Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Physical Activity and Educational Services

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an Adventure Education unit of instruction on the social interactions between students with and without disabilities in general physical education (GPE) classes. Participants were African American, Hispanic, and White American students (girls and boys with and without disabilities) who spoke either Spanish of English as their first language. A multiple baseline across participants design was used (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 1987). The study was situated in contact theory (Allport, 1954). Data were collected on the social interactions that occurred between students with and without disabilities. Results show that effective facilitation of Adventure Education can potentially increase appropriate and positive social interactions and these results provide evidence that social interactions can increase through effective facilitation and the creation of an environment that encourages appropriate and positive interactions between students. Contact theory was partially supported in this study.

Committee: Samuel Hodge (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Physical Activity and Educational Services

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the blending of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge for the purpose of teaching in ways that are comprehensible for learners. Albeit postulated by Shulman in 1986, PCK has never been operationally defined. This study was based on two primary assumptions: (a) PCK can be predicted by a set of operational variables, and (b) PCK develops on a continuum from immature to mature forms of PCK. The purpose of the current investigation was to: (a) test a proposed operational definition of PCK, and (b) to examine how the PCK of experienced teachers differ in the teaching of their stronger and weaker units of instruction. The study was a descriptive investigation based on the behavior analytic theoretical framework. The investigation was organized into three phases. Phases 1 and 2 included a focus group and individual interviews mainly to learn about effective teachers' past histories relative to PCK and to discover variables related to PCK that could be observed during teaching. Phase 3 employed direct observation of two elementary physical education teachers delivering two instructional units that they identified as their stronger and weaker instructional units. Nine variables were observed and measured. The results demonstrated differences between the stronger and weaker unit of instruction for one of the teachers. The differences consistently illustrated more depth of CK and more mature PCK displayed in the strong unit of instruction. For the other teacher, the difference between the stronger and weaker units of instruction was variable. The overall CK and PCK levels of the second teacher were similar in both units. This study contributed to the literature in three ways. Conceptually, this study validated an operational and functional definition for PCK, and its development on a continuum from an immature to more mature forms. Methodologically, this study investigated PCK utilizing a behavioral methodology, which was different (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Phillip Ward (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Physical Activity and Educational Services

This study examined the influence of aligned developmental feedback (ADFB) on student performance of the overhand throw for force in a naturalistic physical education setting. Participants (n=97) from four third grade classes randomly assigned to a comparison or experimental group. Both groups received 80 min of throwing practice during seven throwing sessions. Mean body component levels for the step, trunk, humerus and forearm and mean ball velocity scores were calculated from the five throwing trials at the pretest, posttest, and retention test. A 2 Group X 2 Gender ANOVA with repeated measures revealed a non-significant Group effect in pretest ball velocity scores (p= .374). A 2 Group X 2 Time X 2 Gender ANOVA with repeated measures on ball velocity scores revealed a significant Group X Time interaction (p=.020) from pretest to posttest with the experimental group significantly better than the comparison group in ball velocity across the intervention. A 2 Group X 2 Gender multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) on body component scores revealed a non-significant Group effect (p=.361) revealing no significant differences between the groups in the body components at the pretest. A significant multivariate Group X Time interaction (p=.001) was found indicating groups differed over time. Follow-up univariate analyses revealed a significant Group X Time interaction for only the humerus body component. The post-hoc paired-sample t-tests revealed that both the experimental and comparison groups improved significantly from pretest to posttest on the step component (p=.001) and the humerus component (p=.002). However, the experimental group also improved significantly from pretest to posttest in the forearm component (p=.002). Separate post-hoc 2 Group X 2 Gender ANOVAs on the posttest scores revealed a significant Group effect for the step (p<.001) and humerus components (p<.001) with the experimental group better than the comparison group. Effects at the end of the i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jacqueline Goodway (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Physical Activity and Educational Services

