Motor Development: A Perspective on the Past, the Present, and the Future

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Jane E. Clark ◽  
Jill Whitall

In 1981, George Brooks provided a review of the academic discipline of physical education and its emerging subdisciplines. Forty years later, the authors review how the field has changed from the perspective of one subdiscipline, motor development. Brooks’s text sets the scene with four chapters on motor development from leaders in the field, including G. Lawrence Rarick, to whom the book is dedicated. From this beginning, the paper describes the evolving scientific perspectives that have emerged since 1981. Clearly, from its past to the present, motor development as a scientific field has itself developed into a robust and important scientific area of study. The paper ends with a discussion of the grand challenges for kinesiology and motor development in the next 40 years.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2b) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
I. Stambler ◽  

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, it is important to remember the historical achievements of Ukrainian science, to honor the heroes of the science of the past and to draw inspiration from their achievements for the development of science of the future. In this regard, the history of medicine, as a special academic discipline, plays a vital role an important academic and civic role, as it helps to trace the medical scientific achievements of the past and draw conclusions about their strengths and priorities for future national and international growth and development. Analyzing the scientific strengths and priorities of science and medicine in Ukraine, it is safe to say that biomedical gerontology is one of the most important scientific and historical values and priorities of Ukraine on a global scale. There are good reasons to continue and develop this tradition, building on the strengths that exist, drawing inspiration from the past and looking to the future. Currently, the development of biomedical gerontology is becoming increasingly important for Ukraine, given the rapid aging of the country's population. The resulting economic and social problems are related to the aging population, which puts biomedical gerontology as a discipline that seeks solutions to achieve healthy and productive longevity, at the forefront of social significance, demanding further development and support of this field for the sake of internal national stability, and to preserve the country's international contribution. It is hoped that the outstanding history of biomedical gerontology in Ukraine, its honorable historical place in national development and international cooperation, will inspire further growing support and development of this field in Ukraine and abroad.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Mark Dyreson ◽  
Jaime Schultz

Since the 1981 publication of Perspectives on the Academic Discipline of Physical Education, the history of physical activity has secured a prominent place in the field of kinesiology. Yet, despite encouraging signs of growth, the subdiscipline still remains an undervalued player in the “team scholarship” approach. Without the integration of historical sensibilities in kinesiology’s biggest questions, our understanding of human movement remains incomplete. Historians of physical activity share many “big questions” and “hot topics” with researchers in other domains of kinesiology. Intriguing possibilities for integrating research endeavors between historians and scholars from other domains beckon, particularly as scientists share the historical fascination with exploring the processes of change over time.


Author(s):  
Phillip Ward ◽  
Hal A. Lawson ◽  
Hans van der Mars ◽  
Murray F. Mitchell

In this chapter, we examine the system of physical education with a Janus-like perspective. We focus on examining and learning from the past as we anticipate what society, school systems, and the physical education system might look like in the future. Drawing on futuristic scenarios developed for this special journal issue, we ask a timely, pivotal question. What does all of this mean for the future of the field of physical education, including its school programs, teacher education programs, doctoral programs, and salient public policies? The several chapters in this special issue can be viewed as a response to this question—and with a delimited focus on the unique context of the United States. This chapter is structured to provide an overall context for these other contributions. It includes a discussion of relevant theories provided in this special issue and a representative summary of the other articles. Selectivity is apparent and unavoidable in every article, and it can be viewed variously as a strength or limitation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 1460285
Author(s):  
G. Ranucci ◽  
G. Bellini ◽  
J. Benziger ◽  
D. Bick ◽  
G. Bonfini ◽  
...  

Low energy neutrino investigation has been one of the most active fields of particle physics research over the past decades, accumulating important and sometimes unexpected achievements. In this work some of the most recent impressive successes will be reviewed, as well as the future perspectives of this exciting area of study.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Jane E. Clark

The past is prologue, writes Shakespeare in The Tempest. And there seems no better expression to capture the theme of my essay on searching the future of kinesiology in its recent past through my lens as a motor development scholar. Using the developmental metaphor of climbing a mountain amidst a range of mountains, the progressing stages of my development and that of kinesiology are recounted. Over the five-plus decades of my growth as an academic and that of kinesiology, I look for the antecedents and the constraints that shape our change and may shape the future of the field of motor development and kinesiology.


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane E. Clark ◽  
Marcio A. Oliveira

At the start of the 21st century, the study of motor behavior is a mature and vibrant scientific field. In this paper, we describe the development of this field by tracing the history of its sub-areas: motor control, motor learning, and motor development. Our understanding of how humans control and coordinate their multi-segmented body in an ever changing environment across the lifespan has grown and matured enormously over the last 100 years. Today, these three sub-areas are converging as our scientific questions build upon the foundations laid by scientists in each of these areas. We end our paper by considering the future in this field and the challenges facing motor behavior scientists in this new century.    


Author(s):  
Roberto Bertoni ◽  
Filippo Bertoni

This article is simultaneously a call for, a study of, and a contribution to the preservation of scientific heritage. Focusing on the heritage of a disciplinary niche like that of limnology, we take the specific heritage of the Istituto Italiano di Idrobiologia ‘Dr. Marco De Marchi’ (Istituto) as a case study to illustrate the present challenges and possibilities for the conservation and study of limnological scientific heritage. In particular, we highlight two different forms that this heritage takes at the Istituto: its ongoing scientific publication – the current Journal of Limnology, and its collection of scientific instruments – the Crypta Baldi. Showing both the limitations and potential of these collections, we offer insights into the history of limnology through the lens of the Istituto. Furthermore, we bring these insights to bear on broader reflections about the importance of preserving the scientific heritage that shaped and continues to shape our world, and holds the promise of helping us not to lose sight of the past as well as the future of a scientific field like limnology.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
R. Scott Kretchmar ◽  
Cesar R. Torres

The philosophy of sport has flourished in some ways and struggled in others since the publication of George Brooks’s anthology Perspectives on the Academic Discipline of Physical Education: A Tribute to G. Lawrence Rarick in 1981. In this article, the authors trace challenges faced by the philosophy of sport, discuss trends and hot topics, analyze opportunities for integrations with other subdisciplines, and speculate on the current issues in and the future of the philosophy of sport. While they conclude that the philosophy of sport’s prospect within kinesiology is uncertain and that it has work to do, they also conclude that this subdiscipline is uniquely positioned to provide kinesiology with the clarity and unity of purpose it needs.


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