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Secondary professional socialization is a phase of occupational socialization theory that focuses on graduate education in preparation for a career in academia. Due to the need to present and publish research and make professional contacts, professional organizations likely serve an important socializing function during graduate education. The purpose of this exploratory study was to understand graduate students’ perspectives of participating in professional organizations. Participants included 16 health and physical education graduate students who shared their experiences in focus group interviews. Data were analyzed using constant comparison and inductive analysis. Results indicate graduate students become involved in professional organizations primarily due to faculty encouragement. Participants highlighted networking as a benefit of involvement, and viewed professional learning and opportunities to present research as important to their career development. Results are discussed through the lens of occupational socialization theory, and limitations and implications for graduate student training are shared.

As a part of their doctoral education, students complete a dissertation. Examining these dissertations can provide one analysis of research in a field. The primary purpose of this study was to analyze all physical education dissertations with a teaching focus that were completed between 1985 and 1999. All possible dissertations were examined through the electronic version of Dissertation Abstracts International. For the teaching dissertations (n = 201), each abstract was coded for (a) research type, (b) research focus, (c) student variable measured, (d) observation used, (e) interview used, (f) other methods used, (g) population, (h) general methodology, and (i) statistics reported/used. Most research on teaching dissertations addressed issues related to teacher effectiveness and focused on motor skill learning and attitude. There was an increase in qualitative methods from those reported in a previous study (Silverman, 1987). While there were methodological advances, many dissertations still used methods that were not informed by the research methods literature.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine in-service physical education teachers’ perceptions of and perceived value of technology-related learning across three formal training experiences (pre-service education, in-service continuing professional development, and graduate education). Methods: Twelve teachers enrolled in a graduate-level physical education teacher education program at a rural mid-Atlantic university participated in the study. Participants completed the Stage of Adoption of Technology survey (Christensen, 1997) and engaged in individual semi-structured interviews. Results: Six learning sources and four themes relative to participants’ perceptions of and perceived value of technology learning experiences emerged from the interview which include (a) absence of technology in K-12 PE, (b) technology-centric experience, (c) broadened awareness through observation, and (d) growth through hands-on experience. Conclusion: The findings align with and extend to previous research that suggests technology experiences must be dynamic, authentic, and tailored for individuals at different stages of technology adoption.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of occupational socialization on the perspectives and practices of sport pedagogy doctoral students in terms of physical education (PE) teaching and physical education teacher education (PETE). Participants were 12 students. Data were collected through formal and informal interviews, observations, and self-reflective posters. They were analyzed using analytic induction and constant comparison. Key findings were that doctoral students espoused both conservative and liberal forms of PE and PETE. These views were shaped by the various phases of their socialization. Doctoral students recalled being oriented to teaching and coaching. The longer coaching orientations remained intact, the more likely they were to espouse conservative versions of PE and PETE. The students’ graduate education was shown to be particularly potent and powerful. This appeared to be due to influential faculty, a practitioner focus in master’s degree programs, and engagement in undergraduate PETE.

The purpose was to determine whether publications pertaining to adapted physical activity (APA) pedagogy in the core serials from 1988 to 1998 adhere to library science laws. A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 770 articles in 259 serials selected from 4,130 serials initially identified in four databases (Article First, ERIC, Medline, Sport Discus). Results indicated that 1,720 authors have constructed the early APA pedagogy literature. Of these, only 11 contributed four or more articles. The scatter of APA pedagogy literature over four zones, with 4, 15, 64, and 176 journals in the zones, respectively, supports Bradford’s law of scattering. Price’s law was not supported because most authors contributed only one article. Most pedagogy articles (n = 184) were published in Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, Physician and Sports Medicine, and Palaestra. Graduate education should include exposure to bibliometrics and collaboration with library and information science specialists.