A Sport Education Intervention
Table 1 Similarities of Sport Education Model With Ames’ TARGET
Structures of a Task-Involving Motivational Climate
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Task-Involving Climate |
Sport Education Curriculum Model |
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Task Tasks involving variety and diversity Students often choose from a range of are offered to students. offered practices. Authority Students are given leadership roles and Students choose own skill practices and are are allowed to make decisions on tasks. responsible for setting up equipment. Recognition Recognition of accomplishment is private Recognition is based on individual progress Grouping Students work in co-operative, Students work together within same small mixed-ability groups. cooperative group structure. Evaluation Evaluation is self-referenced and based In the small group structure student-coaches to benefit team performance goals. Timing Time requirements are adjusted to During lesson time students often dictate the personal capabilities. rate of progression through specific practices. | |
that the model yields greater student interest in physical education than their pre-
vious approach to teaching sport in physical education. Much of this research on
changes in student affective outcomes with the Sport Education model has been
based on teachers’ anecdotal accounts (e.g., Alexander & Luckman, 2001; Grant,
1992) reporting their impressions of student enthusiasm. Even when the effective-
ness of the program was assessed in light of student perceptions, the designs did
not incorporate appropriate comparison groups.
The use of appropriate comparison groups and quasi-experimental designs
in physical education curricular research has the potential to provide greater gen-
eralization of results to other similar physical education settings. The use of con-
temporary social cognitive-based theories of student motivation in this process
may also help us understand why curricular programs, such as the Sport Education
model, are successful in increasing student motivation in physical education.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of two contrasting
approaches, the Sport Education model and a traditional teacher-led approach, to
teaching a unit of games-based activity in physical education. The dependent vari-
ables were student enjoyment, perceived effort, and perceived competence. It was
hypothesized that students in the Sport Education curriculum would show greater
increases in student enjoyment, perceived effort, and perceived competence from
pre- to postintervention than the group taught with the traditional teacher-directed