Select a physical activity instructor (teacher, coach, fitness leader, or athletic trainer) to observe working in a group setting. (The instructor should be working with four or more individuals during your observation period.) Explain to the instructor that you must observe a group or a team for a university class you're taking. Arrange with the instructor a date and time to observe an entire activity session. During this session you'll code the instructor's behavior for at least 25 minutes.

Become very familiar with the CBAS before attending your observation session! At the session, review the categories before you attempt to code behavior. Try to get a feel for the behaviors before you begin your coding. Position yourself so you can both see and hear the instructor.

Use the Social-Reinforcement Field Observation Data Sheet to record the instructor's behavior toward the individuals they are working with.

For each behavior, place a mark next to the appropriate category.

Determine the following ratios:

Total number of behaviors : total number of minutes observed =

Number of positive reinforcements : number of negative reinforcements =

Number of specific positive reinforcements : number of specific negative reinforcements =

Number of specific positive reinforcements : number of general negative reinforcements =

Number of specific technical reinforcements : number of general technical reinforcements =

The scale you'll be using is loosely based on the Smith and Smoll CBAS, but instead of 12 categories, it has only 8 categories.

Behavioral Categories

Become familiar with each category so that you recognize the behavior and can immediately code it. If you deliberate too long, you may lose track of other behaviors. Code these categories:

• Specific positive reinforcement: when an instructor positively reinforces a single player or student
• General positive reinforcement: when an instructor positively reinforces the team or class
• Specific negative reinforcement: when an instructor negatively reinforces a single player or student
• General negative reinforcement: when an instructor negatively reinforces a team or class
• Specific technical instruction: when an instructor instructs a player or student
• General technical instruction: when an instructor instructs the team or class
• Keeping control: when an instructor has to correct misbehavior or other breaches of discipline, other than class- or game-related behaviors
• Organization: when an instructor instructs players or students concerning organizational chores (e.g., pick up bats or take a particular formation)

After you have completed your observation session, tally the totals in each of the categories. Record each category total as well as the grand total. Use these totals to determine the percentages for each behavioral category. Turn in your recording sheet with your paper.

The Paper

Based on your observation and what you have learned about reinforcement principles, write a three- to five-page paper, (typed, double-spaced with 1-inch margins). Include the following four sections in your paper:

1. An introductory paragraph describing the situation, activity, age group, skill or ability level, and any other pertinent circumstances of the instructional environment you observed
2. Discussion of the types and frequencies of responses given by the instructor toward the participants' behaviors; use your discretion in organizing this portion, but the discussion should be clear and should be based on the data you obtained (in other words, I should know what the instructor was like without looking at the coding sheet). In writing up your discussion, consider these questions:

• What behaviors did you observe most frequently? Why?
• What were the least frequent behaviors? Why?
• Based on the activity-level index, was this instructor effective?
• What was the ratio of positive to negative reinforcements?
• What was the ratio of specific to general reinforcements?

You might choose to add many other comparisons and questions. Be sure to support all of your points with data from your observations (in percentages).

1. Recommendations regarding the instructor's reinforcement behaviors; given your knowledge of sport and exercise psychology and your professional knowledge, what would you tell this instructor about his or her style of offering feedback?
2. A summary paragraph that ties the whole paper together