This project gives you experience applying your knowledge of sport and exercise psychology to a practical setting.
Choosing Your Problem of Situation
You will choose a specific topic from one of the following topic areas:
- Teamwork or cohesion (Chapter 9)
- Leadership (Chapter 10)
- Athletic injuries and psychology (Chapter 20)
- Addictive and unhealthy behaviors (Chapter 21)
- Children and sport psychology (Chapter 23)
- Aggression in sport (Chapter 24)
- Character development (Chapter 25)
You may consider situations that you might encounter as a coach, physical educator, athletic trainer or physical therapist, fitness professional, and so on. In other words, although the type of problem that you tackle is limited (e.g., teamwork), the situation to which you choose to apply your knowledge is not. Be specific! In the event that you encounter this situation in the real world, you should be able to use the material that you’ve developed for this project as is.
Note: If you choose a topic based on a chapter not yet covered in class, you are responsible for being familiar with the material relevant to that chapter.
Start with something you are interested in. Ideally you will choose one of the above topics that you are into but those that you will work with in the future might not yet know about. Or you could put a new twist on one of the above topics we all think we know enough about but are missing something critical.
Your job is to help create a deeper understanding of something most people engage uncritically. Your audience should understand the topic at a deeper level. Your research should be supported with a minimum of three (3) scholarly resources (not including the textbook). Chose a topic that you are excited about, maybe something that you are fairly familiar with yet would like to know more about.
You will develop a 15- to 20-minute presentation. The purpose of your presentation is to provide practical information about your topic. The presentation should include the following:
- An introduction describing the situation, activity, individuals, age group, skill or ability level, and any other circumstances pertinent to the situation.
- A complete description of the topic specific related to the population indicated above. What it is?
- Why it is important? Is this topic specific to the population? Does it vary across different populations?
- What is the historical context? How has this topic changed throughout sport (i.e. now versus 10 years ago)? Is the topic more psychological or sociological? How does the topic affect the specified population? How does the population affect the topic?
- Practical information related to your topic. Discussion of how you can apply this information to your future career. How might you use this information as a coach, athletic trainer, physical therapist, physical education teacher, etc. How can you share this information with others in your future career field? Examples of your specific topic.
- Visual aids (i.e. PowerPoint presentation)
- A class activity – something that you would do to get audience involved.