Effects of a Sport Education Intervention on Students’ Motivational Responses in Physical Education

This study looked at the influence of a Sport Education intervention program on students’ motivational responses in a high school physical education setting. Two intact groups were assigned curricular interventions: the Sport Education group (n = 25), which received eight 60-min lessons, and the comparison group (n = 26), which received a traditional teaching approach to sportbased activity. Pre- and postintervention measures of student enjoyment, perceived effort, perceived competence, goal orientations, perceived motivational climate, and perceived autonomy were obtained for both groups. Repeated-measures ANOVAs showed significant increases in student enjoyment and perceived effort in the Sport Education group only. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that increases in task-involving climate and perceived autonomy explained a significant amount of unique variance in the Sport Education students’ postintervention enjoyment, perceived effort, and perceived competence responses. The results suggest that the Sport Education curriculum may increase perceptions of a task-involving climate and perceived autonomy, and in so doing, enhance the motivation of high school students toward physical education

Audience Responses to Gender Stereotypes in Advertising

Advertising has demonstrated linguistic, contextual, and sexual gender stereotypes since its inception; it seems poised to continue doing so as advertising’s presence in society proliferates. Upon analyzing these stereotypes, examples can be found throughout media, especially in television. All this begs the question: Are these stereotypes actually effective at selling products or services to their intended audience? Do men react positively to stereotypes of men or women; and vice versa, how do women react? If gender stereotypes are employed in advertising purely through force of habit and not evidenced prudence, then the advertising landscape stands to gain immensely from taking a more progressive view; otherwise, stereotypical advertising is defensible if only from a financial perspective

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Middle and elementary school students’ changes in self-determined motivation in a basketball unit taught using the Tactical Games Model

Studies examining student motivation levels suggest that this is a significant factor in students’ engagement in physical education and may be positively affected when teachers employ alternative pedagogical models such as game-centered approaches (GCAs). The aim of this study was to investigate changes in self-determined motivation of students as they participated in a GCA-basketball unit taught using the Tactical Games Model (TGM). Participants were 173 students (84 girls), 79 middle school (45 girls) and 94 (39 girls) elementary school students from four seventh and five fourth/fifth grade co-educational classes. Two teachers taught 32 (middle) and 33 (elementary) level one TGM basketball lessons. Need satisfaction and self-determined motivation data were collected using a previously validated instrument, while lesson context and teacher behavior data were recorded using systematic observation instruments. Repeated measures MANOVAs were employed to examine pre-posttest differences. Results revealed a significant main effect for time in need satisfaction for both middle (relatedness increased) and elementary school students (autonomy decreased) and a significant main effect in self-determined motivation for middle school students only (introjected regulation, external regulation, and amotivation all increased). Approximately 48%/42% (middle/elementary) of lesson time was game play, 22%/22% skill practice, 17%/17% management, and 13%/19% knowledge. The primary teacher behaviors used were instruction, management, specific observation, corrective feedback and modelling. Results indicate that it is important for future research to pay greater attention to the contextual factors associated with the application of the TGM, such as the students’ previous exposure to TGM lessons, and the teachers’ training and experience in utilizing the TGM. Indeed, results of the present study demonstrate that a longer-term commitment to the TGM is necessary to reduce controlling teacher behaviors, which will lead to positive changes in students’ need satisfaction and self-determined motivation. Future research is therefore needed to embrace this challenge to provide an increased evidence-base for GCAs such as the TGM

Developmental changes in achievement motivation and affect in physical education: Growth trajectories and demographic differences.

Objective: We examined changes in student achievement goals, perceptions of motivational climate and affective responses in secondary school physical education. Method: Greek junior high school students (N ¼ 394; 191 males and 203 females) responded to a multisection questionnaire twice a year from the ages of 12 to 15 years. Results: Multilevel modeling analyses showed significant linear decreases in perceptions of taskinvolving teacher climate, task and ego goal orientations, which were somewhat reversed by the beginning of the last year of the junior high school. Significant linear decreases were also observed for enjoyment whereas there were significant linear increases for perceptions of ego-involving climate and boredom. There was significant variability in the intercepts and/or average changes over time for all variables and, therefore, we included demographic and theoretical predictors in an attempt to account for such variations. Conclusion: The results indicated that decreases in adaptive motivation over time vary across students and in some cases may be tackled by fostering a task-involving teacher climate

Factors underlying male and female use of violent video games

Research has consistently shown that males play violent video games more frequently than females, but factors underlying this gender gap have not been examined to date. This approach examines the assumption that males play violent video games more because they anticipate more enjoyment and less guilt from engaging in virtual violence than females. This may be because males are less empathetic, tend to morally justify physical violence more and have a greater need for sensation and aggression in video game play than females. Results of a path model based on survey data of 444 respondents and using multi-step multiple mediation analyses confirm these assumptions. Taken together, the findings of this study shed further light on the gender gap in violent video game use