Service quality plays an essential role in customer satisfaction, customer retention, customer loyalty, and profits (Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Schneider & Bowen, 1995). Previous research studies have examined factors that influence external customers' perceived service quality in various fields (Carman, 1990; Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Finn & Lamb, 1991; Mangold & Babakus, 1991), but relatively few studies have focused on which factors influence employees' service behavior and how employees perceive the way service provided by co-workers affects their own service delivery (e.g., Bitner, Booms, & Mohr, 1994). This study examines six factors that influence employees' internal service quality level in a public sport organization in China through testing six hypotheses. The six factors are organizational learning culture, job satisfaction, motivation to learn, affective organizational commitment, continuance organizational commitment, and normative organizational commitment. A total of 370 questionnaires were distributed to employees in the State Sport General Administration of China (SSGAC). Two hundred and ninety-eight were returned, of which 6 were discarded because of missing data. Therefore, the number of usable questionnaires was 292 and the response rate was 80.5%. Correlation analysis indicated that five of the six hypotheses were supported. Hypothesis five, in which there is a negative relationship between continuance organizational commitment and internal service quality, was rejected. Hierarchical research analysis showed that motivation to learn and organizational learning culture played significant roles in predicting the dependent variable, internal service quality compared with other independent variables. Motivation to learn uniquely explained 12% and organizational learning culture uniquely explained 5% of the variance of internal service quality when the effects of the other independent variables were removed. This study has implications for human resource ma (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Janet Fink (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Physical Activity and Educational Services

A majority of the literature regarding employee-organization relationships has focused on perceived organizational support (POS) (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986). POS is defined as employees' formation of global beliefs pertaining to how much the organization cares about their well-being and values their contributions. In accordance with Eisenberger et al. (1986) the overarching purpose of the current study was to investigate athletic administrators' POS. More specifically, the primary purposes of this study were to: (a) examine the antecedents of POS; (b) examine the consequences of POS, including, affective commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intention; and (c) assess gender differences in regard to these antecedents and consequences, and (d) develop and test a comprehensive model of POS, applicable to intercollegiate athletic administrators. Two athletic administrators (one female and one male) at each of the 327 NCAA Division I institutions (N = 654) were asked to respond to the Athletic Administrator Questionnaire. A total of 222 athletic administrators completed and returned the questionnaire for a response rate of 34%. Results showed that combined, the antecedents (participation in decision making, supervisor support, growth opportunity, and procedural, distributive, and interactional justice) accounted for 78% of the variance in POS. However, growth opportunity was not a significant predictor of POS. In addition, athletic administrators' POS was positively related to both affective commitment and job satisfaction. Further examination showed that affective commitment and job satisfaction had a significant, negative relationship with turnover intention for athletic administrators. Both collectively explained 35% of the variance in turnover intention. Affective commitment was a better predictor of turnover intention than job satisfaction. Finally, POS did not have a direct relationship with turnover intention for athletic administrators (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brian Turner (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Physical Activity and Educational Services

Research on social skills in physical education has shown that students' fair play behaviors remain underdeveloped unless teachers include social skills development into curriculum and instruction (Giebink & McKenzie, 1985; Hellison, 2003; Patrick, Ward, & Crouch, 1998; Siedentop, Hastie, & van der Mars, 2004). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Fair Play Instruction on two 8th-grade middle school classes. A multiple baseline design across two behaviors was used to assess the effects of Fair Play Instruction on: (a) students' active participation, and (b) students' helpful, harmful, and missed opportunities to help someone during a tag rugby unit. The Fair Play Instruction consisted of: (a) students developing a chart with fair play cues to be accomplished during the lesson, (b) teacher's prompts and praise during the lesson related to fair play behaviors, and (c) positive pinpointing of fair play behaviors used by students during the lesson closure. Social validity questionnaires assessing the acceptability of the intervention's goals, procedures, and outcomes were completed by students, the teacher, and a panel of physical education professionals. The results showed that the Fair Play Instruction was consistently effective in increasing students' active participation, and in decreasing waiting time for all participants. The Fair Play Instruction for helpful behaviors was not implemented in the same manner as the instruction for effort, and there was little difference between baseline and intervention for helpful behaviors. There was, however, a decrease in the number of harmful behaviors. The primary explanation for the difference in effects between the effort behaviors and the helpful behaviors was attributed to the frequency of prompts and praise. During the intervention for effort behaviors the teacher increased her frequency of prompting and praising substantially over baseline. This was not the case for helpful behaviors. The social valid (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Phillip Ward (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Health, Physical Education and Recreation

