Anika Anthony
Principle Investigator: Anika Anthony, Department of Educational Studies
Project Dates: 12/22/2018-6/30/2018
Anticipated Total Award Amount: $94,000
Project Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Preparing Principles for Personalized Learning Environments (P3LE)
Preparing Principals for Personalized Learning Environments (P3LE), seeks to prepare principals as instructional leaders who are committed to build upon reforms put into place across Ohio’s schools to address the need to ensure that every student is prepared for post-secondary success in college and careers, community and civic engagement, and life-long learning. P3LE is designed to equip future principals to serve as instructional leaders in current and evolving P-12 schools through (a) situating principal preparation in the practice of leading learning centered, personalized education (b) developing and piloting instructional resources and activities that leverage virtual platforms and provide students more authentic and reflective learning experiences, (c) further integrating academic coursework and internships, (d) increasing engagement with P-12 stakeholders, and (e) expanding the continuum of leadership preparation. P3LE will directly involve approximately 220 participants (25 principal licensure candidates, 25 teacher leader endorsement candidates, 12 university faculty and instructors, 10 advisory committee members, up to 75 program graduates who are practicing leaders, and up to 75 subordinate teachers and superordinate leaders of schools where program graduates work).
LeeAnn Lower
Principal Investigator: Leeann Lower, Department of Human Sciences
Project Dates: 2/01/2018 – 1/31/2019
Anticipated Total Award Amount: $40,000
Project Sponsor: Ohio Parks and Recreation Association
Community running clubs’ use of public spaces: An analysis of the psychology, behaviors, and outcomes of long-distance running
Physical inactivity and obesity is a national epidemic, with approximately 79% of adults failing to meet national physical activity guidelines and over 33% of adults considered obese (CDC, 2014; 2017a). Physical activity declines significantly across the lifespan (CDC, 2014), with an estimated $76 billion in medical costs and 300,000 deaths per year resulting from poor exercise (Brownson, Boehmer, & Luke, 2005; CDC, 2017b). The primary objective of the proposed project is to identify the determinants of physical activity and persistence within community running clubs to promote sustained physical activity across the lifespan. Members of community running clubs within the Cincinnati area will be invited to complete five online questionnaires over the course of a 17-week training season to identify environmental conditions and individual psychological and behavioral factors influencing goal attainment and persistence in long-distance running. Through this project, the researchers will support OPRA’s institutional values by demonstrating the critical role recreation plays in the development and maintenance of the human body and spirit, supporting recreation agencies that make their services available to all, and educating diverse audiences to the benefits of parks and recreation.
To address physical inactivity and obesity, programs designed to facilitate physical activity across the lifespan have become a public health priority. Research has called for public health strategies to leverage environmental conditions which enhance physical activity, such as accessibility, opportunity, and aesthetic attributes of outdoor recreation (Humpel, Owen, & Leslie, 2002). With respect to outdoor recreation, running, jogging, and trail running is deemed the most popular activity, with an estimated 52.3 million participants averaging 82 outings per runner every year (Outdoor Foundation, 2017). Approximately 55% of participants prefer to run on trails and 41% prefer parks (Running USA, 2016). According to the New York Times, while long distance running may be an individual pursuit, “for many runners, distance running is the epitome of community” (Robbins, 2009), with community running clubs facilitating outdoor recreation programming for runners of all abilities and ages across the United States (RRCA, n.d.). To promote physical activity and use of natural resources through community running clubs, there is a need to understand the individual and external determinants of physical activity and persistence within the context of running, which this project aims to achieve (Titze, Stronegger, & Owen, 2005).