Subjects consisted of two intact groups of grades 5 and 6 ELE School students assigned to two programs, contemporary and traditional games. Thirty-two subjects comprised the contemporary games class and 25, the traditional games class. Each class was taught by a certified teacher, 5 periods per week for 45 minutes for the duration of the program. Physical fitness, motor skill performance and attitude were measured by a pretest-posttest procedure using three different instruments. The physical fitness components of strength and endurance, speed and power were measured by the Kirchner Physical Fitness Test (1963); the motor skill components of overhand throw for distance, underhand pitch for accuracy, throw and catch, kick, soccer punt for distance and underhand strike for distance by Hanson's Motor Skills Test (1965); and, attitude by the Games Attitude Inventory (Dalley, 1979). Additional information on attitude was collected by administering an open-ended questionnaire to the contemporary games class. Results indicate that the contemporary games program can improve children's physical fitness levels and motor skills performance. No statistically significant change in attitude was registered. Grouped by sex of subjects, the females significantly improved on physical fitness and motor skill performance while the males improved on physical fitness only. Neither sex registered significant change on attitude. Analysis of an open-ended questionnaire revealed grades 5 and 6 children enjoyed participating in contemporary games. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, Section: A, page: 1334. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The purpose of this study was to examine the congruence of teacher and student perceptions of the number, length, and type of dyadic interactions between teacher and student as reported on questionnaires. In addition, this study examined the relationship between the teacher expectation rating and the teacher and student perceptions of interactions and the teacher expectation rating and the observed frequency of the number, length, and type of dyadic interactions. / Data were collected during nine days of observation for five teachers for two periods a day. The Oliver Adaptation of the Brown DIO Tool was used by five trained observers to record data on dyadic interactions in each class. The teachers were asked to rate each of their students on four criteria which represented their expectations of each student in physical education. The teachers and students were asked to respond to a questionnaire regarding their perception of the dyadic interactions that took place during physical education. The data from the observation of each class, the perception quesionnaires, and the teachers' expectation ratings were analyzed for each class of all teachers to provide results for this study. / The results indicated that a wide disparity existed in the number, length, and type of interactions that occurred between teachers, classes, and students. There was little indication that teachers interacted differently with their students based on their expectations, therefore, the "Pygmalion Effect" was not apparent in this study. The strongest associations surfaced between the teachers' perceptions of interactions and observed interactions. Conversely, the students' perceptions of interactions showed weak associations with the observation data. Teacher and student perceptions of interactions showed little congruence with the strongest agreements occurring for the questions regarding noncontent-related and student-initiated interactions. The findings in this study suggested that these teachers: considerably diversified their dyadic interaction behaviors, exemplified an awareness about interaction behaviors that occurred with individual students, did not interact with individual students on the basis of expectations, and had different perceptions than students about interactions which occurred within classes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-08, Section: A, page: 2440. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships between teacher planning behaviors and the inclass behaviors of teachers and learners in a 30 minute lesson on the volleyball spike. Thirty senior physical education majors served as subjects for this study. Each subject progressed through three consecutive stages: 30 minute planning phase; 30 minute instructional phase; and a brief self-report phase. During the planning session, subjects were instructed to plan their lesson by utilizing the talk aloud technique. All planning statements uttered by the teacher were audio recorded and coded through the use of planning indicators obtained from the Florida Performance Measurement System. Immediately after the planning phase each subject was escorted to the teaching station where the lesson was to be implemented. During each 30 minute lesson, teacher and learner behavior was live coded by three trained observers using Birdwell's Academic Learning Time-Physical Education-Teacher Behavior Observation System (ALT-PE-TB). Frequencies of teacher planning behavior were compared with the frequencies of inclass teaching behavior by using the Pearson-product moment correlation statistic. Similarly, teacher behaviors were compared with learner behaviors in order to identify the existence of any relationships. / The results indicated that significant relationships did exist between certain planning behaviors and the inclass behavior of teachers and learners. Specifically, planning behaviors associated with identifying content, analyzing learning activities and assessing learner needs were related to the teaching behaviors of lecturing and providing demonstrations. Lecturing and modeling, on the other hand, were related to learners' receiving information (engaged cognitive) and performing a task with few errors (engaged motor-easy). Therefore, the data seemed to suggest that certain teacher planning behaviors are related to specific teaching behaviors which in turn were related to those learner behaviors that have been shown in previous research to be associated with learner achievement. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-07, Section: A, page: 2032. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

The purpose of the study was to utilize product and process measures to compare the throwing, striking, and kicking proficiency of third and fifth grade students. A second purpose was to construct the process instruments to be used in the study. Sixty-eight students were randomly selected from the population of third and fifth graders at a local elementary school. An equal number of subjects were selected relative to grade and gender. Each subject participated in three separate assessment periods involving the motor skills of throwing, striking, and kicking. Subjects were assessed through the use of a product measure (i.e., accuracy) and a process measure (i.e., motor pattern rating) for each of the three skills. Product and process data were collected simultaneously by the investigator and an observer. Each assessment measure contained 10 trials. A two-way analysis of variance technique was utilized to analyze product motor proficiency differences between grades and gender for each skill, and to determine grade and gender differences from the process measure data collected on each skill. In addition, separate Pearson product-moment correlations were used to determine the relationship between the product and process measure data collected.. / The results indicated that significant between subject main effect differences did exist between grade and gender on the product measures of throwing, striking, and kicking and the process measures of throwing, striking, and kicking. All within subject analyses revealed no significant differences, which supported that subjects performed reliably across trials for the product and process measures. Separate Pearson product-moment correlations between the product and process measure data revealed significant positive relationships for the male third graders on throwing, the female third and fifth graders on striking, and the male third and fifth graders on kicking. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-09, Section: A, page: 2797. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1984.

