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Korfball was invented in a mixed Primary School in Amsterdam in the early 1900s [IKF (2006). Korfball in the Mixed Zone. KNKV; Summerfield and White (1989). Korfball: A Model of Egalitarianism. Sociology of Sport Journal, 6, 144–151]. The main catalyst for the development of korfball was a need for a competitive mixed sport that relied on cooperation and meant boys and girls could participate on a level playing field [Summerfield and White (1989). Korfball: A Model of Egalitarianism. Sociology of Sport Journal, 6, 144–151]. Previous research into gender in physical education (PE) has found that young people gain gender-related understandings through PE [Azzarito (2009). The Panopticon of PE: pretty, active and ideally white. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 14(1), 19–39; Azzarito and Solomon (2009). An Investigation of Students' Embodied Discourses in PE: A gender project. Journal of Teaching in PE, 28, 173–191; Azzarito and Solomon (2010). A Reconceptualization of PE: The intersection of gender/race/social class. Sport, Education and Society, 10(1), 25–47; Chalabaev et al. (2013). The Influence of Sex Stereotypes and Gender Roles on Participation and Performance in Sport and Exercise: Review and future directions. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 14, 136–144; Wright (1995). A Feminist Poststructuralist Methodology for the Study of Gender Construction in PE: Description of a Study. Journal of Teaching in PE, 15, 1–24]. [Thorne (1993). Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. Rutgers University Press] argues that to remove binary thinking and notions of hegemonic masculinity and femininity, PE lessons should promote equality between girls and boys, reflect cooperation and teamwork between all, and demonstrate to students that gender inclusivity is achievable. This paper will consider findings from a larger ethnographic study, in order to discuss how junior korfball players understand gender within their individual PE settings. It will also seek to discover whether players believe gender discourses can be negotiated in PE through the use of korfball. Players frequently referred to the limitations of their current PE experiences and suggested that the mixed element of korfball could provide opportunities for boys and girls to come together in PE. Players described how the structure of the korfball game reflects a need to use both sexes, which could improve mixed PE lessons. Players also discussed preconceived ideas about boys' games and girls' games, which led to problematic actions and interactions in current mixed PE settings. Findings suggest that embodied practices which demonstrate the abilities of girls, as well as boys, could lead to resistance of dominant discourses which reinforce gender difference and the physical inferiority of girls. They might provide a space which alters dominant discourse often reproduced in PE and sporting environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A relationship exists between attitudes toward physical education and future physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in attitude toward physical education as students progressed from upper elementary school (Grade 4) through middle school (Grade 8).Method: Three cohorts of students (Cohort 1, Grades 4-6, n = 96; Cohort 2, Grades 5-7, n = 71; and Cohort 3, Grades 6-8, n = 73) were each followed for 3 years to examine changes in attitudes toward physical education.Results: After an initial increase from Grade 4 to Grade 5, a significant decrease was observed from Grades 5 to 8 in students' positive attitudes toward physical education, with a faster rate of change for girls than boys.Conclusion: This longitudinal study provides further insights regarding the attitudes of students as they progress from Grade 4 to Grade 8 and expands on previous findings identifying decreasing positive attitudes toward physical education as students age, particularly for girls. The results provide evidence to support targeted interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary physical education (PPE) is increasingly being recognised for the role it can potentially play in setting a foundation for lifelong engagement in physical activity. However, the majority of the literature continues to focus on the negative features of the subject within the primary context. Whilst acknowledging the existence of these barriers, this paper sets out to take a proactive approach by presenting a conceptual framework for PPE that seeks to support a renewed and positive vision for the future. Based on ideas from complexity thinking, the framework represents a move beyond the more positivist and linear approaches that have long been reported to dominate practices in PPE and recognises learners as active agents engaged in a learning process that is collaborative, non-linear and uncertain. While acknowledging the contested nature of the complexity field, the paper explores how key principles, including self-organisation, emergence, similarity, diversity, connectedness, nestedness, ambiguous bounding, recursive elaboration and edge of chaos, offer a lens that views PPE as a complex system. With the children's learning positioned as the focus of PPE in the educational setting, the paper discusses how complexity principles interweave with the ecological components to help us better understand and more creatively engage with the complex nature of PPE developments. Specifically, these components are identified as PPE learning experiences and their associated pedagogy, teachers and their PPE professional learning and key environmental factors that include the physical environment and key stakeholders who influence developments across the different levels of the education system. The paper concludes by suggesting that this complexity-informed PPE framework represents an open invitation for the all those involved in PPE to engage in a collective process of exploration and negotiation to positively influence developments in PPE. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines physical education (PE) curriculum development in an elementary school. Our goal was to understand the daily construction of a curriculum. We sought to analyse the theoretical and methodological framework and documents that a PE teacher uses each day while putting a curriculum into practice (lived curriculum). The data collection instruments included participant observation, interviews and document analysis. The analytical process revealed the influence of internal and external factors that affect both the authorship and the autonomy of a teacher working on the daily construction of a lived PE curriculum and that create tensions, struggles and conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Music is a pervasive presence in society and is routinely used to influence human behavior in a variety of settings and for a variety of purposes including exercise behaviors and physical education (PE) classes. However, little evidence exists to support what effect, if any, music has on learner outcomes in PE. The effects that playing music during elementary PE lessons had on children's physical activity (PA) rates were examined in this study. Physical activity rates (via pedometry) of elementary PE students (Grades 3 to 5, n = 115) were measured under two treatment conditions (music or no music) and across two lesson types (walking or Frisbee) in a crossover design. Data were analyzed using a within-and-within repeated measures ANOVA. Findings indicate that including music throughout PE lessons significantly increases PA for both genders and across both activities (p < .000). Also, a significant music-by-activity type interaction effect was noted (p < .000), indicating that music has an increased effect as the nature of the activity becomes more vigorous. A significant gender effect (p < .000) was also noted. Using music may be a beneficial environmental change that will increase PA in elementary PE and is more pronounced as intensity increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]