Research on Sport Education (Siedentop, 1994) has shown the curriculum model to be effective in motivating students to undertake the specific sporting roles and engage in the student-centered tasks of the curriculum (Hastie, 1996). Despite this level of engagement, emerging evidence (Hastie, 2000) suggests that student leadership within the peer teaching tasks of the curriculum can be problematic for the development of particular content knowledge. The purpose of this study was to examine the evolution of content knowledge of a team of 6 students participating in the peer-assisted learning tasks of a Tag Rugby Sport Education curriculum unit. A qualitative case study design was employed. A didactic research methodology was utilized to study the evolution of participant content knowledge. The didactic protocol included collecting data regarding student intentions, actions and interpretations of content through the use of lesson observation and pre- and post-lesson participant interviews. Data analysis consisted of the identification of problematic episodes in the teaching-learning process or Critical Didactic Incidents (CDIs) during the peer assisted learning tasks and a search for configurations in the data across episodes. Participants demonstrated a high level of engagement and compliance with the intended content of the peer assisted learning tasks. Results revealed the instructional approach of peer teaching to be efficacious in developing participants' knowledge of many of the lower complexity tag rugby content learning goals of the unit. Participants failed to learn higher order content pedagogical strategy primarily due to deficiencies in the student coach's ability to elaborate content through appropriate demonstration, error diagnosis and task modification. The findings from this study lend support to Kirk and Kinchin's (2003) proposal that the structure of the Sport Education curriculum allows students legitimate, peripheral participation in a community of (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mary O'Sullivan (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Physical Activity and Educational Services

The primary purposes of this study were to (a) examine the factors that influence an athlete's trust in the coach and (b) examine the consequences of the trust in the coach. The proposed model predicted that an athlete's trust in the coach would be influenced by characteristics of the coach (i.e., perceived ability, benevolence, justice, and integrity). The athlete's propensity to trust was posited to moderate the effects of the perceived coach's characteristics on the athlete's trust in the coach. Commitment to the coach, willingness to cooperate, and perceived performance were included in the model as the consequences of an athlete's trust in the coach. Results showed that the model had a good fit with the data. The proposed characteristics of the coach explained 52% of the variance in an athlete's trust in the coach. An athlete's trust in the coach explained 77% percent of the variance in the athlete's commitment to the coach and 67% of the variance in the athlete's willingness to cooperate with the coach. An athlete's commitment and willingness to cooperate, in turn, explained 54% of the variance in perceived performance. All paths except the one linking perceived integrity to an athlete's trust in the coach were significant and in the same direction as proposed. Propensity to trust was found to moderate the effects of perceived ability, benevolence, and justice on an athlete's trust in the coach. The theoretical and practical implications of these results were discussed.

Committee: Packianathan Chelladurai (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Physical Activity and Educational Services

This study analyzed the perceptions of some stakeholders of Kuwaiti sport regarding the importance of three domains of sport (i.e., mass sport, elite sport, and commercial sport), and the relative emphases to be placed on each of these domains. The respondents were also asked to indicate the organizational forms (public, nonprofit, profit, public-nonprofit combine, and public-profit combine) best suited to deliver related sport services in the country. The stakeholder groups were administrators of federations, administrators of clubs, administrators of youth centers, coaches of clubs, coaches of youth centers, and elite athletes. The statistical procedures employed to analyze the data included exploratory factor analysis, computation of Cronbach's alpha, MANOVA followed by ANOVA, and chi square analyses. The results provided support for the subscale structure of the survey instrument by Cuellar (2003). Data analyses indicated that the participants considered elite sport as the most critical sport domain. However, when forced to place relative emphases on the three domains, the participants expressed that the greatest emphasis should be placed on mass sport instead. The participants also chose the Public and Public-Nonprofit Combine organizations as the most suitable to deliver most of the sport related services. They favored a partnership between Profit and Public organizations in building and maintaining sport facilities for Elite Sport. These results were interpreted as being influenced by Islamic and Arabic traditions which favor mass sport. Further, the choice of the Public and Nonprofit organizations to deliver most of the services was seen as a reflection of the current practice of Public organizations providing almost all sport related services in Kuwait.

