The 2015 C. H. McCloy Lecture: Road Trip Toward More Inclusive Physical Activity: Maps, Mechanics, Detours, and Traveling Companions

Global Challenges and Opportunities for Physical Education Teacher Educators

This McCloy Lecture sheds light on the "hidden profession" of Physical Education Teacher Educators (PETEs) by sharing my perspectives on the challenges and opportunities faced by PETE scholars and teachers globally. I begin with an overview of my biography and how it has influenced my thinking about PETE. I present some scholarly critiques of PETE, a selection of PETE research findings and address key policy issues within teacher education across several national educational systems describing how Physical Education teacher educators manage (or not) the challenges and opportunities in the practice of teacher education in modern-day universities. I draw on data from my international study of experienced Physical Education teacher educators about the nature of their work in academe and the status of physical education teacher education locally, nationally and globally. I also draw on the perspectives of Irish teacher educators about the challenges of being active producers and users of research in a challenging national policy context. I conclude with a set of observations about how best to build capacity among Physical Education teacher educators so they can thrive as research active and innovative teachers in the modern university.

Differences in university students' motivation between a required and an elective physical activity education policy

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine differences in students' physical activity motivation, competence, and weekly exercise metabolic equivalent units (METs) between universities with different physical activity education (PAE) policy arrangements (ie, a required PAE vs. an elective PAE).

PARTICIPANTS

Participants (N = 953) were purposefully recruited from two universities with different PAE policies 1 week before the start of fall term 2015.

METHODS

Participants completed questionnaires assessing their physical activity motivation, competence, and weekly exercise METs.

RESULTS

The results of this study suggest that having a required PAE policy allows for more students with lower self-determined forms of motivation (ie, amotivation) to be reached in comparison to the elective PAE policy.

CONCLUSIONS

This finding highlights that a primary value of having a required PAE policy is its ability to reach less motivated students.

The Intersections of Science and Practice: Examples From FitnessGram® Programming

The FitnessGram® program has provided teachers with practical tools to enhance physical education programming. A key to the success of the program has been the systematic application of science to practice. Strong research methods have been used to develop assessments and standards for use in physical education, but consideration has also been given to ensure that programming meets the needs of teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders. This essay summarizes some of these complex and nuanced intersections between science and practice with the FitnessGram® program. The commentaries are organized into 5 brief themes: science informing practice; practice informing science; balancing science and practice; promoting evidence-based practice; and the integration of science and practice. The article draws on personal experiences with the FitnessGram® program and is prepared based on comments shared during the 37th Annual C. H. McCloy Research Lecture at the 2017 SHAPE America - Society of Health and Physical Educators Convention.

School-Based Team Research to Address Grand Challenges Through P-12 Physical Education Programs

One of the grand challenges of our time is to educate children and youth to live physically active and healthy lives today and into adulthood. To do so, we must first agree that the highest mission priority for physical education programs in schools is that of public health promotion through physical activity. Under that mission, school physical education programs from preschool to Grade 12 (P-12) would be designed, implemented, resourced, and evaluated to help children meet the recommended 60 min of daily physical activity. From there, the worth of those programs would be judged on their success in accomplishing that mission. This article outlines an agenda for conducting longitudinal, cross-disciplinary team research on exemplary physical education programs that have demonstrated the capacity to help more children achieve the recommended daily level for physical activity. Once those exemplars have been studied and documented, the final step in this agenda is for researchers to disseminate their findings beyond the traditional audiences who read scholarly journals. Those new audiences would include school leaders, parents, other physical activity professionals and organizations, and, ultimately, policymakers. The article ends with a description of a 2-year research project that achieved many of the goals aligned with comprehensive school physical activity programs and that would promote SHAPE America - The Society of Health and Physical Educators' 50 Million Strong by 2029 initiative.

Toward a greater understanding of the syndemic nature of hypokinetic diseases

Physical activity participation has historically been conceptualized at the individual level with a strong emphasis on apparently healthy people. However, in the latter part of the 20th century and early part of the 21st century, a paradigm shift emerged whereby physical activity participation increasingly was acknowledged to be dependent on factors residing beyond an individual's control, with programming and intervention efforts necessary across the lifespan, in multiple settings, and under various life circumstances. This shifting emphasis has created opportunities and challenges for those involved in physical activity program delivery and research. In this presentation, physical activity behavior change, promotion, and retention efforts will be reviewed and critiqued. Emerging from this critical analysis is an understanding of the syndemic nature of hypokinetic diseases (i.e., the diseases associated with disuse and physical inactivity). The term syndemics is used to account for the interplay and synergistic nature of person, place, and timing in the development of disease. Not only are individual lifestyle behaviors and social factors considered in syndemics, but so too are the forces that link those causes together. To genuinely affect change among the masses, those involved in delivering physical activity interventions and programming must not only address each lifestyle behavior and social affliction that contributes to hypokinetic diseases, but also to the social and environmental forces that link those causes together (e.g., stigma, unequal access to resources).

Measuring Multidimensional Subjective Well-Being with the I COPPE Scale in a Hispanic Sample

The purpose of this study was to provide initial validity evidence for measuring multidimensional subjective well-being in a Hispanic sample with the Interpersonal, Community, Occupational, Physical, Psychological, Economic (I COPPE) Scale. Participants were 641 English-speaking adults who self-identified as Hispanic. Bi-factor analyses were used to evaluate (a) the a priori measurement theory for responses to the I COPPE Scale and (b) convergent relationships of the seven I COPPE subjective well-being factors with scores from established comparison instruments. There was evidence that (a) the a priori hypothesized measurement theory for responses to the I COPPE Scale emerged in an exploratory bi-factor analysis and (b) the I COPPE subjective well-being factors exhibited convergent relationships with scores from comparison instruments. Use of the I COPPE Scale to derive multidimensional measures of subjective well-being may be of potential utility to future research in the interdisciplinary study of human movement and in a diversity of populations in which health disparities may exist.