Display Full Text | Download Full Text
526.93 kB PDF file

Degree

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, College of Education, 2011.

Abstract

Obesity in young children and adults has become an issue within the United States of America. It has been found that obesity is one of the top three reasons why middle school student-athletes drop out of organized sports. One of the areas in which we can address this issue is in physical education class. This phenomenological case study investigated the indirect impact of the Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) Grant on a semi-rural school district's physical education program. Five physical education teachers with diverse experiences and backgrounds were interviewed. Two middle school and three high school physical education teachers were interviewed twice for approximately sixty minutes per interview. In addition, there was a two-hour focus group meeting held with these same five physical education teachers at their board of education office. Furthermore, the five physical education teachers in this study were observed teaching at their site on two occasions for approximately one hour. The sites were in the gymnasium and physical fitness exercise rooms. As a result of this PEP Grant, this study investigated three research areas. One is the possible characteristics of an effective physical education program. Second, this study investigated what motivates physical education teachers to improve their instruction. Last, it investigated how these five physical education teachers feel about how people perceive their physical education program. According to the results, characteristics identified by the five physical education teachers within this study support several characteristics identified in the literature. An important finding of this study was that the five physical education teachers in this study believed that seeing students increase their participation in physical activity and improve in their overall fitness level was a motivational factor for them to improve their instruction. Last, since there is little literature on how people perceive the field of physical education, this study provides several perceptions provided by the physical education teachers about how they thought their physical education program is perceived.

Subject Headings

Physical Education

Keywords

Physical Education; Obesity

Committee / Advisors

Harold Wilson, PhD (Committee Chair)
Ann Shelly, PhD (Committee Co-Chair)
Beth Patton, PhD (Committee Member)
Robert Baker, PhD (Committee Member)

Pages

88p.

Document number: ashland1321423014
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ashland1321423014

This ETD has been downloaded 688 times (through March 2013)