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The purpose of this study was to examine African American toddlers' cortisol response to acute physical play activity within a full-time subsidized day care environment. Saliva samples were taken from participants (N = 22, ages 26-45.5 months) before and after physical play and control play conditions at the same time of day. Actiheart monitors were used to estimate the intensity of the play conditions. Although heart rate and other indicators were significantly higher during physical play, no change in cortisol levels was seen pre- to postphysical play. Further research is needed to better understand the cortisol response observed.

Background: The teaching strategies of modeling and the use of cue words are employed by both experienced and inexperienced teachers. While these strategies have received some attention in the literature, the effectiveness of these strategies in terms of the resultant change in the quality or kinematics of the motor skill performance has been limited. Purpose: To investigate the influence of cue words, when given independently and in conjunction with a modeled performance, on the qualitative or process characteristics (kinematics) of a motor skill. Participants and setting: Thirty kindergarten children participated in this study from a rural school in southern USA. Research design: A repeated measures design was employed to expose the participants to several teaching methodologies. Random assignment to order of methodology presentation was utilized. Data collection: Participants were pre-tested on the horizontal jump, initiated by the command, 'jump as far as you can'. The participants were then randomly assigned to either the cue word only condition or the model condition, and asked to jump again. Finally, the participants were exposed to both the cue words and the model together and asked to jump again. Data analysis: Two (shoulder angle and knee angle) Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) were used to determine differences between teaching strategy groups and conditions. Each assessment set produced data for a 2 × 3 (strategy × condition) mixed design with repeated measures on the last factor. Findings: The shoulder angle noted a significant difference between the pre and the cue word only conditions (p , 0.01) and between the pre and the model and cue condition, for the cue-only participants (p , 0.01). However, statistical analysis of the maximum relative knee flexion angle prior to the participant's feet leaving the ground yielded no significant difference (F(2,15) = 2.887, p = 0.087, h 2 = 0.278) across the three trial conditions. Conclusions: Results indicated that cue words used independently or in conjunction with a visual model influenced the kinematics of the skill.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine how physical education teacher education (PETE) programs prepare preservice physical education teachers (PPETs) for implementing health-related fitness testing (HRFT) in K–12 schools from a faculty perspective. Methods: The study applied a phenomenological approach. Seven PETE faculty participated in this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, online surveys, and course documents. Constant content analysis was performed to generate themes. Results: The study discovered four themes: (a) required courses are the primary means for preparing PPETs to use HRFT, (b) cooperating teachers can negatively influence the faculty’s role in HRFT preparation, (c) PPETs explored the use of HRFT in PETE programs through peer teaching and testing activities, and (d) there was a lack of field-based experiences in local schools for HRFT preparation. Conclusion: PETE programs provided some courses to prepare PPETs for the HRFT implementation with the lack of time and field experience.

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