Service Learning as Scholarship in Teacher Education

This article describes how two teacher education service-learning programs illustrate alternative interpretations of scholarship. A tutoring-mentoring program in a teaching oriented masters institution and a motor skill development program in a land grant doctoral-research institution are described relative to how each illustrates forms of scholarship as interpreted by Boyer ( 1990). We discuss how these forms of scholarship the scholarship of discovery, integration, teaching, and application--relate to stated institutional mission and evaluation practices. Service-learning experiences for preservice teachers can have the multiple benefits of promoting an ethic of service and social responsibility, demonstrating excellence in teacher education, and exemplifying scholarly endeavors

INSTRUCTION MATTERS: INFLUENCE OF INSTRUCTION ON MOTOR SKILL LEARNING ACROSS DIFFERENT MASTERY MOTIVATIONAL CLIMATE CONDITIONS

Research suggests that both practice and reinforcement are necessary for skill learning. In school settings however, there is typically only one teacher per class, and by consequence, providing individual feedback and reinforcement to all students is more challenging. Thus, the design of the task in schools/classes is extremely critical to maximize opportunities for practice and feedback. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different teacher behaviors (i.e., explicit instruction and feedback) within mastery climates on motor skill performance. 99 Preschool age children (Mage= 4.75 years) participated in a mastery motivational climate physical play programme intervention bi-weekly for 7 weeks. Children were randomly assigned to a motor skill condition, physical activity condition, mixed condition, or a free play control group. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with pre-test scores as the covariate were conducted to determine the effects of condition on post-test motor skill scores. Results indicated that the children from the motor skill and mixed conditions showed significantly greater improvements than the other two groups. These findings suggest that instruction matters in learning motor skills. In the two conditions where children were given explicit instructional cues and feedback about performing tasks, they showed far superior gains than those children where the lesson focus was simply just on physical activity or when no instruction was given at all.  Article visualizations

Correction to: Cluster identification, selection, and description in Cluster randomized crossover trials: the PREP-IT trials

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article

The Effects Of Blue, Red, And White Lighting On Selected Physiological Factors And Motor Performance Of Skilled And Highly Skilled Racquetball Players

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of colored lighting conditions (blue, red, and white) on the variables of blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature in the performance of two groups of racquetball players

Motivational Climate and Fundamental Motor Skill Performance in a Naturalistic Physical Education Setting

Background: The literature on motivation suggests that student learning and performance is influenced by the motivational climate, and that positive benefits can be derived from exposure to a mastery motivational climate. Nonetheless, to date, only a few studies have attempted to investigate a mastery motivational climate in a naturalistic setting with young children. Purpose: To examine the influence of a mastery motivational climate intervention on children\u27s motor skill performance in a naturalistic setting, with the hypothesis that children exposed to the mastery motivational climate physical education intervention would achieve greater improvement in motor skill development than students who experienced a low autonomy climate physical education intervention. Participants and setting: 64 kindergarten children at two separate schools in the rural south of the USA. Research design: A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used due to the lack of random assignment of participants to groups. Intact classes at two schools were assigned to group. Each motor skill program consisted of 30, 30-minute lessons during a six-week period. Data collection: Fundamental motor skill performance was measured using Ulrich\u27s Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2). The TGMD-2 was administered three separate times: first, at the beginning of the school year (Pretest 1), second, after six weeks of school just prior to the intervention (Pretest 2), and finally, at the end of the six-week intervention period (Posttest). Data analysis: Two separate 2 × 2 (Group × Time) ANOVAs with repeated measures on the last factor were used to determine if children exposed to the motor skill interventions experienced significant positive changes in motor skill performance on the TGMD-2 sub-scales for locomotor and object control motor skills. Findings: Results indicated significant Group × Time interactions for the locomotor sub-scale (p = .001) and the object control sub-scale (p = .001). The mastery group improved significantly from pre- to post-intervention for locomotor and object control skills, while the low-autonomy group did not. Conclusions: The results provide evidence that a mastery motivational climate can have a positive impact on children\u27s fundamental motor skill performance and suggest that even young children who are in the initial stages of motor skill performance can benefit from a self-directed climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR

The influence of time spent in outdoor play on daily and aerobic step count in Costa Rican children

