Academc Research
This branch of knowledge reveals the hidden principle of many conscious or unconscious actions that we do empirically and regard as common through philosophical methods such as Ontology, Axiology, or Epistemology, as well as introspection processes on games, sports, physical education, dances, or other recreational experience.
According the name suggests, sport pedagogy in National Taiwan Normal University deals with the theory and practice of sports from the perspective of education. Semantically, “sport” refers to any valuable action, activity, or game in human cultures, and the word “pedagogy” derives from the Greek, with the prefix ‘pais’ meaning ‘child’ and the suffix ‘agogein’ meaning ‘to lead’.
As a whole, the discipline is concerned with the impacts of sports on the development of a growing individual, further aiming to enhance the quality of human life. As a compound word, sport pedagogy adopts a theoretical perspective which combines “pedagogy” with “sport science” (such as sport psychology, exercise physiology, sport sociology, sport history, sport humanity) to form a interdisciplinary relationship. The research issues primarily include three aspects:
(1) Theoretical Basis: due to its purpose from a higher perspective, the study puts its focus on concepts of physical education principles, games, movements, performances, health, recreation, among others, as well as the inherent issues of sport pedagogy itself, so as to clarify and verify the practice and implementation of sport pedagogy.
(2) Curriculum and Instruction: the study mainly deals with how to leverage the curriculum content and instruction of sport pedagogy, as well as learning theories and practice to develop and reform after-school sports, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities of physical education activities.
(3) Teacher Cultivation: the study mainly concentrates on physical education teacher training courses, physical education teacher professional development, helping students become outstanding physical education teachers. In addition, multiple research approaches are adopted in laboratories such as empirical research, interpretive analysis, critical interpretation, among other methods to probe into the aforementioned research topics.
In conclusion, sport pedagogy is within the realm of humanistic concerns, and that is the central values and beliefs held in laboratories. During the process of exploration, research teams take the human-centered, human-oriented sport pedagogy as the goal to reach, and thus enhance the quality of human life and the level of educational purposes.
Having a long history in the department of physical education, sports physiology focuses on physiological changes and responses during exercise, as well as long-term training adaptations. Studies include effects of exercise on cardiovascular function, energy metabolism, immune function, muscle function, endocrine system, and body composition. Studies on physical fitness and the relationship between exercise and aging have been increasing in recent years because of the aging society and the promotion of government policies. In addition, due to advances in biotech testing techniques, research in biochemistry and molecular biology has extended the depth and breadth of sports physiology; as a result, the department has been purchasing equipments and instruments to support research programs.
The research group is in the Laboratory of Physical Activity Psychology, which is located on the fourth floor in the Gymnasium. The research team is mainly composed of five full-time teachers and several part-time teachers, who guide postgraduates to engage in research related to “psychology of physical activity” and “behavioral kinesiology”. Study sessions will be held at 7:00 pm on Thursdays. Welcome to join us!
In comparison with other studies in sports science, sports biomechanics is a young but fast-developing branch of learning with its great research breadth and depth. Concrete studies include: anthropometry (the establishment of parameters of human limbs), the construction of biomechanical models, the research and development of calculation and analysis softwares about kinematics and dynamics, the analysis of sports technology, the research and design of sports equipment, computer simulation of human motion, the research into sports injury mechanisms, the research of sports behavior, among other objects.
Sport biomechanics mainly deals with human motion, with its research approaches divided into measurement methods and analytical methods, including kinemetry, dynamometry, anthropometry, and electromyography, also known as EMG (Ballreich, 1995). Kinemetry deals with locations, velocity, and acceleration of human limbs; dynamometry takes forces that trigger human motion as parameters; anthropometry measures lengths, circumferences and inertial parameters (such as mass, motion of inertia) of human limbs; electromyography evaluates the neural control of muscle contractions.
The research group was founded in 1974, the heyday of sports biomechanics research all over the globe. Recently, every year our graduate students publish papers on conferences held by International Society of Biomechanics in Sports (ISBS) and produce fruitful research results.
Given the fact that the average annual income per capita in Taiwan is about to reach 20,000 USD, and the five-day workweek has long been adopted, the demand from people for more recreation activities has been significantly increasing. It has been raised as a core issue in the implementation of the government’s physical education policies that how to make plans for nationals to improve life quality through adequate and healthy activities. Thus, this study aims at the cultivation of professionals in sports and recreation industry management. The educational goals are as follows:
Educational Goals
- To teach students to utilize knowledge and skills regarding management and marketing in the sports and recreation industry
- To train students to apply health promotion concepts to improve the physiques and health potential of target groups
- To help students realize the uniqueness and the status quo of every sector in the sports and recreation industry
- To enable students to understand the properties of different sports and apply the knowledge to the practice in the sports and recreation industry
- To give students an insight into the trend of the sports and recreation industry
Features
Compared with other sport-related departments in Taiwan, our department requires a higher score for admission. Our students have enormous potential to become management experts in the sports and recreation industry, and our professors, instructors are from various academic fields, such as sports policy, human resource management in sports, sports marketing, administration and management in sports, recreation planning, sports for elders, among others. Moreover, we invite famous professors from the College of Management in our school, forming an excellent teaching team to provide high-quality instruction for students.
Future Prospects
- Building the system of cooperation between academia and industry to give students more accesses to internships, more practical abilities and experience
- Developing characteristics to cultivate excellent professionals in the sports and recreation industry
- Creating an international academic exchange channel to provide exchange opportunities for students and teachers and expand their horizons
- Participating in activities held by international recreation organizations actively to build up the reputation of our college