Homework for Wednesday, November 5, 2008

1. Anna will present her Biomechanics Analysis.

2. Everyone will present one ESS “Career”.  The presentation should consist of a YouTube video “interview” with a “practitioner” (i.e., coach, physical therapist, etc.) discussing their profession or professional life.  you should also find and present the “American” professional association for this career (e.g. http://appliedsportpsych.org for Sport Psychology as a career) and also an “International” link to an association (e.g. http://www.fepsac.com/ for sport psychology).  Finally, identify the most common of best “Professional Journal” in the field (e.g., The Sport Psychologist).

3. Figure 1.6 on p. 16 in the text provides a conceptual overview of what we are trying to get at in this class, and there are five chapters on Careers (Ch. 13-17) in the text.

Homework for Monday, November 3, 2008

The overall goal of the unit is to have a broad understanding of what Biomechanics is and how it relates to the other sport sciences of physiology and pedagogy.  The specific critical abilities targeted during the four classes and by performing the assignment are:

» Write clearly

» Speak articulately

» Reading closely

» Evaluating and presenting evidence accurately

» Apply scientific reasoning

» Work both independently and collaboratively.

For Monday you need to:

1. Choose a skill to analyze from your Olympic sport.
2. Find and be prepared to present both an Olympic and Paralympic video of the skill taking place.
3. Break the skill down into the 5 phases discussed in class.
4. Come to class with a rough draft of the Table with the breakdown, key elements, and related principles.
5. You should also find and be prepared to present a website which presents key elements of the skill – so it could be a site which discusses an analysis of the skill or a site which discusses the teaching of the skill (since the analysis key elements become the teaching elements).
6. The following sections of the text will be extremely helpful in fully  understanding and completing the assignment:  pp. 312-315; 319-327.

Homework for Wednesday, October 8th

In yesterday’s and last Wednesday’s classes, and in the text reading for Monday’s class, you have received most of the information necessary to complete your physiological analysis of your sporting activity.

In tomorrow’s class we will do a review or the material and look more closely at the strength qualities, including muscle fiber types.  Please make sure you have completed the homework for Monday as you will need that material in class (you will present article, video, your draft, etc.).  in addition:

1. Read pp. 90-112 in Chapter 3: The Importance of physical Activity Experiences, as it helps situate sport physiology within the larger discipline (specifically some of the things we looked at in the Pedagogy module) as well as contribute to knowledge you will need to complete the assignment.
2. Complete your assignment in point form as you will present it to the class (5 min.) for peer and teacher feedback.
3. Here is the Table we contructed in class, with two additional columns which we will complete tomorrow to provide a comprehensive reference summary for your assignment:  energy-system-lab

Homework for Monday, October 6th

There are several parts to the homework which you will need to do for Monday in order to be able to do a good job on the assignment, which is designed to challenge your capacities of analysis and research.

1. Read the background material to last Wednesday’s and next Monday’s class:  pp. 341-342; pp. 343-351; p. 356.  Bring any questions you might have on new concepts to class.
2. Find and bring to class a like to a website with practical training information for your chosen sport – it should have examples of workouts for each of the training factors important to your sport (strength, endurance, speed, etc.).
3. Using the Sport Discus database (you will find the link on this page)  available at the Smith College Library website, find at least five, and download at least one (full text) refereed journal article on either a time-motion analysis or the physiological profile of your sport.  Read the article a least once and bring any questions you have on new terms to class.  Below you will find a document describing search strategies for the database.
4. Find and bookmark, a YouTube video with at least 3-5 minutes of “game” action (those in a cyclical sport will need at least 2-3 different clips of different events).  You will need to access these clips in Monday’s class for our time-motion task.
5. Review the assignment and example assignment posted on our Exercise & Sport Physiology to make sure you understand the assignment.  Bring any questions to class.

ebscosearchguidesportdiscus2

Homework for Monday, Sept. 29, 2008

Overview:  Your homework for Monday is to complete the Sport Pedagogy Worksheet I handed out in class (here is a copy for you to download and type into:  pedagogy-worksheet-2008.  As usual, this worksheet is the first step in completing the assignment (12.5%) for this module, which is due on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at midnight.  For Monday, complete the worksheet in point form with enough detail to enable a good discussion in class.

