Scheduled for Pedagogy II and Special Populations Posters, Friday, April 12, 2002, 2:00 PM - 3:45 PM, San Diego Convention Center: Exhibit Hall


Middle- and High-School Generalization Effects of Elementary Positive Social Skills Training

Tom Sharpe, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

A large body of physical education pedagogy literature supports the use of structured physical education environments as productive to the teaching of moral development, positive values, and a sense of fair play (Bredemeier & Shields, 1993; Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). Providing value-based social skill instruction in public school settings is an important component to a complete public education curriculum when viewed in the context of the oftentimes antisocial climate and related increase in the violent and unsafe nature of in- and outside-of-school youth environments (Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 1989; Leitman & Binns, 1993). When coupled with the participation appeal which physical education and structured youth sport programs provide for many children and youth, the importance of continued study of structured physical activity treatments is apparent. One area in which data remain scarce, however, is in the support of long-term longitudinal effects of these types of instructional treatments as students matriculate through K-12 public school settings. To this end, this study describes the long-term effects of one positive social curriculum (Sharpe, Brown, & Foulk, 1999; Sharpe, Brown, & Crider, 1995; ) originally introduced to elementary children within a public school physical education program. An ABAB multiple baseline design across matched previously exposed and control participants compared the long-term effects of exposure versus non-exposure to the elementary education positive social curriculum. Eight matched male high-school participants were compared on behaviors of Off-Task, Leadership in the context of peer Conflict, Authority Independent Conflict Resolution (AICR), and Activity Engagement. Comparisons were made over a four semester period within a structured high-school recreational setting, and as a function of repeated treatment exposure for both participant groups. Results indicated a positive long-term maintenance effect for the previously exposed group on all measures in contrast to control participant behaviors. While treatment exposure produced some desirable effects with the previously exposed participants, it had no effect on the matched controls. Results provide evidence for the importance of positive social instruction in elementary settings to ensure long-term positive effects throughout the upper end of the K-12 developmental period.
Keyword(s): alternative programming, curriculum development, high school issues

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