Creating a sense of family in urban schools using the "sport for peace" curriculum.

Urban students often have difficulty engaging in the learning process and affiliating with others. A three-phase research design was used to examine the effectiveness of a high school physical education curriculum reform initiative entitled "Sport for Peace" to enhance student engagement and willingness to interact positively with others. Ten physical educators in six urban schools taught a traditional soccer unit (Phase I) followed by instruction and mentoring in the Sport for Peace curriculum (Phase II). In the third phase of the research, teachers developed and taught a Sport for Peace unit to their students. Data were collected using observation and interview methods and analyzed with constant comparison. Results suggested that the Sport for Peace curricular structures fostered shared responsibility for learning, trust, respect, and a sense of family. Both high- and low-skilled girls and boys felt successful and responded positively, creating a class community more conducive to engagement and participation.

Reproduction and resistance to the culture of femininity and masculinity in secondary school physical education.

The purpose of the study was to investigate ways in which gender-related perceptions and actions influenced students' construction of realities in curriculum-in-action in secondary school physical education. The participants were junior and senior secondary school students in a midwestern city in the United States. Data collection methods included observations and interviews. Data were analyzed with inductive analytical procedures. The findings of the study revealed that a majority of the female and male students reproduced traditionally dominant forms of femininity and masculinity. Female students patterned their behavior consistent with feminine ideology in selecting and participating in class activities, and male students chose and participated in class activities along masculine conceptions. The results were interpreted with reproduction and resistance theories. While femininity and masculinity cultures were reproduced through students' choice of activities and participation patterns, these cultures were resisted through students' construction of oppositional behavior.

Teachers' value orientations in urban and rural school settings.

The purpose of this research was to describe physical educators' value orientations for curricular decision making in urban and rural teaching settings. The revised Value Orientation Inventory (Ennis & Chen, 1993) was used to collect data from 495 physical educators in urban and rural districts. Data were analyzed descriptively using a full-design and a nested MANOVA model. Results indicated that teachers in urban school districts placed a higher priority on self-actualization and social responsibility than did teachers in rural school districts. Conversely, teachers in rural school districts placed a higher priority on disciplinary mastery and learning process than did their colleagues in urban schools. The discussion focused on differences in school contexts in urban and rural schools. Teachers appeared to shape their curriculum to reflect the opportunities and constraints within their school settings.

Domain specifications and content representativeness of the revised Value Orientation Inventory.

Value orientations represent theoretical belief systems that guide teachers' curricular decision making. Research using the Value Orientation Inventory (VOI) to examine physical educators' value orientations in school settings found inconsistencies between the inventory findings, descriptions of class environments, and teachers' self-reports of their curricular goals. This article reports the VOI revision process that included (a) literature and research reviews resulting in domain specifications and new VOI item development and (b) item ratings that provide evidence of content representativeness for the revised items. The reviews supported four of five orientations that formed the original theoretical framework for the VOI: disciplinary mastery, learning process, self-actualization, and ecological integration. The fifth orientation, social reconstruction, was not supported by school-based research. Findings were more consistent with a social responsibility orientation. New items (K = 150) were written based on the literature reviews. The new items were sent to university and public school teachers (N = 298) to assess content representativeness. Eighty-one percent of the item means were > 4.0 on a 5-point scale. The social responsibility items were found to be domain representative and were included in the revised inventory.

The role of value orientations in curricular decision making: a rationale for teachers' goals and expectations.

This research examined the role of value orientations in curricular decision making from the perspective of high school physical education teachers and students. Educational value orientations served as the theoretical base for the research. Teachers who exhibited one of two paired orientations, disciplinary mastery/learning process (DM/LP) or ecological integration/social reconstruction (EI/SR), were interviewed to examine the extent to which their value orientations influenced their stated (a) goals for student learning, and (b) expectations for academic performance and behavior. Students were also interviewed to investigate the extent to which they acknowledged these goals and expectations. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Results suggested that goals and expectations of DM/LP and EI/SR teachers were distinctly different and that comments from students in the EI/SR teachers' classes did not reflect their teachers' goals and expectations. Dynamical system theory was used to conceptualize value orientations as attractors within the educational ecosystem. Teachers working from weak EI/SR value attractors may be limited by learner, instructional, and contextual constraints.