Committee: Packianathan Chelladurai (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Physical Activity and Educational Services

Research supports the use of mentoring programs and induction assistance for retaining quality teachers and easing beginning teachers' transition into their professional roles. Observation has been documented in the research literature as a strategy for mentoring yet there are few physical education studies that have use other mentoring strategies for assisting beginning physical educators during their induction years. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of four beginning physical educators regarding the usefulness of three mentoring strategies (observation, telephone mentoring and telementoring). Other supporting research questions related to the teachers' concerns and resources utilized. Participants taught in a high school and middle schools located in urban, suburban and rural areas of the Midwest. Data were collected over six weeks during spring 2000 through formal and informal interviews, observations with field notes, audiotaped telephone mentoring sessions, telementoring emails saved to discs, and documents such as lesson plans and handouts and teaching artifacts. Collected data from the case studies were analyzed using constant comparison among the various data sources. A cross case/site analysis was conducted to explore emerging themes as well as similarities and differences across the cases. One of the key findings was that concerns of these participants were similar to other beginning teachers. Secondly, adequate resources were available to support and assist the participants in addressing their concerns. Third, although a wealth of resources was provided by the researcher few were utilized. Finally, each of the three mentoring strategies was useful to the beginning physical education teachers in this study and they found the combination of the three mentoring strategies to be the most useful.

Committee: Sandra Stroot (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Educational Services and Research

Dissatisfaction with the outcomes of traditional physical education has been a recurrent theme in the literature at least two decades. Central to the problems of traditional physical education has been ineffective game instruction. Recently, there have been a number of studies focusing on how to teach students the tactics of game play. Initial studies have failed to validate proposed instructional models. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of tactic-focused instruction using technique-focused instruction as baseline on the 7th and 8th grade students' game performance, and to assess generalization effects from teaching scrimmages to scrimmages in tag rugby. Lessons were designed to provide good pedagogical examples of each instructional condition. The conditions were assessed using a multiple baseline design across two classes with a third class serving as a control. Four target students were selected from each class (n=12). The dependent variable was the percentage of correct "supporting movements" occurring during scrimmages. Results show that low skilled female and male students, and average skilled female students improved their percentage of supporting movements after the tactic-focused instruction was implemented. There were no intervention effects for average skilled male students, however, these students demonstrated practice effects during baseline. In addition, generalization from teaching scrimmages to scrimmages occurred for all student groups except average skilled males. This study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, this study demonstrates that it was possible to explicitly teach and improve the tactical performance of students. Second, this study demonstrates generalization from practice to games in physical education providing a validation of the pedagogy assessed in this study. Third, data shows that low skilled students, and in particular female students, can acquire tactical skills within an instructional (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Phillip Ward (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Physical Activity and Educational Services

Athletics' rise in importance on college campuses has been widely-documented (e.g., Frey, 1986; Putler & Wolfe, 1999; Sperber, 1990, 2000; Trail & Chelladurai, 2000; Zimbalist, 1999) and remains highly scrutinized by popular media outlets and select sport scholars. Increased importance of intercollegiate athletics within the sports landscape brought heightened scrutiny and calls for reform (Sperber, 1990, 2000). This study utilized stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984) to look into the reform possibilities of three issues important to the functioning athletic department. These areas include the payment of student-athletes, over-commercialization in intercollegiate athletics, and academic difficulties and improprieties faced by student-athletes. Eight focus groups, a combination of participant observation and individual interviews (Madriz, 2000), were formed to gain perceptions of the aforementioned three important issues facing intercollegiate athletic departments. Five stakeholder groups closely aligned with a large, Division-IA athletic department, student-athletes (revenue and non-revenue), faculty members (familiar with sport and non-familiar with sport), coaches (revenue and non-revenue sports), athletic administrators and student-athlete academic support officers were chosen as parties with vested interests in the issues at hand. Themes that emanated from the participating stakeholder groups offered valuable insight into the views and perceptions of those groups toward athletic reform. For the most part, each stakeholder within the various focus groups, and across stakeholder groups, held similar views toward the reform issues investigated. Other thematic findings included the view that student-athletes are compensated fairly for their efforts on the playing field, but the time and effort they put forth on the field keeps them from gaining employment that helps pay various expenses. Also, commercialization in intercollegiate athletics is vital to the continued su (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Donna Pastore (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Physical Activity and Educational Services

