B.A. Georgetown College 1984
M.A.E. Western Kentucky University 1992
Ph.D. University of Maryland 1996

• Digital Gardener Fellow, Spring 2025
• Trustee Teaching Award, 2023
• National Academy of Kinesiology Fellow (#505): 2011
• Fellow of the Research Consortium of American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation: 2000
• School of HPER Career Outstanding Teacher Award: 2011

Scholarly Interest

My research examines how schools impede or enhance children's wellness and knowledge, with a particular focus on physical activity and participants' perspectives. Recent completed work is a series of multi-year, funded investigations of schools, physical activity, and at-risk populations. The school systems involved range from large urban school districts serving over 100,000 students, a majority of whom were African American, to smaller rural schools serving a few hundred Native American students. My newest project focuses on student perceptions of meaning and boredom from an international perspective.

Current Funded Projects

UPSTART: A physical activity intervention for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Indiana CTSI CHeP – Trailblazer Award.

A randomized control trial to assess the efficacy of a gamified mobile application intervention to increase physical activity and reduce anxiety in adults with autism spectrum diagnoses (ASD). Indiana University Collaborative Research Grants.

Tracking Student Movement in the SPHB through Learning Analytics. Indiana University Center for Learning Analytics and Student Success (CLASS)

 Min, H., Cothran, D. J., & Kulinna, P. H. (In pre-publication). School-Based After-School Physical Activity and Sports Programs. In Antonio Garcia-Hermoso (Ed.). Promotion of physical activity and health in school setting (pp. XX).

Cothran, D.J., & Kulinna, P. H. (2020).  Teachers’ and students’ experiences with and perspectives on Mosston’s Styles (pp. 128-138). In B. SueSee, S.Pill, & M. Hewitt (Eds.) The Spectrum of Teaching Styles in Physical Education: New Perspectives. New York, NY: Routledge.

 Cothran, D.J. (2016).  Designing effective programs: Creating curriculum to enhance student learning (pp.39-53).  In C.D. Ennis (Ed). Routledge Handbook of Physical Education Pedagogy. New York, NY: Routledge.

Cothran, D.J., & Kulinna, P.H. (2014). Classroom management in physical education. In E. Emmer and E. Sabornie (Eds.) Handbook of Classroom Management. (2d ed) (pp.239-260). New York: Routledge

Cothran, D.J. & Keating, X. (2016) (Eds.) Learning for a Lifetime: Effective Secondary Physical Education Programs, Beijing, China: Education Science Press House.

Cothran, D.J. (2016). Designing effective programs: Creating curriculum to enhance student learning (pp.39-53). In C.D. Ennis (Ed). Routledge Handbook of Physical Education Pedagogy. New York, NY: Routledge.

Cothran, D.J., Keating, X., & Huang, H. (2017) (Eds.) Learning for a Lifetime: Effective Secondary Physical Education Programs, Education Science Press House, Beijing, China.

Lee, D., Cothran, D.J., Kennedy, J.M., Shih, P.C., Golzarri-Arroyo, L., Dickinson, S., & Frey, G.C. (2024). Association between physical activity, sedentary time, and technology use in autistic adults. Journal of Developmental & Physical Disabilities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-024-09983-3         

Cothran, D.J., & Kulinna, P.H. (2023). “He’s a little skinny and he’s a little wide.”: A mixed design investigation of American Indian student perceptions of healthy bodies. BMC Public Health. 2023; 23: 239.  doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15048-5

Bevilacqua, Z., Cothran, D.J., Rettke, D.J., Koceja, D.M., Nelson-Laird, T.F., Kawata, K. (2022). Return to learn: Preferences of college educators when receiving concussion medical notes. Neurotrauma Reports, 3(1): 185–189. doi: 10.1089/neur.2022.0012

 Weaver, P., Frey, G., Cothran, D., & Dickson, S. (2018). Physical therapists' perspectives on importance of the early intervention competencies to physical therapy practice, Infants and Young Children 31, 261-274. *

 Arnaez, J.  Frey, G.C., Cothran, D.J., Lion, M., & Chomistek, A.K. (2018). Physical wellness among gaming adults: cross-sectional study. JMIR Serious Games, 6(2), e12