This paper, which was given as the Dudley Allen Sargent lecture at the 2012 conference of the National Association for Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education, discusses the politics of physical education. It examines how both national politics and local/campus politics affect the discipline. Drawing from the history of national…

Discussions related to constructivist learning theories have become more prevalent within various subdisciplines of Kinesiology. This discourse, however, has typically been placed within the context of K-12 education. The purpose of this article is to examine constructivist theories (cognitive and social constructivism and situated learning…

Community engagement is central to the public and civic mission of a growing number of colleges and universities, and numerous faculty members are applying their expertise to issues of importance to local communities and the larger society. However, there have been few first-hand descriptions of the career paths of faculty who engage in…

Increasing physical activity among America's youth is critical in helping to combat chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Therefore, finding the right sporting activities for the youth is important, as is making appropriate biomechanical adjustments or behavior modifications that create a safer means of participation. In this article, the…

In this article, the author explores the question: What if the Hokey-Pokey is "really" what it's all about? He suggests that people would make the Hokey-Pokey the supreme object of their professional enterprise. Everything they would do would be centered on an analysis of, and engagement with, the Hokey-Pokey. It would be the ultimate focus of…

How we learn motor skills has always been of interest to physical educators. Contemporary conceptual frameworks about motor skill learning draw from earlier behavioral and cognitive psychology learning theories. As a point of departure this paper foregrounds complexity theorizing, arguing that skill is contingent upon the performer's physical and…

Both modern and postmodern approaches to knowledge view tradition and authority with suspicion, even contempt, though each approach does so in different ways. Our profession vacillates between those epistemological orientations, struggling to find direction and meaning. Leadership, in particular, is in a quandary; what does leadership look like in…

There is broad consensus in the literature that despite dramatic gains in the knowledge-base regarding best practice in teaching, teacher education, and related pockets of effective programming in the schools, the majority of physical education programs are in disarray. In a recent article, Kretchmar (2006) referred to this dilemma as life on…

Physical education has been an institution in American schools since the late 19th century, and today almost all American children are exposed to physical education classes. It has often been claimed that physical education provides important benefits to public health. The purpose of this paper is to determine if physical education increases…

Linda Bain (1995) argues that subjective knowledge is of central importance to her life, both personally and professionally, and that a purely objective approach to physical education should be complemented with subjective knowledge, the key to which is "mindfulness." Following her lead, we argue that the traditional model of physical education…

The purpose of this article is to describe published scholarly and research work to determine the extent to which they contributed to the physical education reform during 2000-2010 in China. Using an analytical reasoning approach, we analyzed 730 scholarly articles on K-12 physical education published in the 6 top kinesiology scholarly journals.…

The Finnish education system has received worldwide attention due to the top academic performance of Finnish school students. Physical education, as an integral part of the Finnish education curriculum, potentially contributes to the overall success. The purpose of this article is to summarize Finnish physical education reform during the past…

This article offers a brief and personal account of the historical background, implementation and principal findings from the Trois-Rivieres regional project, a large-scale quasi-experimental intervention that tested the impact of providing a daily hour of specialist-taught quality physical education upon the physical and mental development of…

Important events in our lives have a beginning and ending date with a dash in between. What is important is not the dates on either end but what the dash represents. The "dashes" of Amy Morris Homans and Barbara E. Forker are examined. Each touched the lives of their students and the profession that was their lives. Homans understood the…

This article explores the process of transformation of higher education in Europe in response to the 1999 Bologna Accord. The "action lines" of the Bologna Process are described with particular attention to their influence on higher education in other countries, including the United States. The changes in Europe and the "external…