The purpose of the study was to explore the sport behaviors of Black consumers as a culturally based sport consumption community. To do so, this study examined the manner in which personal values and ethnic identity influenced the sport consumption preferences and sport consumption frequencies of Black students. The study also examined the relationship between sport consumption preferences and sport consumption frequencies in four professional and two college sport activities. The instrument used to capture personal values was Kahle's (1983) List of Values (LOV) scale (which consisted of two subdimensions of internal values and external values). Ethnic identity was captured using Brown, Condor, Mathews, Wade, and Williams' (1986) Ethnic Identity (EID) Scale (which consisted of three subdimensions of self-definition, self-esteem, and affect). Significant relationships were found between the participants' sport consumption preferences and sport consumption frequencies. Results of the study revealed that none of the two dimensions of personal values had significant influence on the sport consumption behavior of research participants. However, two of the three dimensions of ethnic identity (self-definition and self-esteem) did significantly influence sport consumption preferences for and frequencies of basketball and football. Self-definition had a significantly positive influence on the consumption of basketball while self-esteem had a significantly negative influence on football.An important finding of the current research was that gender was not a differentiation factor regarding the influence of personal values and ethnic identity on sport consumption. However, significant gender differences in terms of the sport consumption preferences and frequencies contrasted with previous findings by Armstrong (2002; 2003) which did not reveal any pronounced gender differences among Black sport consumers. The results generally support the infusion of aspects of culture into the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ketra Armstrong (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Physical Activity and Educational Services

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of three instructional strategies on the performance of the overarm throw. A secondary purpose was to examine the influence of gender and instruction on throwing performance. The three instructional strategies were critical cue (CUE), biomechanical (BP), and typical physical education approaches (TPE). The CUE strategy consisted of three cues: laser beams, long step, and turn your hips fast. The BP strategy was a translation of biomechanical information into a four-stage instructional approach. The TPE strategy was based on Graham and colleagues (2001) critical elements. The dependent measures of throwing performance were body component levels, component levels during gameplay, and ball velocity. Participants (n=124) from six first and second-grade classes were systematically assigned to an instructional approach. Mean body component levels for the step, trunk, humerus and forearm along with mean recorded ball velocity were calculated from the 10 throwing trials at the pretest, posttest, and retention test. Additionally, participants' body component levels for the step, trunk, and forearm demonstrated in a throwing game were correlated with the body component levels demonstrated during practice. A Group X Time X Gender MANOVA with repeated measures revealed a non-significant multivariate Group effect (p=.068). Examining posttest body component levels, a significant difference between the CUE and TPE strategy for the step component. A significant Group X Time interaction (p=.04) with significant univariate Group X Time effects for the forearm (p=.03) was found. A multivariate Time effect was found (p=.068) with significant univariate Time effects for the step, trunk, humerus, forearm, and ball velocity. Correlation coefficients between body component levels during practice and gameplay revealed the strongest relationship for the trunk component, and the weakest for the step component. Significant gender differenc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jacqueline Goodway (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Physical Activity and Educational Services

Many youth are growing up amidst adversity (National Research Council, 2002) and risk factors such as poerty, violence, single-parent homes, and substance abuse (Anderson-Butcher, 2000; Hawkins, Catalano, & Miller, 1992). Poor economic and family circumstances prove challenging to the positive development of these youth (National Research Council, 2002). They face numerous challenges with few personal and economic resources to buffer them from the negative consequences of such circumstances (National Reserach Council, 2002). However, some research indicates that as youth build protective facotrs, these negative consequences are lessened (Blum et al., 2000). Still, the creation of programs aimed at developing protective factors in youth and empirical examination of programs' effectiveness is an understudied area (Catalano et al., 1999). This study examined an after-school program designed to increase protective factors in youth. A quasi-experimental research design was coupled with qualitative observations and interviews in this study. An after-school sports program focusing on teaching the social skills cooperation and self-control was offered to 4th and 5th graders attending Deuce Elementary School, a low-performing school in the Rabat Public School District. Twelve students received the treatment 20 times over the course of 15 weeks. Eleven students self-selected into the control group that received no treatment. All 23 students were given The Social Skills Rating System, a self-report questionnaire assessing children's social skill behaivors two times throughout the study. A MANCOVA was used to determine if the after-school program was successful in increasing the youths' social skills (cooperation and self-control). Additionally, observations and interviews were analyzed to determine whether the youths demonstrated any behavior changes. Finally, the qualitative data was used to determine which components of the after-school program were effective in attracting a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Janet Fink (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Master of Education, The Ohio State University, 2002, Physical Activity and Educational Services

The purpose of this study is to complete a construct validation of a physical activity intervention on the subjects' knowledge and use of 8 self-regulation strategies: self-monitoring, goal setting, social support, environmental aid, self-reinforcement, time-management, self-efficacy, and tailoring. Using a one group pre-test post-test design, a physical education instructor delivered a 5-week intervention to all sixth (n=20), seventh (n=28) and eighth (n=24) graders at a private school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A self-report self-regulation instrument was administered at baseline and immediately post-intervention. Students also completed a knowledge test at the end of the intervention. Seven of the eight subscales as well as global self regulation for physical activity were found to be significantly changed from pre-test to post-test (p<.006). The mean score on the knowledge test was 17.5 out of 22 points.

