Education Commons^™

Effect Of Handedness On Gross Motor Skill Acquisition Among College Undergraduates, Anthony Paul Parish

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is little applicable research investigating educational adaptation for handedness and even less research dealing with physical skill development. Given that PE teachers and students frequently rely on demonstrations to enhance learning, this study sought to determine if the congruence between teacher and student handedness is important? It was hypothesized that performance and form scores of left-handers that see a right-handed demonstration would be significantly higher than those of right-handers that see a left-handed demonstration.

A lacrosse shot was demonstrated to a group of 69 college-aged participants that were equally split in numbers between male and female and left and …

Physical Education Content Knowledge And Physical Activity Behaviors Of Mississippi High School Students, Christina Leigh Lumpkin Martin

Dissertations

The present study investigated physical education content knowledge, physical activity behaviors, and body mass indexes of 386 Mississippi ninth (n=236 ) and twelfth (n=150) grade students with a goal of establishing evidence-based needs to modify physical education curricula. Results of this study suggested that a significant, direct relationship did exist in the Assessment of Sub-disciplinary Knowledge in Physical Education: Exercise Physiology (ASK PE: EXP);(Ayers, 2004) scores and scores from the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (M4<2^4);(Aaron & Kriska, 1997) for both ninth and twelfth grade students. Findings also suggested that physical education content knowledge (exercise physiology) is more likely to contribute to twelfth grade reported physical activity scores than ninth grade reported physical activity scores. However, ninth graders were more active than twelfth graders. This is possibly explained by the small difference (5%) in ASK PE: EXP scores between ninth (M ASK PE: EXP score = 52%, SD=.22) and twelfth graders (M ASKPE: EXP score = 57%, SD = .21). As a whole, results indicated that Mississippi ninth and twelfth grade students' average ASKPE: EXP score was lower (M = 53%, SD = .22) than students in 16 other states (M = 62%, SD = 7.65). Further, majority of Mississippi high school students are performing significantly below the established, research-based cutoff score of 62% (observed N below 62% = 236 and observed N above 62% = 150). This is notable, because findings also suggested that students who scored higher (M knowledge = 76%, SD = .08);(M activity = 8.6 hours/week, SD = 9.7) or above 62% on the ASK PE: EXP were more likely to be active during a weekly basis compared to those who scored lower (M knowledge = 39%, SD = .14);(M activity = 5.8 hours/week, SD = 9.8) or below a 62% on the ASK PE: EXP. With this noted, it was recommended that Mississippi high schools evaluate the current physical education programs, and strive to implement curricula that can provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to make lifelong healthy decisions.