Interannual and interdecadal variability of the equatorial Pacific are examined using a new 60-year monthly historical pseudo-stress data set. The monthly mean pseudo-stress fields (1930-1989) are assembled from Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set pseudo-stresses using a variation of Cressman's (1959) objective analysis scheme, climate basis functions obtained from the FSU pseudo-stress product (1966-1990) and a technique called Vector Group Renormalization. The new wind fields are used to force an ocean model (Kubota and O'Brien, 1984). Model estimates of tropical Pacific current and model upper layer thickness (ULT) variability are then obtained for the period of interest. Observed sea level and spatially averaged sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies are used to validate the hindcasts. / Interannual fluctuations in modeled and observed sea level fluctuations are compared at Galapagos and Truk, yielding Correlation (r) values of 0.73 and 0.71, respectively. The comparison of the interannual fluctuations in modeled ULT and observed SST anomalies, which were both spatially averaged over a subdomain in the eastern Pacific basin, yielded a correlation (r) value of 0.64. / Interdecadal fluctuations in eastern Pacific model ULT are found to be qualitatively consistent with those in the spatially averaged observed SST anomalies. Interdecadal variations are shown to play a significant role in modulating the amplitude of El Nino events. Comparison of interdecadal fluctuations in global mean land air temperature and eastern Pacific ULT suggests a connection between eastern Pacific and global mean land air temperature warming for interdecadal time scales. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: B, page: 6118. / Major Professor: James J. O'Brien. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The purpose of this study was to compare the behaviors of two physical educators who were employed in dual roles of teaching and coaching at a NCAA Division II institution. Each held a masters degree in physical education and had 25 years of experience as a teacher/coach. Also, one subject previously coached a #1 ranked men's tennis professional, and the other had won six high school basketball conference crowns and made two state championship appearances. / Specifically, this study sought to determine: how the subjects' behaviors distributed by percentage within 15 categories in their (1) teaching and (2) coaching assignments; and (3) differences between the subjects' teaching and coaching behaviors. Two secondary questions were: (1) what were the students' and athletes' perceptions of the subjects' teaching and coaching behaviors; and (2) what similarities and/or differences did the subjects perceive when comparing their dual roles? / In order to gather quantitative data, the Arizona State University Observation Instrument was utilized and expanded to 15 behavioral categories by the inclusion of humor. This instrument is effective for observing both physical education teaching and coaching behaviors. The data gathered from videotaped observations were coded with interval recording and were analyzed by the Spearman Rho. This analysis was compared with a survey of the subjects' students and athletes and supplemented with qualitative data via an interview of both physical educators. / Three behaviors--instructional, silence/monitoring, and management--accounted for 50% or more of the total behaviors shown by both subjects in their teaching and coaching roles. In contrast to prior studies which indicated that role conflict exists within individuals who teach and coach, the results of this research indicated a strong correlation between the subjects' teaching and coaching behaviors. Inasmuch as both physical educators emphasized teaching behaviors in their activities classes as well as in coaching, harmony and not role conflict was evident. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-07, Section: A, page: 2293. / Major Professor: Dewayne J. Johnson. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to examine the relationship between the head coach's self-perception of leadership behavior and his assistant coaches' perception of his leadership behavior. The second purpose was to examine the relationship between age and experience of the head football coaches, winning and losing records of the head football coaches, and divisional status of the institutions, as related to the self-perception and perceived leadership behavior of the head intercollegiate football coaches. / The Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire XII was used to determine the perceived leadership behavior of the head football coaches as viewed by their assistants. The Ideal Leader Behavior Questionnaire was used to determine self-perceived leadership behavior information on the head football coaches. Biographical data sheets were distributed along with the LBDQs and ILBQs to gain information on age, experience, divisional status, and win/loss records of the intercollegiate coaches involved. / Head intercollegiate football coaches filled out the ILBQs while their assistant coaches filled out the LBDQs. A total of 135 head college coaches returned usable instruments, representing 48% return rate. A total of 373 assistant coaches returned instruments, representing a 33% return rate. / To determine differences in the perceived and self-perceived leadership behavior of intercollegiate head football coaches, simple independent group t-tests were performed. The Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of Correlation was used to examine the relationships of Structure and Consideration with the independent variables of interest. / It was found in this study that head coaches perceived themselves to be more autocratic in their leadership behavior than did their assistant coaches. The results also indicated that none of the variables of age, experience, and win/loss record have a relationship with whether a head coach is perceived or perceives himself as a task-oriented leader or a democratic leader. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-08, Section: A, page: 2734. / Director: Charles H. Imwold. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

