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This study examined the effectiveness of using a video-modeling program to improve the motor skills for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Preschool children from 2-5 years old with ASD participated in one of two groups during early motor skill interventions: video-modeling or live-modeling demonstrations. Four motor skills were taught throughout 10 sessions: catching, throwing, standing balance, and walking balance. In all skills, the video-modeling group out-performed the live-modeling group. The findings of this study contribute to knowledge regarding the development of motor skills in children with ASD, and provide caregivers who are working with children a teaching strategy (video-modeling) to enhance motor skills as an early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes of Saudi Arabian students with and without disabilities toward PE. A second purpose was to investigate the effect of grade levels and students' participation in physical activity after school on students' attitudes in PE. Participants were sixth to eighth graders from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and were between the ages of 11 and 17. Participants for this study were 172 students that included 89 students without disabilities and 83 with disabilities. Students were queried as to personal information and completed the Student Attitudes Toward Physical Education Survey. The results of this study indicated that the overall mean score of attitudes of all participants toward PE was 3.44 on a scale of 1-5, indicating a moderate positive attitude toward PE. In general, students without disabilities had more positive attitudes toward perceived usefulness and enjoyment of physical education than students with disabilities. In addition, eighth grade students had less favorable attitudes toward perceived usefulness and enjoyment of PE than seventh or sixth grade students. Also, students who participated in physical activity outside school showed more positive attitudes toward perceived usefulness and enjoyment of PE than students who did not participate in physical activity outside school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to examine both the pattern of team and player efficacy across a season of competition and the relationships among player efficacy, team efficacy, and team performance in collegiate ice hockey. The team and player efficacies of hockey players from 6 teams in a midwestern collegiate hockey league were assessed prior to 32 games. Official game statistics were factor analyzed to produce one useable performance measure, performance outcome. A consensus analysis demonstrated that players held homogeneous beliefs regarding their own and their teams' abilities to perform successfully. A meta-analysis of the regression equations for each team confirmed the homogeneity among teams and the predictive superiority of team efficacy in predicting team performance. Also, when team wins and losses were analyzed across the season, team efficacy significantly increased after a win and significantly decreased after a loss, but player efficacy was not affected.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of modification of basketball size and basket height on shooting performance and self-efficacy of girls and boys 9 to 12 years of age. Subjects (N = 74) completed a self-efficacy questionnaire before and after shooting 10 baskets under four conditions. Shooting conditions were a combination of basketball size (women's or men's) and basket height (10 or 8 ft). Repeated measures analyses of variance indicated that children made more baskets and had higher shooting scores at the 8-ft basket than the 10-ft basket. This was especially evident for girls and 9- and 10-year-old children. Self-efficacy was higher prior to shooting, and boys had higher self-efficacy than girls. Self-efficacy was highest when children shot at the 8-ft basket. These results indicated that basket height modification can positively influence children's shooting performance and self-efficacy.

The purpose of this field experiment was to investigate the effects of attending either a coeducational or a same-sex physical education class on several self-perception variables. Middle and high school youth who had previously been in coeducational classes were assigned to either a same-sex or a new coeducational physical education class for a 10-lesson unit of basketball. Analyses were conducted at both the group and the individual levels. Self-perception variables examined included perceived self-confidence of learning basketball, perceived usefulness of basketball, and perceived gender-appropriateness of basketball. Results of hierarchical linear model group level analyses indicated that the variability in groups for self-confidence could be explained by grade, class type, and the interaction between gender and class type. At the individual level, multivariate results showed that, after the unit, males in coeducational classes were significantly more confident in their ability to learn basketball than males in same-sex classes. Also, males in same-sex classes decreased in confidence from pretreatment to posttreatment. Perceived usefulness of basketball emerged as the strongest predictor of self-confidence for learning basketball for both genders. In general, middle school students preferred same-sex classes, whereas high school students preferred coeducational classes.

This study reinvestigated and extended the findings of Landers and Landers (1973), which examined the influence of skilled and unskilled teacher and peer models on motor performance. Sixth grade females (N = 100) were randomly assigned to groups in a 2 x 2 (Model Type x Model Skill) factorial design or to a no-model group. In the treatment groups, subjects observed one of four unfamiliar models--(a) a skilled teacher, (b) an unskilled teacher, (c) a skilled peer, or (d) an unskilled peer--perform on the Bachman ladder task. Subjects performed 30 trials of the task and also completed self-efficacy questionnaires on three occasions. Results showed that subjects who watched a skilled model performed better than subjects who watched an unskilled model. Unlike the Landers and Landers study, no model type by model skill interaction was found. In addition, the skilled model group reported higher efficacy beliefs than the control group after performing and were more efficacious than the unskilled model subjects both after watching the model and after performing. These results suggest when students view unfamiliar models, the skill rather than the status of the model may be more salient.