<p>Classroom Management and Inclusion Effectiveness in Elementary Level Physical Education. Palaestra 15.3 (Summer 1999): p19. </p><p>Introduction</p><p>Inclusion of children with disabilities into regular physical education has become a commonplace educational practice in the past five to ten years (Block, 1994). Inclusion can be defined as educating all children with disabilities (mild to severe) in regular education settings, even if it involves special resources, personnel, and curricula to make it successful (Block & Vogler, 1994). While there has been concern that inclusion practices would become problematic to learning for both children with and without disabilities, inclusion has generally been shown to be successful in promoting social and academic gains in both classroom and physical education research (Baker, Wang, & Walberg, 1995; Block & Vogler, 1994; Staub & Peck, 1995).</p><p>In spite of a growing body of literature highlighting inclusion effectiveness, little is known about specific teacher practices which promote successful inclusion (Block & Vogler, 1994; Macmillan, Keogh, & Jones, 1986). In physical education, Vogler, van der Mars, Darst, and Cusimano (1990) analyzed the effect of a variety of teacher practices on student learning to determine the effectiveness of inclusive elementary level physical education programs. Analysis revealed the number of transitional episodes between activities affected student learning more than other variables. Specifically, a transitional episode is defined as a classroom management activity related to instruction which signals a change within the class (e.g., team selection, lining up, moving squads, etc.) (Siedentop, 1991). Classroom management is referred to as any activity which establishes and maintains order in the classroom (Doyle, 1986). Research shows that a high number of transitions can slow down the pace of class and diminish opportunities for learning (Siedentop, 1991). In a review of classroom management research, Doyle (1986) found that there were typically 31 major transitions per day in an elementary class which accounted for 15% of class time. In physical education, Siedentop (1991) has reported that classroom management accounted for approximately 25% of class time with as many as 15-20 different tasks being presented in any one elementary class during the day. This factor may have produced excessively wasteful periods of time where learning was not taking place.</p><p>The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of transitional behavior on student learning and off task behavior of elementary children in inclusive physical education. Hopefully, this will help to more clearly understand classroom management in physical education within the context of inclusionary practices.</p><p>Method</p><p>Teacher Participants</p><p>Eighteen certified elementary physical education teachers from three school districts volunteered as subjects. There were an even number of male and female teachers. Their ages ranged from 24 to 56 years with a median age of 30+ years. Their years of teaching experience ranged from 1 to 33 years, with a median of 7 years. All teachers followed a curriculum designed by Pangrazi (1998) which outlined specific weekly activities for three developmental grade levels (K-2, 3-4, 5-6). This curriculum used a four-part lesson format, including (a) an introductory activity, (b) a fitness component, c) motor development through skill practice, and (d) a games portion.</p><p>Student Participants</p><p>Eighteen children with mild disabilities were randomly selected to serve as participants. They had been identified and placed into regular educational settings in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state' s Department of Special Education. Twelve of the subjects were male and six were female. A decision was made not to include non-ambulatory students since there were so few subjects in this category. Fifty-four children without disabilities were randomly selected as participants for the basis of comparison.</p><p>Procedure</p><p>Teacher and student behavior was recorded by two videotape cameras for each class; one camera focused upon the teacher and one on the students. Each of 18 classes was videotaped once to increase generalization of behavioral data by allowing for more subjects rather than videotaping less subjects for more time. Videotaping lasted the duration of each 30 min class period and was synchronized between cameras to begin on cue. Teacher and student behaviors were collected using the Academic Learning Time in Physical Education (ALT-PE) systematic observation coding system developed by Siedentop, Tousignant, and Parker (1982).</p><p>Results</p><p>Time allocation in this study indicated students spent 26% in transition, 32% in practice, 17% in fitness, 13% in scrimmage, 10% in games, and 13% in a combination of others. There were 16 transitional episodes on the average with the range being between 10-25. When the number of transitional episodes were dichotomized, the mean number of lower and higher transitional episodes were, respectively, 13 and 19.</p><p>The results indicate that there was less motor appropriateness (learning) in children with disabilities when transitional episodes were higher. Interestingly, this was not the case with children without disabilities whose learning behavior remained unaffected in the two different transitional conditions. With regard to student conduct, there was a higher percentage of off-task behavior when transitional episodes were higher for both children with and without disabilities. Thus, from a clinical perspective, the children seemed differentially affected by the changes of transition in class. This meant that both students with and without disabilities were adversely affected by higher transitional behavior in the classroom.</p><p>Practical Application</p><p>It can be said that knowledge of how time is allocated within a class has been an indicator of how typical and, thus, how effective classes may be when compared to the norm (Berliner, 1979). The time allocation values in the current study were representative of those typically found in physical education teaching literature (Pangrazi, 1998; Siedentop, 1991). Thus, from an instructional point of view regarding teacher behavior--</p><p>* Classes were largely effective in nature since there were no signs of deceleration in academic progress and/or no loss of teacher time allocation or teacher attention.</p><p>* Transitional behavior had a negative clinical or practical effect on student learning and conduct. This supports other research showing that a high number of transitions can slow down the pace of class and diminish opportunities for learning.</p><p>* Results gave some credence to the notion that classroom management was an important instructional variable in physical education (Doyle, 1986). This was particularly important in that it is unusual for any one pedagogical variable to be singularly influential in student behavior (Rosenshine, 1979).</p><p>JPEGF</p><p>* Generally, only a combination of many pedagogical variables affect behavior. This would highlight the necessity for teachers to be cautious about utilizing an excessive number of changes in activities during a physical education class, if children are expected to learn and behave appropriately.</p><p>* Results run counter to the natural tendencies of many teachers who intentionally conduct fast- paced classes with many transitions to create excitement and supposed interest.</p><p>* There may be subtle limits to how many times a teacher should be stopping and changing activities before learning opportunities begin to diminish. While higher transitional behavior was demonstrated to have some negative effects for all students, it was particularly so for children with disabilities.</p><p>* Results showed there was less student learning and more off-task behavior for students with disabilities.</p><p>* Results indicate researchers need to be careful in portraying only positive social and academic outcomes from inclusive settings for all children with and without disabilities (Baker, Wang, & Walberg, 1995; Staub & Peck, 1995).</p><p>* Children with disabilities may be more susceptible to subtle changes in classroom management than other children. Children with disabilities may need more time for opportunities to respond when there are rapid changes in transition from one task to another.</p><p>* Inclusion may be best suited for teachers who have more expertise and experience making them better classroom managers, although research to date has not supported the idea (Vogler, van der Mars, Cuismano, & Darst, 1992). * First-year teachers, who typically have less effective classroom management skill, might not be given inclusion classes until they have gained more experience in teaching (Berliner, 1986).</p><p>* Current study shows inclusion can be effective, but it is contingent upon good practices of classroom management--specifically, teachers must be good managers of time while finding the appropriate time allotment between a fast and motivating pace with transitions, but allowing enough time for all students to have opportunities to practice and learn.</p><p>Complete Details (and Bibliography)</p>