The main purpose in this study was to determine the effect of a group contingency reinforcement procedure upon selected volleyball playing skills. Subjects were 130 fourth grade students (62 boys and 68 girls). During an 11 week volleyball program which was part of the school's physical education curriculum, subjects performed on four volleyball skill tests (i.e., serving, passing, volleying, and setting-up). / A group contingency reinforcement procedure was applied to two experimental groups. Three control groups followed the same schedule as the two experimental groups: two control groups were "yoked" to the two experimental groups and received the reinforcer everytime the reinforcer was earned by the experimental group. The additional control group, representing the traditional approach, played the volleyball game according to a predetermined calendar. / Because differences among the five groups were found on two of four volleyball group scores at the pretest, an ANCOVA was undertaken for these tests. Since no initial differences were found on the volleyball passing and setting-up group scores, an ANOVA was performed to evaluate the effect of the group contingency reinforcement procedure for these two tests. / Analysis of the data revealed the clear superiority of the group contingency reinforcement treatment over the yoked group scores on two (volleying and setting-up) out of four volleyball skills; another skill, passing, approached significance. The application of the group contingency reinforcement procedure on performance of the volleyball skills was shown to be a valuable methodological approach that could be used by physical education teachers and coaches in order to improve group performance. The implementation of a behavior modification procedure in a physical education setting can be effective if carefully designed and implemented. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-08, Section: A, page: 2595. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The purpose of this study was to prepare, validate, and revise a proposed curriculum paradigm in physical education based on theoretical as well as practical considerations, in an attempt to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The curriculum paradigm and accompanying material was developed from an extensive review of literature and as a result of two pilot studies involving professionals from within the state of Florida. The data population was randomly drawn from members of the Curriculum Academy of AAHPERD, who served to provide the expert opinion needed to validate and revise the proposed curriculum model. Two-hundred eighteen persons examined the model and completed the accompanying questionnaire. The questionnaire responses were tabulated on a 44% return rate (n = 218) and met the 90% Confidence Level. / The focus of the study was founded on criticism instead of approval because of the revision process applied to the proposed curriculum paradigm. The model was assessed on the basis of clarity and conciseness, sequence, completeness, adaptability, continuity, implementation, use, and understanding and/or agreement with concepts. Three data sources were utilized: 40, 5-point Likert scale questions, 3, open-ended questions, and omission errors. / Descriptive data, which consisted of mean, standard deviation, percent and percent mean, were analyzed to discover weaknesses in the model via the Likert scale questions. The mean scores of the 40 Likert scale questions yielded a grand mean of 2.03 which indicated a strong overall approval for the proposed curriculum model by members of AAHPERD's Curriculum Academy at a 90% Confidence Level. / There were 521 open-ended responses noted and tallied to identify trends and provide data for possible model modification. Omission errors were also recorded for revision of the paradigm. A cross-matching ploy, utilizing the 3 data sources, resulted in 21 model changes. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-09, Section: A, page: 2925. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The Marangoni (surface-tension-induced) instability of surfactant-containing lenses of paraffin oil was investigated experimentally in the first part of this work. Results of these experiments are described and qualitative explanations are proposed. An unsuccessful attempt was made to quantitatively model a simple case of instability. / Attention was then shifted to the instability at a plane interface between two immiscible fluids, each containing a surface-active solute. The literature on this instability is reviewed and a simple finite-layer model is developed and subjected to a linear stability analysis. The mathematical structure and results of this analysis were used as tools in disclosing the physical mechanisms that underlie the onset of convective flow. It was found that the growth or decay of a normal-mode disturbance depends upon the relative rates of transport of momentum and solute in ways more subtle than have been recognized heretofore. In addition, the wave-number of the dominant mode was found to be determined primarily by the efficiency of solute transport, rather than by factors related to viscous dissipation. / The mathematical apparatus of the model was then used to elucidate the mechanism of conversion of chemical potential energy to kinetic energy. It was found that this connection cannot be made unless the surface excess concentration is explicitly included in the model. It is the convective transport of excess solute down chemical potential gradients in the interfacial plane that accounts for the conversion of chemical to kinetic energy. Use of the Gibbs adsorption equation allows this relation to be demonstrated quite simply. / The model was used in a global thermodynamic analysis to show that a convecting system does correspond to a process with less entropy production than a quiescent, diffusing system, at least for marginally supercritical values of the Marangoni number. This result follows because the generation of kinetic energy occurs at the expense of diffusive dissipation, while the net boundary fluxes are unchanged by convection. / A model for Marangoni instability at a cylindrical interface is developed in an Appendix. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, Section: B, page: 0509. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.