Tunteiden ja sosiaalisten tekijöiden vaikutus pelikokemukseen

Arguably, the emotions elicited by playing are the reason why people play digital games. Social interaction is an important source of emotion during game play, but research on it is rather sparse. In this dissertation I briefly review the emotion-theoretic literature in order to better understand what emotion means in the context of games, and how this should be taken into account when measuring emotions related to a game experience. Study I presents a review of the use of psychophysiological methods in game research. I show that the theoretical background behind these methods generally tends to be neglected. This could be remedied by a theoretical framework that integrates the understanding of emotions and explicitly describes the links between different emotion measures and the theoretical concepts they are professed to reflect. I present my proposition for the first step towards such a framework in Study II. I employ the sociality characteristics framework by de Kort and IJsselsteijn (2008) and my interpretation of the social factors in order to study the effect of the central social context factors on the emotional game experience. Study III presents evidence that in addition to tonic physiological levels, the relationship between the participants also affects the momentary, phasic responses to the key game events victory and defeat. In particular, although physiological signals can, to a certain extent, be used to assess emotional experiences (such as positive responses to a victory), in some cases the typical psychophysiological mappings may even be completely opposite. Interpreting these signals requires a broader theoretical understanding than what is typically acknowledged. Study IV supports the earlier findings that competition is experienced more positively than cooperation but that the effect is dependent on gender, as this was found only in males. For females, there was no difference between the two modes, and no difference in negative activation. In addition, self-reports concerning social presence suggested that this concept is not always associated with higher positive emotions, while a form of friendly rivalry (associated with lower social presence) might be experienced positively a finding apparently new in existing literature. Finally, Study V provides insight into the practical significance of the measurements with a predictive validity study, showing practical effects how the certain kinds of game experiences may lead to greater game use and preference, but that these links are not as simple as previously suggested. In sum, this work offers new knowledge on how social context factors are generally related to the game experience, on how emotions can be studied in game research and what theoretical considerations should be taken into account, and on the emotional effects of particular social context factors during play. The results are mainly useful for further basic game research, but they have also potential implications for general emotion research, the game industry, and in the long run, society at large.Digitaalisten pelien herättämiä tunnekokemuksia on pidetty tärkeänä selittäjänä näiden suosiolle. Sosiaalinen vuorovaikutus pelin aikana taas on merkittävä tunnekokemuksien lähde, mutta sitä on tutkittu melko vähän. Tässä väitöskirjassa käyn osaksi läpi tunteita selittävää emootioteoriakirjallisuutta tarkastellakseni mitä tunteen tai emootion käsite tarkoittaa pelikontekstissa ja kuinka tämä tieto tulisi ottaa huomioon kun tunnekokemusta halutaan mitata pelitutkimuksessa. Tutkimus I esittää katsauksen psykofysiologisten menetelmien käytöstä pelitutkimuksessa, jonka avulla osoitan kuinka näiden menetelmien taustalla oleva teoreettinen perusta jätetään usein huomiotta. Tähän tyypilliseen puutteeseen olisi avuksi kokonaisvaltainen teoreettinen emootioiden ja niiden mittaamisen viitekehys. Esitän oman ehdotukseni kyseisenlaisen viitekehyksen suuntaan Tutkimuksessa II. Käytän tutkimukseni empiirisessä osuudessa tulkintaani de Kortin ja IJsselsteijnin (2008) teoreettisesta viitekehyksestä sosiaalisuuspiirteistä tutkiakseni merkittävien sosiaalisten tekijöiden merkitystä pelaamisen tunnekokemukselle. Tutkimuksessa III esitän todisteita, että pelaajien väliset suhteet vaikuttavat pitkien jaksojen keskiarvojen lisäksi myös yksittäisten tilanteiden voiton ja häviön laukaisemiin hetkellisiin reaktioihin. Tulokset osoittavat kuitenkin, että joissain tilanteissa reaktiot voivat olla odottamattomat, minkä vuoksi fysiologisten mittausten tulkinnassa tulisi käyttää laajempaa teoreettista ymmärrystä kuin on yleistä. Tutkimus IV:n tulokset tukevat aiempia löydöksiä, että peleissä kilpailu koetaan positiivisemmin kuin yhteistyö, mutta että tämä vaikutus riippuu sukupuolesta: tulos pätee vain miehiin, kun taas naiset eivät osoittaneet eroa näiden pelimuotojen välillä positiivisen eivätkä negatiivisen tunnereaktion suhteen. Lisäksi huomattiin, että sosiaalisen läsnäolon kokemuksella, joka on yleensä yhdistetty positiiviseen kokemukseen, ei ole selvää yhteyttä positiivisuuteen, kun taas emootiokirjallisuudessa esitetyn selityksen vastaisesti tietynlainen ystävällismielinen vahingonilo voidaan kokea positiivisena. Lopuksi, Tutkimus V esittää kuinka emootiomittauksilla voi olla käytännöllistä ennustevaliditeettia, missä tietynlaiset pelikokemukset voidaan yhdistää tulevaan pelikäyttäytymiseen, mutta että nämä yhteydet eivät ole niin yksinkertaisia kuin on aiemmin esitetty. Yhteenvetona, työni tarjoaa uutta tietoa siitä, mikä on sosiaalisten taustatekijöiden yleinen yhteys pelikokemukseen, kuinka emootioita voidaan tarkastella pelitutkimuksessa ja mitä teoreettisia näkökohtia tällöin tulisi ottaa huomioon, sekä siitä mitä ovat tiettyjen sosiaalisten taustatekijöiden emootiovaikutus pelikokemuksen aikana. Työn tuloksia voidaan käyttää lähinnä pelaamisen perustutkimuksessa, mutta niillä on myös mahdollista merkitystä yleisessä emootiotutkimuksessa, pelitutkimuksen käytännöllisessä soveltamisessa peliteollisuuden hyödyksi, sekä pitkällä aikavälillä myös laajempien yhteiskunnallisten kysymysten kannalta

