators in the United States and around the world about the goals for physical education, most agree that physical education should prepare students to participate in physical activity for a lifetime. We hope our students will participate in physical activity after graduation, when we are no longer there to structure the lesson and encourage effort and persistence—when they are on their own. Unfortunately, we know that many adults are sedentary, while others regularly drop out and back in to physical activity in response to life events. In this article, I will begin by discussing “Who will be active?” I will report research examining adolescent profiles to predict who is more or less likely to participate in physical activity after graduation. One of the most reliable predictors for lifelong physical activity appears to be the power of early physical activity experiences to shape future attitudes and expectations toward physical activity. This information can inform our understanding about physical education content and teaching strategies to increase students’ skillfulness, knowledge, perceived competence, and enjoyment in physical education, which may lead to lifetime physical activity choices when they are on their own.

Discrete Thinking Skills in Two Teachers' Physical Education Classes

Integrating thinking skills such as focusing, information gathering, and organization into all subjects is becoming increasingly important in elementary schools. The nonacademic subjects of physical education, art, and music can provide opportunities for teaching thinking skills. In this study, 2 physical education programs (8 classes) were examined for the presence of opportunities to use thinking skills. The programs were taught by 2 expert physical education teachers at different schools using the Logsdon physical eduction curriculum. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Results indicated that teachers used deductive and inductive strategies associated with teacher- and student-structured experiences to encourage student metacognition. Properties of the data categories represented discrete thinking skills, such as attention focusing, comparing, and analyzing, typically associated with thinking-readiness experiences.

Defining learning as conceptual change in physical education and physical activity settings.

Charles H. McCloy was a distinguished scholar whose many contributions in measurement are too numerous to mention. Like many scholars of the day, much of his work focused on improving the quality of motor performance. Sixty years ago, he identified a preliminary list of motor educability factors that he argued were instrumental to skilled performance (see Figure 1; McCloy, 1946). Although we describe and categorize many of these differently today, it is interesting to note the range of factors he included on this list. In motor learning, curriculum, and pedagogical studies, perspectives on learning encompass both knowledge and performance in physically active environments. Conceptualizations of what actually constitutes “learning,” continue to be the subject of much discussion in both educational psychology and pedagogy.

Implementation Challenges for a Constructivist Physical Education Curriculum.

Background: Curriculum fidelity describes the extent to which a curriculum is implemented faithfully as planned. Curriculum fidelity issues may arise when teachers implement the curriculum inconsistently due to differences in philosophy, barriers in the setting, or other local concerns. Purpose: The study examined challenges that a teacher faced in implementing a constructivist physical education curriculum that had fidelity implications. Research design: Ethnographic case study design was employed in the research. Participants and setting: One physical education teacher, ‘Daniel’, and his students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades participated in the study as they were involved in a curriculum intervention in a large urban school district in the US. Daniels school was randomly assigned to an experimental group to implement a physical education curriculum based on health/fitness-related science. Data collection: The researchers observed 75 lessons taught by Daniel using non-participant observation techniques and conducted two structured interviews with Daniel and eight interviews with his students. Data analysis: Constant comparison with open and axial coding was used to analyze the observation and interview data. Findings: Two thematic challenges emerged: (1) school contextual constraints that limited the fitness science learning environment in physical education, and (2) Daniels personal values and preference for a recreational rather than a science-based physical education program. These challenges impacted Daniels decisions when teaching the curriculum.

Communicating the Value of Active, Healthy Lifestyles to Urban Students

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.

Learning Science-Based Fitness Knowledge in Constructivist Physical Education.

Teaching fitness-related knowledge has become critical in developing childrens 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.Teaching fitness-related knowledge has become critical in developing childrens 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.