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In this article, the authors examine work conducted on 6 value orientations in physical education pioneered by Dr. Catherine D. Ennis and her colleagues. After providing an overview they focus on areas and methods of VOI research, specifically descriptions and comparisons (gender, teachers’ experience, school level, nationality, location, level of training, race, and physical activity background), the influence of value orientations on pedagogy (content and instructional models), and interventions (curricula and physical education teacher education). They conclude with suggestions for further research.

In this article, the authors honor Catherine D. Ennis’s legacy by highlighting her unique and significant contributions to physical education research on curriculum and instruction. First, they discuss Ennis’s curricular philosophy and her empirical work along her career path. Then they review the major school-based curricular interventions she implemented, including the Movement Education; Sport for Peace; Science, PE and Me!; and The Science of Healthful Living curricula to demonstrate Ennis’s commitment to curricular development in physical education. In this process, they share with the reader Ennis’s contributions to curriculum development theories, curriculum intervention research, and physical education practices.

As typically taught, sport-based, multiactivity approaches to physical education provide students with few opportunities to increase their skill, fitness, or understanding. Alternative curriculum models, such as Sport Education, Teaching Games for Understanding, and Fitness for Life, represent a second generation of models that build on strong statements of democratic, student-centered practice in physical education. In the What Goes Around section of the paper, I discuss the U.S. perspective on the origins of alternative physical education curriculum models introduced in the early and mid-20th century as a response to sport and exercise programs of the times. Today, with the help of physical educators, scholars are conducting research to test new curricular alternatives or prototypes to provide evidence-based support for these models. Yet, the multiactivity, sport-based curriculum continues to dominate in most U.S. physical education classes. I discuss reasons for this dogged persistence and propose reforms to disrupt this pervasive pattern in the future.

This research was conducted to investigate the role of value orientations in effective elementary physical educators’ curricular decision making. Educational value orientations served as the theoretical base for the research. Three research questions were examined: (a) what were the learning goals and expectations for student performance in each program, (b) why did teachers value these goals, and (c) how well did students understand the goals and expectations of the program? Data were collected through class observations, teacher and student interviews, and the Value Orientation Inventory. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Results described students’ learning goals and academic and social performance expectations within each teacher’s value profile. Dynamical systems theory was used to elaborate the influence of value orientations in the curriculum decision-making process.

This research examined content and task decisions of 11 urban secondary physical educators who placed a high priority on social curriculum goals. Transcript data from a stimulated-recall protocol were analyzed using constant comparison to determine the extent to which content and task decisions represented social justice and reform goals of social reconstruction or of citizenship and positive interaction more consistent with social responsibility. Results suggested that teachers’ content decisions were consistent with the goals of cooperation, teamwork, and involvement within the social responsibility value orientation. Task structures for middle school programs involved large group activities, while high school tasks focused on individual activities performed as a member of a small group.

For this study, curriculum was defined as a holistic set of perspectives that interact to create the educational environment. The Goodlad et al. (1979) domain concept was used as the theoretical structure for the examination of content in three elementary physical education programs. Two of the programs used a movement education curriculum (Logsdon et al., 1984) while the third was structured based on a traditional activity or sport and games approach. Data collection consisted of an examination of documents (ideological and formal domains), interviews with teachers and students (perceived and experiential domains), and observation (operational domain). Data were analyzed using constant comparison. The ideological domain was found to be the most influential curriculum perspective in these programs. Major differences were detected in the use of shared decision-making and in the students’ cognitive involvement with the content.