Children are not obtaining adequate amounts of physical activity (PA) and it is important to determine how we can increase PA. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a physical activity curriculum resource, Busy Bodies©, on preschool children’s physical activity levels. A total of five preschools from the NW quadrant of Calgary, Alberta were included in this study. The 48 participants involved in the study were all 4 years old. The preschools were divided into three groups: Control Group (no intervention), Intervention Group (school received the resource), and Intervention and Teacher Training Group (schools received the resource and teacher training). The researcher placed pedometers on all participants and observed selected participants using the System of Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT). The results of this study did not confirm that teacher training impacted physical activity levels. The effects of the resource on the Intervention and Intervention and Teacher Training groups were similar as derived from pedometer and direct observation. Alternative forms of teacher intervention may further increase physical activity. / x, 92 leaves ; 28 cm

The term ‘education for sustainable development’ is recently used and discussed in Germany, even though, to many people it is an abstract idea. The development of schoolyards can be seen as a practical project in order to teach and experience education for sustainable development in everyday school life. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how the development of a schoolyard offers possibilities for education for sustainable development. Additionally, some challenges that have to be taken into consideration are pointed out. An extended literature review of education for sustainable development and schoolyard development serves as the basis for the thematic analysis. In order to approach the research question, the five themes that emerged through the thematic analysis, are discussed.  The present research shows that schoolyard development has the potential to support a holistic approach to learning, to offer possibilities for ‘progressive’ teaching strategies, to enhance ecological literacy, to foster the participation of students and to provide equal opportunities. Although there are basic framework conditions that need to be considered, the research indicates that schoolyard development can make an important contribution to education for sustainable development.

Idag står vi inför utmaningen att leva inom vår planets gränser. För att uppnå en hållbar utveckling krävs det en förändring i tankesätt, värderingar och livsstil menar UNESCO-UNEP. Detta kan åstadkommas genom en fundamental förändring i utbildningen från tidig barndom. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur hållbar utveckling tolkas i den svenska grundskolan. Två ämnen har valts; biologi och hem- och konsumentkunskap. I uppsatsen identifieras de miljöetiska perspektiven antropocentrism och ekocentrism och hur de kommer till uttryck i förhållande till ämnestradition. De metoder som används är semi-strukturerade intervjuer av högstadielärare, dokumentanalys av läroplan och kursplaner och tematisk analys intervjuerna. Resultatet visar att i såväl läroplan och kursplaner som undervisningen framgår det att antropocentrismen har stort utrymme, då det är stort fokus på resurser, människan och samhället, i såväl hem- och konsumentkunskap som biologi. Ekocentrismen kan ses i form av uttryck i läroplan och kursplaner utifrån hänsyn och respekt för naturen, och genom att ge eleven förståelse inför valsituationer som rör hälsa och miljö. Ämnestradition har betydelse för hur hållbar utveckling tolkas i undervisningen. Biologi är naturorienterat med naturliga processer och kretslopp i fokus, vilket leder till fler ekocentriska resonemang. Hem- och konsumentkunskap har fokus på individen, hemmet och samhället, vilket ger mindre utrymme för ekocentrism. Alla lärare visade på både ekocentriska och antropocentriska resonemang. Lärarnas egna åsikter angående hållbar utveckling kan finna väg in i undervisningen, vilket anses kunna leda till större utrymme för ekocentrism i undervisningen. / Today we stand before the challenge of living within our planets limits. UNESCO-UNEP argue that to achieve a sustainable development changes in thinking, attitudes and lifestyle is required. This can be accomplished with a fundamental change in education from early childhood. The aim with this study is to research how sustainable development is interpreted in the Swedish elementary school. Two school subjects have been chosen; biology and home economics. In the essay the environmental ethics anthropocentrism and ecocentrism, and how they are expressed in relations to tradition is identified.  Methods used are semi-structured interviews with teachers, document analysis of the curriculum and syllabus and thematic analysis of the interviews. The results show that in the education as well as the syllabus it is clear that anthropocentrism has larger room. This because of the focal point in both home economics and biology is common resources, humans and society. Ecocentrism in the curriculum and syllabus is shown through consideration and respect for the nature, and through students’ understanding when making choices. The tradition of the school subjects has significance for how sustainable development is interpreted in the education. Biology is nature oriented with focus on natural processes and cycles, which lead to additional ecocentric reasoning. Home economics has the focal point on the individual, the home and society, which leads to less ecocentric reasoning. All teachers that were interviewed showed both ecocentric and anthropocentric reasoning. The teachers’ opinions can find way in to the education, which here is considered to the possibility of more room for ecocentrism in home economics.

It is often difficult to optimize strength qualities in-season due to the conflicting influences of extensive skill practices combined with frequent game play of the competition schedule. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two interventions on strength qualities and CMJ performance. Thirteen women volleyball players competing in NCAA Division I were tested before and after four weeks of an inseason strength training program with emphasis on heavy squatting (6-IORM), and then before and after three weeks of unloaded jump training. Dynamic squat strength, isometric squat strength, optimal power, CMJ, SJ and approach jump and reach were all tested before and after both cycles. There was a significant increase in both average 1RM squat strength (5%) and vertical jump (1%) following the strength cycle. Following the unloaded training, there was a significant increase in both peak power output (18%) and peak velocity (14%) in the CMJ. SJ performance significantly increased in both peak force (6%) and maximum height (10%). Throughout training, there were no decreases in maximal strength levels or post-test Vertec jump and reach. This study indicates that heavy squatting can improve vertical jump as well as 1RM squat despite a high volume in-season practice and competition schedule. Furthermore, unloaded training can improve the explosive qualities of athletes when used as a peaking cycle late in-season. Athletes maintained dynamic strength and jumping ability from pre-testing scores, while significantly increasing both peak velocity and power in the CMJ. / School of Physical Education

