Maura Rosenthal

Alternatives to Using Exercise as Punishment.

JOPERD • Volume 81 No. 5 • May/June 2010 T he boys’ varsity volleyball team reluctantly gathers around their coach, Ms. Hicks, after dropping their third match of the season (7-3) to the (2-7) Panthers. Ms. Hicks barks at them to “drop and give me 20 push-ups, run three laps, do a cool down stretch, and come to practice tomorrow ready to run.” They are going to run “all day long” for making too many mistakes and losing to the Panthers. At the start of a middle school physical education class, students line up in their squads to listen to Mr. Thomson’s instructions about the warm-up activity. Caitlyn has already been asked once to “open her ears” yet she continues to talk with her friends while Mr. Thomson is addressing the class. When he can no longer ignore Caitlyn’s disruptions, he stops what he is saying and orders Caitlyn and her friends to take a lap on the track and return to their squad when they are ready to listen, while the rest of the class waits for them. What are these athletes learning about their sports, their teams, and about physical activity when their coach or teacher uses exercise as a punishment? Why do Ms. Hicks and Mr. Thomson use exercise as punishment to manage their teams and classes? Teachers and coaches may use exercise as punishment because it helps, in the short term, to refocus students’ attention and stop bad behavior or attitudes. Although this practice seems common in sport and physical education, it has not been systematically examined and warrants a closer look. Individuals in positions of authority might benefit from reflecting on the intended and unintended consequences of using exercise as punishment or behavior management. Burak, Rosenthal, and Richardson (2010) explored the use of exercise as punishment or behavior management in a recent survey of 273 undergraduate physical education majors and 65 nonmajors, many of whom have multiple career goals including coaching (68.8 %), teaching physical education (42.4 %), or becoming a fitness professional (71.1 %). The participants included 31 first-year students, 57 sophomores, 91 juniors, 138 seniors, and 21 post-baccalaureate students. Females made up 42.5 percent and males made up 57.5 percent of the participants. The majority of students (96%) reported being athletes, 68.4 percent of them had participated in sports for more than 10 years. More than half of all the students reported that they would likely use exercise as punishment in their teaching, coaching, or fitness careers. The survey instrument was developed according to the theory-of-reasoned-action guidelines (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) to determine the predictors of intentions to use exercise as punishment. According to the theory, a person’s beliefs determine his or her attitudes and norms, which in turn predict intentions and behaviors. Beliefs about the outcomes or consequences of behavior are, therefore, foundational in the development of attitudes and intentions. To develop the belief-based survey items, Burak et al. (2010) asked 10 individuAlternatives to Using Exercise as Punishment

I Have an iPad. Now What? Using Mobile Devices in University Physical Education Programs.

In response to an iPad initiative at a mid-sized New England university, all faculty, junior and senior undergraduates, and graduate students were required to have iPads by the first day of class in the fall semester of 2013. Goals of the initiative focused on preparing future teachers to use the iPad as a teaching and learning tool so they could be successful in schools where iPad use has become ubiquitous. This article addresses the process of integrating the iPad into teaching and learning in a university physical education department. Specifically, a “padagogy wheel” based on Blooms revised taxonomy will be provided to show how mobile devices and applications can be used in innovative ways to meet the learning objectives of university-level physical education courses.