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Physical inactivity has been considered a major public health issue among adolescents because of its high prevalence and its association with numerous adverse health outcomes during adolescence which may carry over to adulthood. A key to addressing this issue has been to identify the determinants that may influence an adolescent's decision to be physically active. A determinant that has been hypothesised is the level of proficiency of the motor skills used to participate in physical activity; however, this relationship has been virtually unexplored. This study investigated how organised sports and games, nonorganised physical activity, and cardiorespiratory endurance were each related to fundamental motor skill ability among adolescents. One thousand and seventy-two and 954 adolescents from Year 8 and Year 10, respectively, participated as subjects in this study. Organised sports and games and nonorganised physical activity were assessed by a self-report recall questionnaire of participation in physical activity. Cardiorespiratory endurance was measured by performance on the Multistage Fitness Test. Fundamental motor skill ability was qualitatively assessed by performance on a six-item fundamental motor skills test battery. Descriptive statistics plus multiple regression were used to analyse the data. Results suggested that participation in organised sports and games was significantly related to fundamental motor skill ability, F (4, 1831) = 14.30, p less than .0001, and that this relationship was stronger for males than for females. Participation in nonorganised physical activity was not significantly related to fundamental motor skill ability. Cardiorespiratory endurance was significantly related to fundamental motor skill ability, F (4, 1808) = 79.05, p less than .0001. For adolescents, fundamental motor skill ability may be an important variable influencing participation in organised sports and games and cardiorespiratory endurance and development of motor skills may increase adherence to a physically active lifestyle during adolescence which may carry over to adulthood.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1909. / Vita. "Reprinted from Teachers college record, volume 9, number 4, September, 1908, pp. 195-291. New York, 1908." Bibliography: p. 96-98. Also available in digital form on the Internet Archive Web site.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, School of Education, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-262). Also available in electronic format on the World Wide Web. Access restricted to users affiliated with the licensed institutions.

Collaborative learning has the potential to produce changes in perspectives in an ever-changing world; experiential learning has the potential to contribute to creating a collaborative environment. Both of these processes utilize effective facilitation. This action research study examined the experiences of a training group for which I served as the facilitator and explored the question, “How do participants in a group for which I serve as a facilitator of collaborative learning within an experiential learning framework describe their experience?” Additionally, the study examined the question, “How do the research participants’ experiences inform my professional practice of facilitation of collaborative learning?" Twenty college-age young adults in the training group provided data from multiple qualitative sources. Hermeneutic analysis of data focused on: (1) the participants’ descriptions of their experiences along with their perceptions and reflections of those experiences; and (2) their experiences with me as their facilitator. Findings of the study addressed the participants’ desires to learn from their training experience (transformative learning), detailed their struggles to push past personal boundaries (constructs of competence and control), and explored the supportive relationships that developed within the group (mutuality and reciprocity). Hermeneutic data analysis also provided insights into my practice of facilitation and gave support to the strength and structure that utilization of the experiential learning model brought to the group. The relationship between the intense experiential learning activities and the transfer of that learning to other activities and responsibilities was demonstrated through the participants’ descriptions as they noted their transformation into the role of facilitators. The practice of facilitation was enlightened by examining the constructs of problem solving, competence and control, and intensity of transfer of learning. Implications of this research study identify collaborative learning and experiential learning to be dynamic learning processes that are best achieved in a safe environment within a planned framework of intentionality that includes iterative cycles of planning, action, observing, reflecting, and replanning. Given the current trend of reduced training time, the resulting higher levels of transfer of learning can produce an increase in training results for participants and more effective facilitation skills for training facilitators.

Two different interventions were implemented with 22 students receiving intensive reading instruction. A repeated-measures ANOVA, graphic analysis, effect sizes, and raw score gains were used to examine the effects of 1) performance feedback only and 2) performance feedback plus contingent rewards on several reading variables: fluency, comprehension, self-reported interest in reading, and voluntary engagement in reading. Four 3rd-grade classrooms were assigned to treatment conditions. Students in both conditions received 2-2.5 hours of reading instruction per day. All students completed assessments of fluency and comprehension twice per week during the treatment phase of the study. Students in the performance feedback only condition completed these assessments and received feedback about their performance. Students in the performance feedback plus contingent reward condition completed the same procedures but also received rewards contingent upon improvement over previous performance; students received one sticker for increasing their reading fluency score and/or one sticker for increasing their reading comprehension score. Stickers could be used to purchase backup rewards. Prior to, at the conclusion of, and four months following the conclusion of the intervention, all students completed measures of reading skill, reading interest, and a choice condition to assess voluntary engagement in reading. A statistically significant main effect on oral reading fluency was obtained but no significant main effects were found for retell fluency, voluntary engagement, or self-reported interest. Furthermore, no between-subjects main effects or interaction effects were found between conditions and phases. Results based on graphic analysis of data, effect sizes, and raw score gains indicated that students in both conditions showed improvements in reading fluency and comprehension, with students in the feedback only condition making greater overall gains on the former and students in the feedback plus reward condition making slightly greater improvements on the latter. Additionally, graphic representations of data show differences between the conditions on measures of voluntary engagement and self-reported interest. On the voluntary engagement measure, students in the feedback plus reward condition made greater gains than the feedback only group. On the self-reported interest survey, the feedback plus reward condition decreased throughout the study whereas the feedback only group increased.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has created a situation in which teachers are required to educate English Language Learners (ELLs) at the same level of proficiency as native speakers. However, there is a paucity of research concerning teacher attitudes regarding ELLs, and thus, little is known about how these attitudes will impact instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine regular education teachers’ attitudes toward the inclusion of ELLs in the regular education classroom. More specifically this study sought to understand whether teacher attitudes were influenced by the specific instructional factors of support, expertise, and time. The study was conducted in conjunction with a large, metropolitan school system in Tennessee. In the study, several schools were selected based on their ELL populations over the past three years. Teachers at these schools were invited to participate in the study, and were asked to respond to a survey instrument which was adapted from the Opinions Relative to Integration (ORI). The adapted ORI was used to quantify teacher attitudes regarding the inclusion of ELLs in regular education classrooms, and the results were subsequently used to generate an index score of teacher acceptance of ELLs in the regular education classroom. Additionally, teachers were asked to respond to a survey instrument which examined whether the teacher felt they had the necessary amounts of support, expertise, and time to teach ELLs. The data were analyzed using a three-way ANOVA, and the results suggest that teachers’ attitudes are influenced by a scarcity of instructional factors. This paper discusses the extent to which the three specific instructional factors of support, expertise, and time influenced teacher attitudes. Additionally, the paper considers how educational leaders might use these findings to improve teacher attitudes toward ELLs.