There is a need to look at the determinants of exercise behavior in adolescents, as there is a large deficit of research concerning this population. The purpose of this study was to examine Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) and the body shape of adolescents participating in a semester of physical education class. A secondary purpose was to create general profiles by combining the SPA information and the Transtheoretical Model (TM) of behavior change. Middle school students (N= 374) participated by completing a regularly scheduled physical education class and completing the Exercise Behavior Change Survey (which assessed Body Shape, SPA and TM) pre and post semester. The study revealed participation in class had no effect on SPA levels or Body Shape scores, nor did the study reveal any gender differences with these two concepts. Concerning the TM, SPA may not be a factor for progressing through the stages of change, although it may effect which processes were utilized and how one identifies the pros and cons of exercising. The Social Physique Anxiety Scale only reached an alpha of .50, possibly contributing to the lack of relationship between SPA and TM. / School of Physical Education

This study investigates how upper secondary school students constitute relations between the environment and humanity. The aim of the study is to analyse relations that emerge between and within the Earth´s major systems (humanity included) and how these relations are composed when students are faced with a fictional decision of consuming a pair of jeans.                        Using workshop as a data collection method, students creatively visualize their discussions through participatory modelling in groups. The results of the study are based on the analyses of the concluding presentations of the completed models. The results show difficulties in submitting relations between the three dimensions of the concept of sustainable development together with a dualistic worldview, indicating a lack of complexity in the presentations. Therefore, a gap can be identified between the empirical results and the aims of education for sustainable development (ESD) that, according to the Ministry of Education and Research, should be a part of Swedish upper secondary education. In addition, a gap between the steering documents for the Swedish upper secondary schools and the UNESCO guidelines on ESD is revealed, consisting of the latter more distinctly promoting systems thinking and embracing pluralism.                                                                  Three national programmes are represented in the study; social science, science and economics. Differences between the three are established. Groups with a focus on social science present complexity to higher extent than groups on science orientation. Groups with a focus on economics present least complexity in their presentations.

The comprehensive ambition of the present thesis was to acquire knowledge about expectations on and preconditions for environmental moral learning within the education for sustainable development (ESD) in the Swedish upper secondary school. The expectations on ESD were explored by examining the description of “sustainable development” in the curriculum, and the prerequisites were examined by analysing environmental attitudes, commitments, and actions of 18-year-old students. The thesis focuses in particular on attitudes to solidarity as a value that unites the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of sustainable development. The theoretical foundation is based on curriculum theory and learning theory, incorporating influences from pragmatic philosophy, while theories of environmental psychology were applied to explain commonalities in attitudes to altruistic and biospheric values. The thesis comprises four studies, and mixed methods were employed as methodological approach. The first study involved a discourse analysis, and aimed at clarifying the description of sustainable development in the curriculum, and to reveal what subject position(s) the discourse implies. The second study was a questionnaire, where statistical methods were used to analyse attitudes to solidarity, equality, and respect for nature. The third study was also a questionnaire, focusing more specifically on attitudes to different aspects of solidarity. The fourth study was an interview study, utilizing a thematic analysis in order to elucidate how students think about solidarity and the future, and how they have encountered the concepts of solidarity and future in teaching. The results disclosed that the expectations on ESD is characterized by an ecological modernization discourse, in which two subject positions are articulated, one scientific and one technical, the latter with expectations on students to be ethical agents. The quantitative studies in the present thesis corroborated previously found correlations between attitudes to altruistic and attitudes to biospheric values. The significant correlation between future orientation and solidarity unveiled by the present thesis constitutes however a pioneering result. The interview analyses imparted that students have experienced little moral reasoning in school with regard to sustainable development, and furthermore conveyed that the future dimension had basically been missing in the teaching they had encountered. The present thesis furthermore contributes methodologically and theoretically by the development of a new scale for appraising solidarity.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether traditional learn-to-swim progressions, leading to the front and back swim, were developmentally valid for children with physical disabilities. / Forty children between the ages of 5 and 12 years participated in this study. The children were described according to four descriptive characteristics: disability type, functional sport classification, mode of ambulation, and need of a flotation device. The children required recommendation from their regular aquatic instructor as being comfortable in the water to participate in the study. In addition, each child had to pass a water orientation-adjustment test. / The developmental validity of the progressions was assessed by testing the children on seven skills: rhythmic breathing, front float, front glide, front swim, back float, back glide, and back swim. A pass consisted of all criteria for success being met for a particular skill. The data were analyzed to determine the number of children who followed the typical progression and the number who followed an atypical progression. / The results indicated that the proposed learn-to-swim progressions for both the front swim and back swim were not developmentally valid for most children with physical disabilities who were neither extremely high nor low in functional sport ability. / These results are consistent with the views of ecological theory and suggest that not all children with physical disabilities will reach an end-goal using the same means. Aquatic instructors therefore, need to adapt their teaching methods to the individual strengths of their students.

The effects of attitudes and perceived constraints on behavior and the choices females make about involvement in recreational sports, exercise, and other physical recreation activities are important to consider if females physical, social, and emotional quality of life is to be enhanced. The main aim of this study was to explore the perception held by female undergraduate students at UWC regarding the physical and socio-cultural constraints that influence their participation in recreation sport.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 94-101).