Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1961. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48).

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine if any relationship exists between low socioeconomic status (SES) and poor physical health. Thirty (n = 30) participants ages 11 and 12 were chosen for this study. Fifteen participants (n = 15) were from the high SES group and fifteen participants (n = 15) were from the low SES group. Each student underwent a battery of tests that were conducted using TriFit 700. TriFit 700 is an interactive software that allows students to perform different physical tests for which they were assigned a score. The 4 different tests were the bicep curl test (strength), sit-and-reach test (flexibility), body composition assessment (body fat percent), and 1 mile walk/run test (cardiovascular assessment). After completion of these tests, each student was also assigned an overall health score. A MANOVA test was run to determine how the participants in the low SES category and the high SES category compared in each of the areas tested. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in the strength category, the flexibility category, percentage of body fat category or the overall health score. This study did find, however, that a statistical significance exists between the two groups in the VO2 max category. The higher SES group outperformed the low SES group at p &lt; .0083.</p><p>

This study addressed two questions: (a) In what ways do elementary school teachers describe the interaction of their personal lives and teaching careers over time, and (b) what aspects of their job structure do elementary school teachers identify as affecting their personal-life/career interactions. Eighteen experienced elementary school teachers (a physical education specialist, a specialist from another subject area, and a classroom teacher from each of six different schools) participated in two sixty-minute interviews. To aid in reflection, participants completed two graphic assignments (a "rainbow" of life roles and a teaching timeline) prior to the initial interview. In the first session, they were asked to tell the stories of their lives and careers. During the second interview, they were asked to respond to a series of open-ended questions, designed to clarify and extend information from the first interview. Audio-tapes of the interviews were transcribed, the data were unitized, and categories were developed to reflect the content of each unit. Using the categories, themes were identified which displayed aspects of life/career interaction which were shared by all teachers, which differentiated among the three groups of teachers, or which were unique to particular groups. The most salient personal-life/career interaction themes drawn from all teachers included: (a) work spillover, (b) limited financial resources, (c) increased understanding of children through parenting, (d) changes in teaching due to personal growth, (e) valuing time with family, and (f) job security. Themes common to all specialists included: (a) career choice based on attraction to subject matter as well as to teaching, (b) valuing the opportunities to teach all students in the school and to teach each student over the course of several years, (c) frustration with class scheduling, and (d) lack of collegial respect for their educational contributions. Physical educators were also frustrated by physical elements such as weather and facilities, as well by having to cope with the poor teaching of colleagues. Themes unique to classroom teachers included (a) pressure to produce good test scores, (b) frustration with short-lived educational reforms, and (c) the large amounts of time spent grading papers. These data offer new perspectives on elementary school teaching and provide support for specific changes in preservice education, inservice education, and elementary school structure.

The development of physical education and school sport (PESS), a once ‘marginalised’ subject within the school curriculum, over the period 2003-2010 has often been referred to as the ‘quiet revolution’. An increased political interest in PESS and the idea that sport could be used to address wider social issues resulted in two major strategies, Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL 2003-2008) and Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People (PESSYP 2008-2013) and £2.4billion of funding. Drawing on Bernstein’s concept of the pedagogical device, this thesis seeks to understand how these two strategies were transmitted, transformed and realized in the secondary field and examines the extent to which they impacted on the pedagogic practice of PESS. This research study, conducted from within a School Sport Partnership, draws on a range of ethnographic methods including in-depth interviews with Partnership Development Managers, School Sport Coordinators, Primary Link Teachers and physical education teachers across a sub-regional area of London. This data was supplemented with extensive field diaries, partnership documentation and emails. Analysis of the data was conducted using grounded theory in NVivo9. The research findings are presented in three data chapters. The first examines the positioning of the PDM in the space at the interface between the recontextualising and secondary fields. The second results chapter investigates the realization of the PESS strategies and specifically examines the process of transmission and transformation of discourse as it passes through the complex infrastructure of School Sport Partnerships. The final data chapter discusses the impact of the PESS strategies on the pedagogic practices of teachers, and focuses extensively on the target driven culture which dominated practice within the secondary field. The lack of impact on pedagogic practice, particularly within secondary physical education, emerges as a key issue. The dominance of policy targets as the core evaluative rules of the PESS strategies emerged as a limiting factor in the realization of change. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the key findings and the implications for agents and/or agencies tasked with implementing and enacting change in the school setting. In applying the pedagogic device, we are able to analyse the role that the evaluative rules have in prioritising aspects of policy implementation and investigate the challenge of innovation and change. However I argue that Bernstein’s theory is not sufficiently sensitive to a number of the complexities of the contemporary educational landscape and needs further development and adaptation if we are to continue to use the pedagogic device to examine the process of recontextualisation and realization of policy in PESS.

This study compares and explains the knowledge base (Kirk et al, 1997; Shulman, 1987) for teaching physical education in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programmes in England and Korea from the 1960s to the present. In the USA (Siedentop, 1989), the UK (Kirk, 1992) and Australia (Macdonald et al, 1999), the erosion of time spent on content knowledge (CK) for sports and other physical activities has been noted as a matter of concern. The academicisation of the physical activity field and the marginalisation of PETE within it are major factors in the shift in the knowledge base. Data was presented from a comparative study of four PETE programme in two countries in respect of social constructionism (Berger and Luckmann, 1966). The historical resources such as timetables, curricula and official documents were analysed using documentary methods and grounded theory. Grounded theory was also used to analyse interviews with previous and present teacher educators, student teachers, and teachers who graduated from each university. I found that for universities in both countries, first, the hours of theoretical content knowledge (TCK) and practical content knowledge (PRACK) in PETE had been reduced over time. Time for units of physical activity had decreased significantly. Second, student teachers learnt physical activity to introductory levels only, and the spiral system for the physical activity curriculum, where students ideally move from introductory to advanced levels of knowledge, did not work well. In terms of differences between the countries, first, in England there were many sessions where PRACK was interrelated with pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and knowledge of learners and their characteristics (KLC). However, this was less common in Korea. In particular, interrelationships between PRACK and PCK and KLC were very weak because the Korean system is based on the study of kinesiology. Second, many students and teachers in England requested sessions to assist them to teach at GCSE and A Level. In Korea, in contrast, the need for PCK and KLC was identified. I conclude by confirming that CK forms only a small proportion of the knowledge base for teaching physical education confirming that there is a gap between the knowledge base in PETE and the knowledge requirements for teaching physical education in schools. I suggest developing special units in the PETE course based on models of learning, teaching and philosophy and being suitable for inclusion in the academic and scholarly culture of the university.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 20, 2007). Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0523. Adviser: James Halle. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-142) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: Helen Lenskyj.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.