Rate My Professor Oleg Sinelnikov

Oleg Sinelnikov serves as Professor of Sport Pedagogy in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he also acts as the Graduate Program Coordinator for Sport Pedagogy, overseeing Traditional Class A and Ph.D. programs. His academic journey began with a B.S. Diploma with Honors in Physical Culture and Psychology from Tambov State University in 1996, followed by an M.A. in Physical Education Pedagogy from Indiana State University in 2001. He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Education from Auburn University in 2007, with a dissertation entitled "Teaching and Learning How to Teach Sport Education: An Ecological Analysis, Motivational Climate and Professional Development," which investigated the implementation of the Sport Education curriculum model in two ninth-grade Russian high school physical education classes. This work utilized qualitative methods including video records, student journals, interviews, and teacher logs to analyze ecological dynamics, motivational climates, and professional development needs under frameworks like Doyle’s ecological paradigm and achievement goal theory.

Sinelnikov's research specializations encompass curriculum development, professional development, pedagogy, teaching and learning, Sport Education, physical education and sport, and teaching methods. He has authored or co-authored 81 publications, amassing 1,853 citations on ResearchGate and 2,673 on Google Scholar. Notable publications include "Structure and Agency in Conflict: An Analytical Dualism Examination of edTPA Implementation in Physical Education Teacher Education" (2026), "A Self-Study of a Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Program Coordinator" (2024), "Preservice Teachers’ Assessment Literacy Within Models-Based Practice" (2023), "The Role of Content Knowledge in Influencing Student Physical Activity, On-Task Behavior, and Skill Performance" (2022), "Development and Initial Validation of the Sport Education Scale" (2022), and "Perceived and Actual Motivational Climate of a Mastery-Involving Sport Education Season" (2014). In 2006, he received the AIESEP Young Scholar Award. Sinelnikov has served as a co-investigator on the BACKS and BACKS II projects focused on learning to teach physical education, contributing to advancements in physical education teacher education and models-based practice.