In an earlier issue of "TEPE" (January, 2005) the "Research to Practice" column examined the effects of a developmental curriculum on elementary-aged children's performance. Pappa, Evanggelinou, and Karabourniotis (2005) found support for a line of research suggesting that curricular programming should place a specific focus on development of…

Background: Following the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the NSW Premier, Mr Bob Carr, launched a school-based initiative in NSW government primary schools called the "Gold Medal Fitness Program" to encourage children to be fitter and more active. The Program was introduced into schools through a model of professional development, "Quality…

Elementary school physical education has repeatedly been shaped by the forces of history. Presently, concerns about the obesity epidemic and the low levels of physical activity in children are exerting a major influence on curriculum. Whereas building physical fitness has been a dominant influence during wartime, the focus today is on (a)…

Sixty-five right- and left-handed preschool and school children were tested on three reach-to-grasp tasks of different levels of complexity, performed in three space locations. Our goal was to evaluate how the effect of attentional information related to object location interacts with task complexity and degree of handedness on children's hand…

Using rubrics to assess learning outcomes has been popular in education for over a decade. Rubrics have been identified as an important tool for assessing student performance, teacher effectiveness, and quality of the programs. Teachers in different subject disciplines have successfully used rubrics to achieve educational goals. Using…

Problem behaviour hampers learning and the normal development of skills and competencies. The children in focus in this article from Norway are six-year-olds with persistent problem behaviour. Early identification of these children is imperative for the implementation of structured educational interventions. Knowledge about their behaviour and…

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are less likely to enjoy participating in physical education (PE) than children without motor coordination difficulties. However, no studies have attempted to quantify this relationship or examine potentially modifiable mediating variables. Using a large sample (N = 590) of children (aged 9…

The fifth section of the Henderson and Sugden's Movement ABC Checklist is part of the general Checklist that accompanies The Movement ABC Battery. The authors maintain that the analysis of this section must be mainly qualitative instead of quantitative. The main objective of this study was to employ a quantitative analysis of this behavioural…

The purpose of this study was to examine levels of physical activity engagement, motor competence, and physical fitness as related to child access to physical activity facilities in the home and school environments. The present investigation attempts to further efforts to examine the relationship between physical activity levels and access.…

The Skill Theme approach underlies the purpose and design of the movement maps described in this article. This approach promotes fundamental movement skill competence. Learning experiences are designed to accommodate the developmental needs of individual students. Further, an emphasis is placed on providing high repetition and variety through…

Tool use consists of at least two coupled phases of activities, involving multi-step problem solving. It therefore provides an interesting window on the development of planning in goal-directed behavior. This study investigated 2-year-olds' and 3-year-olds' hand use in picking up and subsequently using a tool for displacing a target-object towards…

Microswitches are critical tools that can help people with multiple disabilities control aspects of their environment, including their favorite environmental stimuli through simple responses (Crawford & Schuster, 1993; Gutowski, 1996). One such response may be vocalization (that is, any brief sound emission) (Lancioni, O?Reilly, Oliva, & Coppa,…

Summer break is almost here for most elementary teachers and students. Warmer weather and additional free time to make choices create more opportunities to be physically active, whether home alone or out with friends and family. This article describes ways by which physical education specialists can encourage students' physical activity by…

The National Standards for Physical Education (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004) and many state physical education standards include a standard that is focused on development of movement patterns, which includes rhythmic skills. The newly adopted Physical Education Model Content Standards for California Public Schools…

This article intends to inform physical education teachers about the current research describing the relationship between physical education performance outcomes as identified by the national physical education standards (i.e., regular participation in physical activity, physical fitness, motor competence; National Association of Physical…