1. In order to complete the analysis outlined in the worksheet you will need to read about the 10 Pedagogical Factors, which you can download here:  10-learning-keys
2. Remember to complete the first part of the work sheet (your spontaneous reaction) as soon as possible and before doing the second part (Emily:  you can move straight to the second part of the assignment).
3. You can review the video of each lesson below to help with your analysis.
4. The last part of your homework is to find a link to, and download if possible, a Longterm Athlete Development plan (LTAD) for your sport.  Use Google to search with the key terms “LTAD” or Long Term Athlete Development Plan” and the name of your sport or activity.  Here is a site with necessary background information on LTADs.  You will present your sport’s LTAD at the end of class on Monday.

Lesson 1:  Traditional Approach to Teaching Racquet Sports

Lesson 2:  Progressive Approach to Teaching Racquet Sports

Lesson 3:  Games Approach (TgFu) Approach to Teaching Racquet Sports

Homework for Wednesday, September 22, 2008

We will take up this homework n the first 15 minutes of class on Wednesday – come dressed to participate in light physical activity as you will be attending two short racquet sport lessons (racketball or tennis) from 1:30-2:00 as part of the Sport Pedagogy module.

Here is the homework:

1. Go to the Sport Ethics Module on this site and go through the Reference Material for the Ethics module:  the text reading, the posted YouTube videos and visit the posted links in addition to reading the handout I gave you.  You do not need to “read” this material closely – just go through it with an open mind.
2. Once you have gone through the Reference Material, return to the Ethics Worksheet I handed out in class and complete the second page with enough detail to report back to your classmates on Wednesday.
3. This is “ungraded” work, although it will count towards your Participation/Effort grade for Wedneday’s class.

Here is a copy of the Worksheet: sport-ethics-analysis-worksheet , and here is a copy of the document which contained the other two sheets I distributed:makingethicaldecisionsworkbook .

Assignment 1 Due Sunday, Sept. 21 @ midnight

Assignment Overview (12.5%)

Five page, double-spaced paper on the existence on Flow during your Best-Ever performance.  In the first part of your paper you will argue for or against the existence of the nine dimensions of Flow as discussed in class.  You will support your argument by using evidence from the text of your description.  It is recommended that you also present your argument in Table form – as we did in class.

In the second part of your paper, with reference to your best and worst performances,  you will discuss:  a) factors that help flow; b) factors that hinder flow; and c) factors that disrupt flow.  For this part of the paper discuss these factors with reference to the findings in Russel’s (2002) journal article (i.e., were the factors he found the ones present in your best and worst performances).

Your paper should have an introductory section where you introduce the topic and state the purpose of your paper (e.g., Flow is one of the most studies topics in spot psychology…the purpose of this paper is to determine whether a state of Flow existed during my best-ever performance…).

It should also have a conclusion section (e.g., After determining that seven of the nine flow dimensions were present during my performance, I can conclude that a flow state did in fact take place…).

Make sure that you present textual evidence from your best-ever description to support your argument (e.g., my use of the words “focussed” and “undistracted” indicates the presents of Mr. C’s “concentrated on the task” dimension…)

APA Format Required

The paper must use APA format for references, citations, layout and typing. Everything double-spaced, separate title page and page for references.  Attach your best and worst decriptions as “Appendix A” after your reference page. The paper must be a Word document named “psychology.lastname.doc” submitted by e-mail to Tim by Sunday, Sept. 21st at midnight. Lateness will be penalized by two gradations per day (e.g., one day late means a B+ instead of an A).

Homework for Wednesday, September 17th

As discussed in class today, the in-class exercises and extra-class homework are actual steps in the completion of your first assignment on the topic of Sport Psychology.  Details of the actual assignment will be given out at the end of Wednesday’s class so as not to obscure your thinking and distract you from the preparatory work.  In addition, in order to have a fruitful analysis you need to be “blind” to some of the details until the after the preparatory work is completed.

