Nature and Recreation in a Pandemic: The Impact of COVID-19 on Outdoor Recreation

Community lockdowns to hinder the spread of SARS-CoV-2 significantly altered the daily lives of people around the globe. Shifting from commuting to work to a work-from-home lifestyle compressed daily life into single spaces, such as bedrooms, home offices, and living rooms. The purpose of this study is to understand how COVID-19 lockdown catalyzed reconfiguration of leisure time, specifically outdoor recreation usage and connection to nature. This research conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with four outdoor recreationists to develop an understanding of changes in outdoor recreation participation using Grounded Theory. Results suggest that individuals experienced a collapsing of their once separated lives into a life that lacked distinctive separate of work and leisure time. This collapsing was catalyzed by their perceptions of COVID-19 and the impact of safety precautions in response to the pandemic. Despite a shift in their separated lives, participants used multiple techniques to adapt to this change, including purposeful recreation, recreation justification, finding nature close to home, and alternative recreation

Sense of Community in the Campus Recreation Setting: Fostering Community as a Strategy for Student Retention

Institutions of higher education invest significant amounts of money building state-of-the-art campus recreation facilities in an environment where student fees and debt are increasing, while graduation and retention are declining. This contradictory environment places large investments at the forefront of scrutiny by higher education decision makers. However, this thesis supports the need for campus recreation centers on university campuses through recognizing the important role campus recreation centers play in building community and aiding in social integration among students. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of campus recreation in fostering a sense of community and the relationship between that sense of community and student persistence. Utilizing a mixed methods research approach from 141 student surveys at a higher education institution in the mid-Atlantic, results indicate a positive correlation between usage of campus recreation facilities and psychological sense of community in campus recreation student users. Results of this study do not support the notion that a higher psychological sense of community is related to student achievement or student persistence. However, additional research is necessary to further solidify these explore these relationships. The current study supports campus recreation as a critical aspect of the campus environment and a place where students reap a variety of benefits (e.g., physically, mentally, and socially)

Generative Pedagogies: Activating Learners through Student-centered Practices

This collective dissertation contains the efforts of a group of curious, committed, and creative educators on the hunt for high-impact instructional approaches that empower and emancipate learners. Although each study within the dissertation is anchored in its own setting--and those settings represent a diverse collection of learning sites--a single thread connects them all: Each study inquires into the impact of a generative pedagogy. By “generative,” we mean to highlight methods that focus on helping learners of all kinds develop creativity and take ownership over their learning, approaches that will help them build agency and grow skills simultaneously. Here, we explore the complex relationships between attitudes and outcomes in several different ways. These studies investigate the efficacy of workshop model instruction, divergent thinking protocols, and explicit growth mindset instruction for students with disabilities in English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms, the impact of choice- and studio-based approaches in Art classrooms, and the overall impact of growth mindset characteristics on teachers’ attitudes and career paths. Generally speaking, these variables were found to have a significant, positive impact on both attitudes and outcomes. Additionally, some of these methods emerged as equity-building practices, working well overall but even better for students in demographic groups that often lag behind. Taken together, these approaches represent a perspective that honors learners as co-constructors of their own knowledge and makes salient a set of skills and habits that can contribute powerfully toward each individual learner’s success

Pedagogy for Librarians

Most librarians are required to take classes on reference, collection development, and information organization in library school; courses on pedagogy, on the other hand, are usually optional, if they’re offered at all. This leads most librarians who end up with instruction duties to learn on the job. Activities and assessments can be learned on the fly fairly easily, but these often have little to no bearing on how much students actually absorb and recall weeks later because alone, they are usually insufficient to ensure deep learning. This chapter seeks to add the basics of pedagogy, a subject comprehensively covered in K-12 teacher preparation programs, to the librarian’s instructional repertoire

Sense of Community in the Campus Recreation Setting: Fostering Community as a Strategy for Student Retention

Institutions of higher education invest significant amounts of money building state-of-the-art campus recreation facilities in an environment where student fees and debt are increasing , while graduation and retention are declining. This contradictory environment places large investments at the forefront of scrutiny by higher education decision makers. However , this thesis supports the need for campus recreation centers on university campuses through recognizing the important role campus recreation centers play in building community and aiding in social integration among students. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of campus recreation in fostering a sense of community and the relationship between that sense of community and student persistence. Utilizing a mixed methods research approach from 141 student surveys at a higher education institution in the mid-Atlantic , results indicate a positive correlation between usage of campus recreation facilities and psychological sense of community in campus recreation student users. Results of this study do not support the notion that a higher psychological sense of community is related to student achievement or student persistence. However , additional research is necessary to further solidify these explore these relationships. The current study supports campus recreation as a critical aspect of the campus environment and a place where students reap a variety of benefits (e.g. , physically , mentally , and socially)

DOES EXERCISE HAVE AN IMPACT ON ONE’S ANTHROPOMETRIC CLASSIFICATION?

