Siedentop, D. (2002). Content knowledge for physicaleducation. Journal ofTeaching in Physical

Education, 21, 368-377.

Kathleen Wack and David Robertson

Type of, purpose of study/paper, theoretical framework/background

• Position Statement

• Keynote address for the

C & I Academy Conference

at AAHPERD National Conference Boston 1989

Background and significance of study

To put into context, this paper was presented at a time when:

• Standards based instruction and the development of standards was hot topic of education

• Time when physical education programs and time for physical education were being cut

• Major criticisms of what the importance of physical education is

Analysis Methods

• Reviewed historical perspectives on content knowledge in physical education

• Used these perspectives to support his opinion

Findings/Main arguments

• Calls for a clearer definition of what constitutes content knowledge in physical education

• Defends that the study of sport performance is worthy of formal academic credit

• Calls for analysis of our teacher education programs in order to “fix” school-based physical education programs

1. Write your initials on all of the stickers.

2. You will have 4 minutes to walk around the room to read silently the quotes from the article posted on the wall.

3. As you walk, place a sticker by the paper.

4. Choose your sticker color by your opinion:

1. Orange if you agree with the quote

2. Green if you disagree with the quote

3. Yellow if you have mixed feelings about the quote.

QUOTE QUERY ACTIVITY

“The content knowledge domain for physical education…continues to be a source of serious controversy in our

field.”

(Siedentop, 2002, p. 368)

“The teacher preparation programs today define teaching largely in terms

of the methods, processes, and procedures of pedagogy with little

attention paid to the subject matterof school physical education.”

(Vickers, 1987)

“If physical education teachers had any special talent at all, it seemed to be the ability to teach a broad range

of skills at an introductory level in environments that promised little

hope of success.”

(Hoffman, 1987)

“We have arrived at a point in our history where we can now prepare

teachers who are pedagogically more skillful than ever, but who, in many

cases, are so unprepared in the content areas that they would be

described as “ignorant”.”

(Siedentop, 2002, p. 369)

“We all know how completely the revolution (begun by Henry in 1964) has transformed our undergraduate teacher preparation curricula. The

young people…now take courses…in motor learning, motor control, sport

psychology, sport history, sport philosophy, exercise physiology, kinesiology, and biomechanics.”

(Siedentop, 2002, p. 369)

“For the physical educator, then,…would be to insist our students take more courses about

sport and exercise…extend and intensify their study of sport and exercise by insisting that they

practice sport and exercise—by doing it! We should insist that our students acquire a range

of movement skills far more extensive than they would be called upon to teach in the public

school.”

(Locke, 1977)

“The subject matter taught in school physical education programs is not exercise physiology, biomechanics, and sport history, but volleyball,

gymnastics, swimming and diving….undergraduate degrees should give principal attention to performance of skills, not unlike programs featured in dance or music, where performance is allowed to take center stage,

unapologetically.”

(Hoffman, 1988)

“Some departments have spent a decade trying to divest themselves of

those embarrassing skills courses. Graduates with only a narrow, single-

sport specialization, or worse, graduates without any particular

talent for movement at all, too often have become the norm rather than

the exception.”

(Locke, 1977)

“There is a general belief that sport performance coursework is not

worthy of academic status.”

(Siedentop, 2002, p. 369)

“For these physical education intellectualists, the value and joy of

activity in and for itself was insufficient...our attention was subtly

directed away from the crux of the matter; from the fundamental grounds upon

which this field rests—the activity itself.”

(Kleinman, 1973)

“This, then, is the root problem—the direct study of sport skill and strategy through

experiential learning is not considered to be of sufficient academic quality to form the

core of an undergraduate degree program. Learning basketball, volleyball, and

gymnastics—and all the associated issues of training, technique, performance, and

strategy—are not worthy of academic credit as the central foci of a pre-professional

program.”

(Siedentop, 2002, p.371)

“If (undergraduate PE majors) have increasingly fewer academic credit hours devoted to

developing expertise in sport forms, they will fail as teachers of physical education no matter

how well they are eventually prepared in the pedagogical domain. They will fail because

they have little command of the content they will need to teach, no ability to take students beyond that introductory unit that seemingly

gets taught again and again and again. ”

(Siedentop, 2002, p.372)

“The purpose and flavor of the program....says… ‘At Ohio State, we

believe that the best way to become a performer, choreographer, educator, or

scholar is—TO DANCE!’.”

(Siendentop, 2002, p.376)

“Our field would be better off if we all stopped trying to be all things to all people in our notions of school curricula and content knowledge. But before we continue to

criticize school-based physical educators for their short-term multi-activity programs with little progression and few real outcomes, we

had best take a hard look at the content knowledge we have provided for them in our

teacher education programs. ”

(Siendentop, 2002, p.376)

What We Took From This Article

• Not much has changed as a profession from the 1980’s

• So many hands are in the development of a curriculum at the undergraduate level (To Dance—To Move—But Wait!)

• Questioning of what is the most important element of physical education

Questions To The Audience

• What has been some challenges to physical education being an academic discipline such as English, math, or science?

• Does the study of other areas of physical education, in fact, take away from activity?

• How can we change the undergraduate PETE curriculum to ensure students are receiving a good educational experience?

Conclusions/implications for practice and/or future research

• Standards based instruction

• Standards for Physical Education Teacher Education

• Undergraduate coursework in physical education

• Name of our discipline- physical education versus kinesiology

• Scope and sequences for depth of understanding of activity

Questions?