Springfield College Assistant Professor Earns Young Scholar Award

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield College Assistant Professor of Physical Education Tan Leng Goh recently received the 2017 Hally Beth Poindexter Young Scholar Award presented by the National Assoc. for Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE). The award was presented at the annual NAKHE Conference in Orlando, Fla.

“Tan Leng Goh’s recent award from NAKHE is a true testament to her commitment to her scholarly work,” said Springfield College School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Dean Tracey Matthews. “I look forward to her continued scholarly successes at Springfield College.”

During the 2017 NAKHE’s annual conference, Goh presented her paper titled, “Children’s Physical Activity and On-task Behavior Following Active Academic Lessons.”

Goh’s presentation focused on the amount of hours a day children remain sitting when receiving academic instruction. Goh’s presentation hypothesizes that sitting for an extended amount of time is detrimental to children’s physical health, and may cause off-task behavior in the classroom. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of active academic lessons on children’s physical activity and on-task behavior.

The NAKHE organization provides a forum for interdisciplinary ideas, concepts, and issues related to the role of kinesiology subdisciplines in higher education with respect for social, cultural, and personal perspectives.

Kinesiology is an academic discipline, which involves the study of physical activity and its impact on health, society, and quality of life. It includes, but is not limited to, such areas of study as exercise science, sports management, athletic training and sports medicine, socio-cultural analyses of sports, sport and exercise psychology, fitness leadership, physical education-teacher education, and pre-professional training for physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine and other health-related fields.