Morgan E. Dickey1, Brooklyn R. Pilgreen1, Ryan M. Thiele2, & Eric C. Conchola1 1University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma; 2Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas The American College of Sports Medicine suggests moderate to vigorous intensity exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes, three times a week. These proposed guidelines may promote an individual’s overall body fat percentage to be categorized as fair to good. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to assess training status (sedentary, resistance trained, aerobically trained) and its impacts on body fat percentage. METHODS: Training status was defined as the following, resistance trained (RT)– engaged in a structured weight program that involved the lower body (including the free-weight back squat exercise) for a minimum of at least 6 months. Aerobic trained (AT) participated in aerobic exercise a minimum of three times per week, a minimum of 30 minutes at a moderate to vigorous intensity, for the past three months. Sedentary (SED), did not participate in any form of structured exercise. Twelve RT females (age= 21.42±1.08 years, height 166.67cm±7.48 cm, mass 71.75kg±10.69kg) had a body fat percentage of 21.87±6.01%, seven AT females (age= 24±7.21 years, height 161.79 cm±7.16cm, mass 60.27kg±8.67kg) had a body fat percentage of 19.81±7.12%, and twenty SED females (age= 21.25±1.45 years, height 156.14cm±33.74cm, mass 70.68 kg±8.63 kg) had a body fat percentage of 27.24±5.28%. Body fat (%) was determined by a three-site skinfold (triceps, hip, and thigh done only on the right side of the body) assessments were performed by an experienced individual. Independent sample T-Tests were used to assess body fat percentage differences between the groups. An alpha of 0.05 was used for level of significance. RESULTS: The present findings observed significantly lower BF% for AT and RT participants compared to sedentary participants (P = 0.007-0.016), there were no BF% differences between AT and RT females (P = 0.529) CONCLUSION: The aim of the present study was to determine the utility of general exercise recommendations on and individual’s overall body fat percentage. The present findings suggest that exercising, whether aerobic or anaerobically, a minimum of three times a week, for a minimum of 30 minutes at moderate to vigorous intensity can be beneficial at keeping individuals body fat percentage categorized as fair or better than lower BF% classifications

DIFFERENCES IN EXERCISE BARRIERS AMONG INDIVIDUALS OF DIFFERENT ACTIVITY LEVELS

Ashton Burkhead1, Brooklyn Pilgreen1, Larissa Boyd1, Jacilyn Olson1, & Melissa Powers1 1University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma Physical Activity (PA) is especially important for individuals with sedentary jobs. University employees are often required to sit for 8+ hours a day and are faced with exercise barriers, including time constraints and an inability to follow their own programming. It is important to accumulate at least 500-1,000 MET-min-wk-1 of PA recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine and understand the barriers to meeting these guidelines. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine if individuals classified into different PA levels perceive exercise barriers differently. METHODS: Employees (N=51) at a regional university were recruited via e-mail. Prior to the program, participants completed demographic questions, an informed consent, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and the Barriers Self-Efficacy Scale (BARSE). Participant activity levels were categorized by volume of MET-minutes accomplished per week reported on the IPAQ: inactive (n=17; \u3c600 MET-min-wk-1), sufficiently active (n=26; 600-2,999 MET-min-wk-1) and very active (n=8; \u3e3,000 MET-min-wk-1). The BARSE is a 13-item questionnaire scored as an average of 0%-100% confidence to overcome specific barriers to exercise. A One-Way ANOVA was used to analyze the difference in barriers confidence among inactive, sufficiently active, and very active individuals. RESULTS: No significant differences were found between groups (p=.12). The very active group had the highest perceived ability to overcome barriers (M=74.99%±13.36%), while the active group (M=61.84%±15.54%) possessed a slightly lower, but similar confidence level to the inactive group (M=63.66%±16.57%). CONCLUSIONS: Very active individuals may possess a higher level of confidence to overcome barriers, while those who meet general recommendations for fitness are no more confident than inactive individuals. Future research should examine other factors potentially responsible for differences in PA levels