Dressing-Policy Dispute
Dressing-Policy Dispute After reading "Not Dressing Is Disobedience, Not Just a Nuisance;' by Mitchell and Hewitt (JOPERD, August 2002), I was compelled to offer a differing view. My initial reaction to the article was that the overall tone was very negative, punitive, coercive, and one of displaced responsibility. After some reflection, I cannot say that my feelings have changed. Let me begin by stating that I am an elementary physical educator, grades four through six. I understand that at the junior high and high school levels, where changing for physical education is routine, nondressers are a problem. I know nothing of the authors' physical education program, and the nondressers may simply be rebellious teens. However, in my own program, students are free to choose whether to participate or sit out. Is threatening students with inschool suspension, parental notification,lower grades, and being sent home an effective way to deal with nondressers? Perhaps in the short run, although I am not really convinced. But in the long run, is this the way to turn kids on to physical activity and is it likely to produce individuals who will at some later date choose physical activity when we, the physical educators, are not around? Some introspection is needed when students opt to sit out rather than participate. What is the message the nondresser is sending? Let me take a moment to relate a story from my gymnasium. During a basketball dribble-and-shoot warmup activity, children were asked to dribble to the music and shoot at one of five baskets when the music stopped. All students had their own ball. The next thing I knew, five players had made the choice to sit out (after they had begun the activity). To make a long story short, the kids were uncomfortable with all the balls coming back down and were afraid of getting hurt. When they returned for their next class (two days later), I offered students the choice of using either a basketball or a volleyball trainer. When the music stopped, students with volleyball trainers were to shoot at different baskets than those with basketballs. All five students voluntarily returned to the activity. My point? I could have threatened to lower their grade, call their parents, or send them to the office if they did not participate, but I found
Determinants of Attitudes Toward Physical Education
The development of positive attitudes toward physical education has been a longstanding and desirable goal of the program of physical education. The intent of this investigation was to identify those aspects of the program students reported as turning them on to or turning them off from physical education. The critical incident report was the tool used to gather information. The subjects (N = 100) classified the reported incidents as either positive or negative, and their comments were then categorized into five broad categories: (a) teacher, (b) curriculum, (c) atmosphere of the classroom, (d) peer behavior, and (e) perceptions of self. Further classification occurred within each category. The results indicated that the items most frequently mentioned in relation to both positive and negative attitudes related to the teacher and the curriculum. Some interesting patterns evolved both within and between the various categories. The most encouraging aspect of the investigation is that the great majority of c...
Heavy metal adsorption from industrial wastewater by PAMAM/TiO2 nanohybrid: Preparation, characterization and adsorption studies
Abstract This study investigates the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater using TiO 2 nanoparticles modified with poly-amidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM, G 4 ). The metal ions Cu 2 + , Pb 2 + , and Cd 2 + were selected as model pollutants. FTIR, SEM, BET surface area and Zeta potential measurements, and Dispersion Observing methods have been employed for characterizing the synthetic nanohybrid and these techniques indicated that the PAMAM loaded on to TiO 2 have been favorably synthesized. The effects of several parameters including initial metal ion concentration, temperature, pH solution, the nanohybrid dosage and contact time were studied. The experimental data were analyzed using equilibrium isotherm and kinetics models. The adsorption process was studied using isotherm, kinetics, and thermodynamics models. The analysis shows that the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics are appropriate models for the adsorption process. The thermodynamic parameters illustrate that the absorption is endothermic and spontaneous. The findings suggest that the nanohybrid is a good super absorbent for the removal of heavy metals from industrial effluents.