Description of knowledge structures within a concept-based curriculum framework.

The development of declarative knowledge was examined within the parameters of movement-based curricula. Declarative knowledge represents factual or foundational knowledge frequently articulated as curriculum content. A semantic ordered tree technique was used to investigate the knowledge structures of three groups of teacher preparation subjects (novice, coursework, student teacher) and one group of elementary physical education teachers (experts). Structures were examined based on frequency and coherence criteria. ANOVA was used to examine differences between groups. Results suggested that declarative knowledge appeared to develop in complexity from novice to expert within the parameters of concept-based movement curricula. The Active Structural Networks Theory was used to interpret structural development through the accretion, tuning, and restructuring phases. Knowledge structures of the novice and coursework groups seemed to represent accretion, whereas those of student teachers and experts represented tuning and restructuring.

Value orientations: a description of teachers' goals for student learning.

This study examined the extent to which physical educators made consistent decisions regarding goals for student learning within five educational value orientations. The research examined value orientations within hypothetical educational situations as represented by a paper and pencil inventory. Ninety physical educators in three school districts in the midwest completed the Value Orientation Inventory (VOI). Total scores from each value orientation on the VOI were converted to T-scores and used to divide teachers into two groups representing high and low priority categories. Chi-square tests were used to examine the data by gender, teaching level, and teacher's years of experience. Results indicated that 97% of the physical educators made consistent curricular and instructional decisions within one or more of the value orientations. There were no significant differences based on gender, level, or teaching experience.

The influence of teacher value orientations on curriculum planning within the parameters of a theoretical framework.

The study examined the extent to which teachers' value orientations mediate their responses to inservice training in a particular framework as measured by changes in their lesson planning skills. Twenty-five elementary physical educators' value orientations were classified using the Values Orientation Inventory (VOI). Teachers completed seven inservice sessions based on the Logsdon theoretical approach to children's physical education. Data were analyzed using three univariate ANOVAs. The .05 alpha level was adjusted using an experiment-wise error rate of less than .017. Results indicated that weak disciplinary mastery and strong social reconstruction teachers included more opportunities for shared decision making than did other teachers. Most teachers changed their planning to include more opportunities for cognitive involvement. Thus, while some concepts appeared to be acceptable to most value orientations, others were value sensitive.

An analysis of the PPCF as a theoretical framework for an instrument to examine teacher priorities for selecting curriculum content.

The purpose of the research was to develop an instrument to examine physical education teachers' priorities for curricular decision-making. The purpose dimension of the Purpose Process Curriculum Framework (PPCF) was used as the theoretical structure for content decisions. Three studies are reported that investigate the reliability and validity of the proposed instrument. Items were evaluated for relevance and validity of the proposed instrument. They were evaluated for relevance and theoretical consistency by physical education teachers (Study 1) and curriculum specialists (Study 2). Acceptable items were then placed in a ranking format and field tested with physical educators in three school districts (Study 3). Results from Study 1 indicated that secondary level physical education teachers supported the relevance of items to reflect the educational setting in their classes. In Study 2, mean ratings of curriculum specialists established that 19 of the 22 categories were theoretically consistent with the PPCF. However, internal consistency coefficients (alpha) for 10 of the 22 purposes were less than .70. Follow-up field tests with physical educators in Study 3 indicated that only one category, joy of movement, had a coefficient above .70. In this research internal consistency coefficients were too low to make a claim for the reliability of the concept scales of the instrument. The multidimensionality of the purpose concepts raised questions regarding the validity of the PPCF and prohibited the use of the framework as a theoretical basis for instrument development.