Elementary school classroom teachers continue to have primary responsibility for teaching elementary physical education. As a group, they have received little attention concerning their development of pedagogical skills in physical education. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to describe what preservice classroom teachers observe and what perceptual processes they employ while observing physical education field lessons. The participants were seven junior elementary education majors who observed two physical education classes. Data were collected using the techniques of thinking aloud and stimulated recall interview. The constant comparative method of data analysis revealed the following three themes as characteristic of this group of preservice classroom teachers: students’ movement responses dominated their observational attention, the classroom teachers evaluated what they saw, and they observed using the perceptual process of contrast.

The ability of physical education teachers to observe the movement response of the learner and the environment in which the response takes place is crucial in effective instruction. This study is an initial attempt to identify what a group of 21 preservice physical education teachers reported seeing in a 15-minute games lesson with fourth-grade students. An analytic inductive strategy was employed to categorize the data at two levels of specificity. Results indicated that as a group the preservice teachers focused on a broad range of teacher and student behaviors and lesson elements, but as individuals they had a more limited focus of attention. Level 2 analysis revealed that only 10% of the recorded statements focused on the movement responses of the children and no statements related to the learning environment. If teacher educators deem it important that their majors notice teacher and student behaviors as well as lesson elements, they have to plan more carefully for this to occur, particularly with majors early in their professional education.

The purpose of this topical life history was to gain insight into the individual and socializing conditions that influenced an experienced elementary school physical education teacher’s perceptions and actions regarding continued professional learning. The teacher was interviewed in a series of five interviews over a 3-year period. The audiotaped transcriptions were subjected to the constant comparison data analysis technique, with the emergent patterns reported as results. Continued professional learning was valued as an essential concept associated with being a professional because it ultimately increased the teacher’s potential for helping students learn. Professional development experiences associated with the teacher’s undergraduate professional preparation institution and participation in a national curriculum project contributed most significantly to the teacher’s continued professional learning. The teacher’s continued professional learning was influenced by (a) students, (b) status, (c) administrative support, (d) community perceptions of sport, and (e) personal/professional interactions.

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