1. In the first step of the assignment, completed during class today, you were interviewed on your Best-Ever and Worst-Ever performances in a sports competition – with  a specific focus on the mental aspects of these performances (how you felt, what you were thinking, what you were focusing on, etc.).  Your partner kept notes on your story, and gave you the notes at the end of the class.
2. The first part of your homework for Wednesday, is to write a one to one and a half page, rich and detailed description of your Best-Ever performance (this is where your partner’s notes may be helpful).  This should be double-spaced. After completing this, write a one-page description of your Worst Ever (we are more interested in the Best-Ever but need to be able to refer to your Worst as well).
3. After writing the description, go through your paper and highlight (using the Formatting Toolbar in Word) key terms and descriptors related to the mental aspects of your performances (e.g., I was relaxed, I was concentrating on the ball, etc.).
4. Bring both a print copy and and electronic version (e-mail or thumb drive) of your document to class – you will need it for the next step of the assignment.
5. After completing step 4 above, download and read the Introduction section of Russel’s (2002) paper on Flow and College athletes.  It provides an overview of Mr. C’s model of Flow:  flowcollegerusselred.
   
6. Read pp. 115 – 125 and 129 – 133 in the text (Chapter 4, 2nd edition).  Make sure you complete the exercises on p. 119 and 128, as they support the concepts behind your assignment (you will not have to report on your results, but I will check that you have completed them).
7. Familiarize yourself with the Flow dimensions described below. We we will start off Wednesday’s class by attempting to place the key terms that you have highlighted into one of Mr. C’s categories (dimensions).

Dimensions of Flow

Flow, “Peak Performance, the “Ideal Performance State”, and the “Zone” are all synonyms for similar concepts.  Here is a Hollywood example of the Zone:

Homework for Monday, September 15th

There are a couple of items you need to complete before coming to class on Monday.  Our topic for Monday and Wednesday’s class is Sport Psychology.

1.    You need to select a sport that you will use for your assignments in Tim’s modules (see the course outline for a list of these modules).  By “use” we mean analyze, think about, write about, etc.  So it should ideally be a sport that you are passionate about, or failing passion, at least be interested in.  The sport must be an Olympic sport – AND – must also have a Paralympic version, since one of the assignments features a disabled sport component.

Only one student may choose a particular sport.  “First come, first serve”, you must “reserve” your spot by indicating your choice in the “comments” section of this post (below).

In class on Monday you need to briefly present a short (1-2 min.) YouTube video of your sport (able or disabled) while you present an overview of why you chose this sport.

2.    The second item you need to complete is to find a New York Times article that features or discusses a “sport psychology” theme (such as anxiety, confidence, mental preparation, team spirit, etc.) – if you need some ideas on these themes scan the chapter in the text as many are presented there).  Since the able-bodied Olympics are over, unless you kept the paper Times (as I did) you will need to search online for the appropriate article.  See the e-mail from Bruce below.

Download and save a copy of the article as a .pdf file – again if you do not know how to do this you can look in the Help section of your Word program or go to TARA – the Smith ITS help site.  Make sure you can access the article if needed in class (e-mail it to yourself, thumb drive, etc.). Note: if you can justify your choice you are free to use another “reputable” newspaper – for example I referenced the BBC website and Times (UK Times that is) for more “rounded” coverage of the Olympics.

E-mail from Librarian Bruce Sajdak about NY Times Access:

Hi Tim,

Students don’t need to do any special registering because we already subscribe to the New York Times Historical (for older articles) and Lexis Nexis Academic (for articles up to the present day).  This should give students full access to all items published in the New York Times without having to enter the NY Times web page – and thus dealing with the hassle of registration.

Links to both LN and NYTH can be found on our FIND NEWS page

http://www.smith.edu/libraries/research/category/news.htm

If anyone needs more help in locating any articles Neilson or Young reference folks will be delighted to help.  I’d certainly not hesitate to give students the references and let ‘em have at it.

Bruce

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Welcome to ESS 100!

Our special topic this year is the Beijing Olympics.