John Cheffers

Influence of Decision-Making on Attitudes, Creativity, Motor Skills and Self-Concept in Elementary Children

Abstract Attitudes, creativity, self-concept and motor skills were measured to determine the influence of decision-making on elementary children. Three groups of children (N = 208) were tested, one group was taught with the teacher dominating all classroom decisions, another group was encouraged to share in the decision-making, and a third group served as a control. Data were collected immediately before and after an eight-week instructional period. MANCOVA indicated that the two treatment groups had significantly higher scores than did the control group, and the shared decision-making group scored significantly higher than the teacher dominated group on measures of creativity, motor skills and self-concept. A 2 (treatment) × 2 (sex) × 5 (grade) ANOVA revealed significantly more positive attitude scores for children allowed to make decisions regarding their learning. Further, Pearson product-moment correlation showed the tested variables to be independent measures of a childs development.

Decision-Making in Elementary Age Children: Effects on Motor Skills and Self-Concept

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of vertical and horizontal teaching models on the development of specific motor skills and self-concept in elementary-aged children. The treatment group consisted of 230 Boston school children, grades one through five, who participated either in a physical activity program in which the teacher made all the decisions (vertical model) or in a program in which they shared in the decision-making process (horizontal model). An additional 115 elementary school children were used as a control group. The Cheffers Adaptation of Flanders Interaction Analysis System was used to verify the two treatments used in the study. The Body Coordination Test was used to test motor skill development, and the Martinek-Zaichkowsky Self-Concept Scale for Children was used to measure self-concept. Results indicated that a teacher-directed approach appears to be best for the development of motor skills and that a student-sharing approach has a definite positive effect ...

Tuesdays and Thursdays With Boston's Inner-City Youth

This article describes the prepracticum teacher preparation program at Boston University called The Tuesday-Thursday Program. Students are bused to Boston University in the fall and spring on Tuesdays and Thursdays for regular physical education classes, where professional preparation and research also are featured. The halcyon years were experienced during the court-order desegregation program of Judge Arthur Gamty when he sought equity for all Boston schoolchildren. The Tuesday-Thursday Program became a centerpiece and, by and large, achieved its goals. A residential field experience was added after the first two years of this 25-year program and became critically important in helping children mature and change and in assisting Boston University students in gaining vital teaching skills. Considerable research has been carried out since its inception with such variables as decision-making, social closeness, equity, instrument development and validation, involvement, and writing skills. The program has be...

Teaching analyses seminar

The question of involvement is critical to human functioning. The degree to which people commit their attention, interest, and labor determines the ultimate success of the venture at hand. Western culture has assumed, through institutions such as the work ethic, that degree of involvement will determine the nature and degree of success: “The harder we work, the more involved we have to be, and the greater our rewards will be.” Stemming from this reasoning, we have expected students to become involved in their studies from the day they enter nursery school to the day of college graduation. Noninvolvement on the other hand, has been interpreted as symptomatic of laziness, weakness of spirit, ineptness of mind, or inferiority of breeding.