Committee: Rick Petosa (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Masters in Education, Marietta College, 2007, Education

Beginning as young as five or six years of age, children participate in organized youth sports and there are an estimated 25-35 million children under the age of eighteen who participate in organized youth sports. Whether success records, statistics, motivational factors or personal reasons are the motivators behind participation in sports, athletes are often studied by the population. Despite a large contingency of children who participate in sports, professional or adult athletes' thoughts and motivations are often studied. However, one thing is known: The reason children play sports is because they are fun. This study explored the viewpoints of parents, coaches and students from Marietta Middle School and their opinions regarding why children choose to participate in youth sports. More importantly, their viewpoints on whether or not the opinions of parents and coaches match the perceptions of the athletes themselves. The researcher conducted a survey of 6-8 grade students from Marietta Middle School, their parents as well as parent-coaches. The survey was distributed via the classroom to the students and distributed to the homes of parents/coaches via the students.

Committee: William Bauer (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Masters in Education, Marietta College, 2006, Education

Athletes and coaches around the world strive daily for success in sport. There is a never-ending search for knowledge about what gives athletes and teams that certain edge to overcome the competition and reach their full potential. Mental toughness is often included in discussions related to traits of a successful performer. Some sport professionals believe that the mental part of athletics is the hardest to train. The purpose of this study was to explore athletes' and coaches' views and attitudes about mental toughness. The researcher conducted interviews with coaches and student-athletes from a variety of athletic programs at Marietta College, a NCAA Division III Institution in Southeastern Ohio.

Committee: Dr. Bill Bauer (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

MA, Kent State University, 2007, College of Education, Health, and Human Services / School of Exercise, Leisure and Sport

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze task systems existing in a middle school physical education class in which the teacher utilized the Tactical Games (TGM) and Sport Education Models (SEM). One physical education teacher and a class of twenty one eighth grade students were observed during twenty two lessons. Systematic observation strategies were used to describe and analyze classroom tasks. Data collected through interviews supplemented data recorded through systematic observation and were used to triangulate the data. Data revealed high levels of success across skill levels and equitable opportunities for all students. Students were mostly compliant to the tasks presented by the teacher and enjoyed participating in them. The game centered approach of the TGM along with the team affiliation aspect of the SEM appeared to contribute most to the fun and enjoyment evident in the classroom. The teacher's application of the TGM closely resembled the intent of the model as presented in the text (Mitchell, Oslin & Griffin, 2006) and was brought together with the SEM to facilitate an effective learning environment.

Committee: Connie Collier (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2007, Physics

A general understanding of Newton's first and second law is demonstrated in the literature to be severely lacking or seemingly absent in most students. While several studies found some degree of success involving experimental teaching methods in high school and college classes, this study seeks to address the foundation of students' knowledge in Newtonian Mechanics: early education. Fourth grade and sixth grade students were first interviewed, testing for current understanding of forces and motion, and subsequently taught four lessons on the topic. Lessons were designed (based on successful classroom ideas described by the literature) to target common misconceptions students have involving forces and motion. Pre-interviews confirm the lack of general understanding of many concepts described by the literature, while post-interviews show statistically significant conceptual changes in many of the targeted conceptual areas. The lessons involved in this study successfully changed student ideas on topics involving friction, forces stopping objects' motion (as opposed to it stopping on its own), an understanding of the different ways motion can change, and that forces are what change motion. Unfortunately, the one topic described by the literature as hardest to alter remained prevalent in the students. Post-interviews show student still answering either “the force of the push” or “some external force that would keep the object moving” when asked what keeps an object in motion. A second phase of this study (a longitudinal study) will examine whether this particular misconception, after several years of these lessons, can promote stronger conceptual growth.

Committee: Stephen Van Hook (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Physical