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Guest Biography
Dr. Darla Castelli has been working with school-age youth in physical
activity settings for over 20 years. After obtaining her master's degree from
Northern Illinois University in exercise physiology, she went on to teach
health and physical education before becoming an administrator in
Maine. During this time, Darla served as the president of the Maine Association
of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance while obtaining Teacher of
the Year honors in 1995 for her work at Kennebunk High School.
Since 2002, when Darla obtained her Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina under the direction of Dr. Judith Rink, she has been investigating the effects of physical activity and fitness on motor competency and cognitive health in children. Her research with Dr. Charles Hillman suggests that physical fitness and motor competency have a positive influence on cognitive processing such as academic achievement and executive control. Youth gain physical and mental health benefits from being physically active. This line of research also examines the influence of physical education instruction, environmental access to activity-oriented outlets, and community programs, as well as the family, on physical activity engagement. For her role in this research, Darla was recently named a Young Scholar by the International Association of Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP).
Currently, Darla is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She serves on the editorial board of Teaching Elementary Physical Education and has published in the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education and Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport.
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