Examines the context of contemporary sport-based physical education (PE) that contributes to student disengagement, arguing that thematic interventions using a social constructivist perspective on curriculum development can enhance PE experiences for disengaged students and summarizing characteristics of a social constructivist approach to…

Conceptualizes motivation research in physical education from an integrated perspective, reviewing major motivation theories and research findings. The paper discusses motivation sources, achievement goal theories, and research on interest. It also proposes an integrated conceptual framework for future research to link motivation to specific…

Physical educators and their students often perceive physical education differently. Lack of shared meaning can negatively affect instruction, participation, and learning. Teachers often incorrectly assume that differing responses to instruction reflect off-task behavior. The paper examines the issue, presents implications for teaching and teacher…

Research review examines whether student thought processes mediate achievement in physical education. The paper offers the mediating process paradigm to explain unexpected, inconsistent research findings on teaching and describes problems associated with measuring cognitive processes, suggesting they play an active role in student motor skill…