Daryl Siedentop

An Ecological Perspective on Physical Education

This paper reviews the use of the classroom ecology paradigm in teaching research in physical education. The review traces the development of a research program beginning in the United States at the Ohio State University, through the development of more sophisticated techniques, to answer the following key question:‘Why do some physical education classes seem so remarkably alive with learning potential and others seem so devoid of that very characteristic?’The classroom ecology paradigm examines the collective life of teachers and students as interaction among three interrelated systems (managerial, instructional, and student social) in which change in one system has distinct repercussions for the development of the others. Central to this representation is the issue of accountability, and this review provides a longitudinal account of research relating to this feature of the paradigm.The major findings of this review present a picture of physical education in which considerable negotiation takes place within many classes, where teachers trade off a reduction in the demands of the instructional system for cooperation in the management system.What accountability remains focuses primarily on orderly management, student cooperation, and at least minimal effort in activity tasks.Lack of alignment between unit objectives,practice tasks, and accountability measures accounts for typically poor student performance. Instructional ecologies at the elementary school level are more rigorous than at the secondary level. Finally, this review provides suggestions for future research in physical education, urging a focus more on student responses than teacher actions in our efforts to understand instructional effectiveness.

What is Sport Education and How Does it Work

(1998). What is Sport Education and How Does it Work? Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance: Vol. 69, No. 4, pp. 18-20.

Toward Collegiality: Competing Viewpoints Among Teacher Educators

A series of recent speeches, articles, and books have outlined a radical perspective on physical education derived from critical theory, feminism, and postmodernism. This radical discourse has been particularly critical of what it describes as positivistic approaches to research and technocratic views of teaching and curriculum. This article outlines our concerns with this literature, including (a) polemical presentations and vitriolic language, (b) zero-sum arguments that polarize, (c) cartooning, (d) a lack of evidence to defend assertions, and (e) assumptions that it alone occupies high moral ground. We acknowledge that the radical literature has not only brought moral issues to the ongoing forum among physical educators but has also had a direct, positive influence on our work. Areas where we might engage in a collegial discourse include the nature of the subject matter called physical education, the basis underlying a moral perspective on professional work, and the nature of teaching skill development.

Thinking Differently about Secondary Physical Education.

Abstract At a time in American culture when sport, fitness, and physically active leisure experiences are increasingly valued, school physical education is so often devalued, generally lacking in credibility within the secondary school culture, and often ridiculed by those outside the school.

Effects of a home-based activity program: a study with low fitness elementary school children

A home-based behavioral program utilizing contingency contracts and parent-determined rewards was employed in a changing criterion design to modify childrens physical activity levels and subsequent measures of health fitness. Children were initially diagnosed as being low in health fitness. Following diagnosis, the childs parents, with support from a trained physical education teacher (parenter), recorded baseline physical activity levels during nonschool hours. During intervention the level of physical activity was systematically increased by setting specific criterion levels of activity for each week. Levels of physical activity increased markedly during the extended 9-12 week intervention phase. Improvements in health fitness criterion measures were recorded. The implications for application and future research involving parents in areas related to physical education were discussed.

Going Public: Quality Control in Graduate Education

The supply-demand characteristics of the market for graduate education and the increased need for professional credentialing have led to a lowering of standards over the past 25 years. The masters degree is often a meaningless compilation of courses. The doctorate is too often less than a quality, research degree. Universities have developed many mechanisms for trying to maintain standards within graduate programs. The common denominator of effective quality control mechanisms is that they require the student to “go public” with hislher performances, thus opening those performances to the scrutiny of a wider community of scholars.

Beyond Arrogance and Ad Hominem: A Reply to Hal Lawson

The authors find Lawsons article to be both incorrect as to facts concerning the preparation of physical education teachers and misleading in the attempted analysis of problems in professional preparation. As such, the arguments set forth in the article will confuse and mislead rather than edify readers. Problematic areas in teacher preparation and the typical disciplinary agenda for reform are reviewed. Lawsons complex arguments are reduced to simple statements and critical errors of logic and fact are identified.