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of time spent in outdoor play on daily physical activity in fifth grade Costa Rican children. Children (N = 190) wore Omron HJ- 720 ITC pedometers for one week to assess their step count and aerobic steps, and completed an Outdoor Play Survey. Results revealed that children who spent 3+ hours in outdoor play per day had higher step counts than those who spent less than an hour per day, p = .018. Children were more active over the weekdays than weekend days, and girls acquired significantly fewer steps then boys (p \u3c .05). These findings suggest outdoor intervention is needed to promote healthy benefits associated with physical activity among children in Costa Rica, particularly for girls and over the weekend

Preschoolers´ Physical Activity and Time on Task During a Mastery Motivational Climate and Free Play

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of a structured, mastery motivation physical education climate and an unstructured physical activity climate on time spent on task in a small sample of preschool children. Children enrolled in a public, federal-subsidized childcare center (N= 12) participated in two 45 minute physical activity programs within the school day. The structured climate consisted of a biweekly program of motor skill instruction that was based upon the key principles of a mastery motivational climate. The unstructured program was a daily 45 minute free play environment. Actigraph accelerometers monitored children’s participation in physical activity and time-on task was observed by a momentary time sampling technique. Results showed that time on-task significantly improved following a mastery motivational climate, and children spent 36% of their time in moderate-to-vigorous activity in this climate.  In contrast, time on-task did not significantly improve following participation in a free play environment and participants spent a majority of their time in sedentary behavior and accumulated no vigorous physical activity. Our results indicate that participation in physical activity impacts a preschooler’s ability to stay on task and the amount of physical activity accumulated during physical activity programming is dependent upon the climate delivered

Actividad Física y Tiempo en la Tarea Durante un Clima Motivacional Autónomo y el Juego Libre en Preescolares

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of a structured, mastery motivation physical education climate and an unstructured physical activity climate on time spent on task in a small sample of preschool children. Children enrolled in a public, federal-subsidized childcare center (N= 12) participated in two 45 minute physical activity programs within the school day. The structured climate consisted of a biweekly program of motor skill instruction that was based upon the key principles of a mastery motivational climate. The unstructured program was a daily 45 minute free play environment. Actigraph accelerometers monitored children’s participation in physical activity and time-on task was observed by a momentary time sampling technique. Results showed that time on-task significantly improved following a mastery motivational climate, and children spent 36% of their time in moderate-to-vigorous activity in this climate.  In contrast, time on-task did not significantly improve following participation in a free play environment and participants spent a majority of their time in sedentary behavior and accumulated no vigorous physical activity. Our results indicate that participation in physical activity impacts a preschooler’s ability to stay on task and the amount of physical activity accumulated during physical activity programming is dependent upon the climate delivered.El propósito de este estudio fue determinar el efecto de un clima motivacional autónomo en educación física y un clima de actividad física no estructurado, sobre el tiempo empleado en las tareas de aprendizaje, en una pequeña muestra de niños en edad preescolar. Los niños de un centro de atención  infantil subsidiado (N=12) participaron en dos programas de actividad física de 45 minutos dentro del horario lectivo. El ambiente estructurado incluyó dos sesiones semanales de instrucción de destrezas motoras, basado en los principios fundamentales del clima motivacional autónomo. El programa no estructurado consistió en 45 minutos de juego en un ambiente libre. Se utilizaron acelerómetros ActiGraph para monitorear la participación  de los niños en la actividad física, así mismo el tiempo utilizado en las tareas de aprendizaje fue observado mediante el muestreo de tiempo momentáneo o de intervalos. Los resultados mostraron que el tiempo utilizado en las tareas de aprendizaje mejoró significativamente siguiendo el clima motivacional autónomo y los niños emplearon el 36% de su tiempo en actividades físicas de moderada a vigorosa intensidad. En contraste, el tiempo empleado en las tareas de aprendizaje no mejoró significativamente después de la participación en un entorno de juego libre, en este, los niños mostraron mayormente un comportamiento sedentario, además de la ausencia de actividad física vigorosa. Estos hallazgos indican que la participación en actividad física impacta positivamente la habilidad de los preescolares de permanecer en las tareas de aprendizaje propuestas y la cantidad de actividad física acumulada, durante el tiempo estipulado para la misma, depende del clima motivacional generado.