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This paper presents a model of student thinking and behavior that depicts students as active participants in the classroom who affect classroom events as much as they are affected by them. Research evidence suggests students’ entry characteristics and their initial beliefs, attitudes, and values concerning school and physical education are influenced by the students’ social and cultural landscape. These variables shape students’ thoughts about what physical education is or should be, what their roles as students should be, how they should approach the content offered, and what their chances of success might be. Although student attributes and beliefs help shape initial acceptance of and interactions with the content and processes of instruction, there are things teachers can do to enhance the quality of students’ learning. The environment can influence student perceptions by promoting challenge, emphasizing mastery, and offering opportunities to engage in tasks that are meaningful and valued.

This study explored the cognitive responses of adapted physical education teachers during lesson planning. The focus was to determine whether expert (n=4) and novice (n=4) teachers varying in experience and expertise differ in the information they need to plan a lesson and how they conceptualize a lesson. Subjects were given information about a fictional class of handicapped students and were asked to plan a lesson. After writing a lesson plan, they were asked to explain it to the experimenter. The results provided clear evidence of the experienced teachers’ superior knowledge base and repertoire of teaching strategies. Their responses were filled with contingency plans based on the actions and abilities exhibited by the students. In contrast, the novices generated plans that were unidirectional and failed to accommodate the range of ability levels in the class.

In this study, relationships between entry characteristics, in-class behavior, self-report measures of student cognition, and achievement during motor skill instruction were examined. Fifty-six sixth-grade students participated in a 4-day instructional unit on the forearm pass in volleyball. All classes were videotaped to code in-class behavior. Data collection included skill pretest and posttest, Harter’s Perceived Competence Scale, forms about the errors made during practice, and a Cognitive Processes Questionnaire (CPQ). Correlates of achievement, as reflected by residual gain scores, were perceived competence, student reports of attention, and variables indicating the quality of practice. Relationships between entry characteristics, in-class behavior, and measures of cognition were evaluated using canonical correlational analyses, and these relationships suggest that entry characteristics are important factors in how students interact in achievement settings. The results of this study show that investigating the complex relationships between these sets of variables can yield results that clarify how students effectively mediate instruction.

The purposes of this study were to determine the stability of estimations of success in masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral motor tasks with subjects of three age groups, and to compare expectancies for success of boys and girls at each of the ages. A total of 90 subjects took part in the study, including 15 males and 15 females randomly selected from the three age groups (grades 1 & 2; grades 6 & 7; and adults). Three activities (football, ballet, and swimming) had been sex-typed in a previous study as masculine, feminine, and neutral, respectively. Subjects were asked to indicate how they would expect to perform on three occasions in all three tasks. Results indicated that all age groups can provide reliable expectations for their success in motor skill acquisition, although the younger children's estimates are slightly less reliable, especially on the first trial. Sex-typing of activities was found to definitely affect the performance estimations in all three age groups. Males' expectancies were higher on the male task and females' expectancies were higher on the female task. The younger children's overall estimates of success were higher than those of the older groups.

This study was designed to explore the relationships among individuals’ dispositional ability conceptions, intrinsic motivation, experience, perceived competence, persistence, and performance. Participants practiced a novel task, completed surveys before instruction and after practicing the task, and completed a skill test. The results indicated that participants with higher levels of entity ability conceptions were likely to exert less effort and be less intrinsically motivated during practice. Participants with more experience were likely to feel more competent before and after practice. Perceived competence, incremental ability conceptions, and performance were positive predictors of intrinsic motivation. The results suggest that providing students opportunities to experience a variety of activities and creating an environment in which students can feel competent, believe in the efficacy of effort, and experience success could foster intrinsic motivation to actively engage in activities.

Feedback is considered an important teaching function and researchers in sport pedagogy have shown interest in verifying this importance to achievement in physical education. This review paper examines the feedback research in physical education and discusses factors which might help explain some inconsistencies. The essential role of teacher feedback in motor-skill learning is questioned.

Thirty fourth-grade students were provided two 30-min lessons on the tennis forehand ground stroke. The students and the teacher were videotaped, and, following each lesson, the students were interviewed using a stimulated-recall procedure. Frequency measures of successful practice trials were also coded for each student during each practice session. Analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between skill-related thoughts and successful performance during class. The findings support the notion that student thoughts are important mediators between instruction and student response patterns.

This study examined the relationship between the total number of practice trials and practice trials using correct technique and achievement in a soccer kick-up skill. Eight preservice physical education teachers taught two lessons to 10 fourth-grade students; upon completion of the instructional periods the students were posttested on the soccer skill. Each class was videotaped, and the entire lesson for each day was coded for each student using an event-recording system. Findings indicated moderately high significant relationships between practice using correct technique and student achievement.

This study investigated the relationships and mean-level changes of middle school students’ motivation (expectancy-related beliefs, task values, self-efficacy, and outcome expectancy) toward physical education over time, and how gender affected students’ motivation. Participants (N = 206) completed questionnaires over a 1-year period: once in the sixth and seventh grades and again in the seventh and eighth grades. Results yielded that self-efficacy and task values were positive predictors of students’ intention across cohorts. The mean levels of self-efficacy decreased over time for students in Cohort 1 (across sixth and seventh grades). However, results revealed a consistent decline in the mean levels of other motivational variables for both cohorts. No gender differences emerged for the variables. The findings are discussed in regard to the implications for educational practice, and future research areas are presented.