Many U.S. adolescents struggle with obesity and a lack of motivation to be healthy and physically active, which affects individual as well as public health. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to evaluate students' motivation to participate in physical education class and better understand the teaching strategies currently used by physical education teachers who participated in an interview and 2 observations. Self-determination theory framed the research questions, which focused on students' intrinsic motivation to participate in physical education class and physical education teachers' use of autonomy supportive teaching strategies. Learning Climate and Basic Need surveys were administered to 6th-8th grade students (n = 261). Analysis of descriptive statistics revealed students felt the strongest fulfillment of relatedness from their teacher (M = 5.6) and autonomy support to be the least (M = 4.6). Overall inferential statistics revealed similar results when teachers were compared. Analysis of variance resulted in no significant differences between the teachers as related to competence, relatedness, autonomy, and perceptions. Qualitative data was coded and revealed similar themes; all data revealed relatedness scores were the highest for all the teachers, and autonomy support was the lowest for all the teachers. Positive social change provides an updated 9-week curriculum plan with new units that have been designed to enhance their motivation and create awareness of lifelong physical activities; autonomy supportive teaching strategies have been incorporated in the curriculum.

Abstract The aim of this study is to find out teachers’ views on what is important to promote for students’ reading comprehensions. The study is based on what experienced teachers in grades 1-3 perceive as successful and what they choose to focus on in the teaching of reading comprehension. Empirical data were obtained through qualitative interviews with teachers from different municipalities in Sweden. The teachers in the study mean that reading is so much more than just reading. Reading is to understand that you understand. The result shows that experienced teachers see reading comprehension as an important part of school teaching. Teachers place great emphasis on teaching reading and reading comprehension through different reading strategies. The imortance of supportive teaching for students is central and is in line with the sociocultural perspective on learning. / Sammanfattning Syftet med den här studien är att ta reda på lärares syn på vad som är viktigt att främja för elevers läsförståelse. Studien utgår från vad erfarna lärare i årskurs 1-3 uppfattar som framgångsrikt och vad de väljer att fokusera på i undervisningen av läsförståelse. För att nå mitt syfte med studien har empiriska data inhämtats genom kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare från olika kommuner i Sverige. Lärarna i studien menar att läsa är så mycket mer än bara att läsa. Läsa är att förstå att man förstår. Resultatet visar på att erfarna lärare ser läsförståelse som en viktig del i skolans undervisning. Lärarna lägger stort fokus på undervisning i läsning och läsförståelse genom olika lässtrategier. Vikten av en stöttande undervisning för eleverna är central och går i linje med det sociokulturella perspektivet på lärande.