Learning Experiences in Programming: The Motivating Effect of a Physical Interface

A study of undergraduate students learning to program compared the use of a physical interface with use of a screen-based equivalent interface to obtain insights into what made for an engaging learning experience. Emotions characterized by the HUMAINE scheme were analysed, identifying the links between the emotions experienced during programming and their origin. By capturing the emotional experiences of learners immediately after a programming experience, evidence was collected of the very positive emotions experienced by learners developing a program using a physical interface (Arduino) in comparison with a similar program developed using a screen-based equivalent interface

Always On: Understanding the Intrinsic Motivations for Playing Games on Smartphones and the Effect of User Characteristics

This study examines the intrinsic motivations that drive the enjoyment of smartphone games and the influence of the characteristics of age, gender and playfulness on such motivations. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) from the discipline of psychology as a basis, a sample of 340 smartphone gamers was surveyed and the results were analyzed using a multiple linear regression approach. The consequent model was then tested in relation to two specific games to further validate the approach and provide a model that is relevant to individual games. This study thus provides a clearer idea of the nature of play as it develops in the era of the smartphone game as well as adding another layer to our understanding of intrinsic motivation due to the fact that smartphone games can be accessed as necessary for need satisfaction, to experience flow, to gain a sense of escapism and ultimately to allow a player to experience a sense of enjoyment. Given that smartphones now constitute an essential communication device, this represents a key change in that people can now access a mode of play almost at whim. Players now have access to an enjoyable experience that can provide satisfactions that other experiences in their daily life may not allow

Explore the relations between personality and gamification

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Successful gamification motivates users to engage in systems using game-like experiences. However, a one-size-fits-all approach to gamification is often unsuccessful; prior studies suggest that personality serves as a key differentiator in the effectiveness of the approach. To advance the understanding of personality differences and their influence on users’ behavior and motivation in gamification, this dissertation is comprised of three studies that: 1) explore the relationships among individuals’ personality traits and preferences for different gamification features through an online survey; 2) investigate how people with different personality traits respond to the motivational affordances in a gamified application over a period of time through a diary study; and 3) reveal how individuals respond differentially to different kinds of leaderboard experiences based on their leaderboard rankings, the application domain, and the individuals’ personality traits through their responses to 9 dynamic leaderboards. The results from the first study show that extraversion and emotional stability are the two primary personality traits that differentiate users’ preferences for gamification. Among the 10 types of motivational affordances, extraverts are more likely to be motivated by Points, Levels, and Leaderboards. However, the results from the second (diary) study indicate that, after the first week, extraverts’ preferences for Points decreased. The motivation effects of Points and Leaderboards changed over the course of using the gamified application. The results from the third study confirm the findings from the first two studies about extraversion and revealed that ranking and domain differences are also effective factors in users’ experiences of Leaderboards in gamification. Design guidelines for gamification are presented based on the results of each of the three studies. Based on a synthesis of the results from these three studies, this dissertation proposes a conceptual model for gamification design. The model describes not only the impact of personality traits, domain differences, and users’ experience over time, but also illustrates the importance of considering individual differences, application context, and the potential significance of user persistence in gamification design. This research contributes to the HCI and gamification communities by uncovering factors that will affect the way that people respond to gamification systems, considered holistically