Advancing task involvement, intrinsic motivation and metacognitive regulation in physical education classes: the self-check style of teaching makes a difference

It was hypothesized that “self-check” style of teaching would be more preferable in terms of creating a mastery-oriented climate, and promoting adaptive achievement goals, intrinsic motivation and metacognitive activity in physical education classes. Two hundred seventy-nine (N = 269) 6-grade students were randomly divided into two groups that were taught four consecutive physical education lessons of the same content following either “practice” or “self-check” styles of teaching respectively. Students responded on questionnaires prior and after the intervention. Results revealed significant interactions between groups and measurements. Students in the “self-check” style group scored higher in scales measuring mastery-oriented climate, mastery goal, intrinsic motivation and metacognitive processes and lower in scales measuring performance-goals and performance-oriented motivational climate. These results underscore the importance of using styles of teaching that enhance opportunities for deep cognitive processing and promote mastery-goals and mastery-oriented climates

THE COMPETITION IN PRESCHOOL AGE: A SHORT REVIEW

Competition matters in our daily life. Humans compete in their jobs, in their relationships, in the classroom etc. for different reason and with different way. We know a lot about competition for the adults but we lack of knowledge on what is happening during the preschool age and this is the focus of the present paper. The literature review shows that young children from the age of 4 years old perceive the concept of competition and express competitive behaviour. The factors which affect young children’s competitive behaviour are the gender, the age and the composition of the team as to gender and size. Moreover, during the implementation of the curriculum children express competitive behaviour in kindergarten classroom. They express competitive behaviours, which are divided into two main categories, verbally and physically, which include and subcategories. Competitive behaviour is expressed by children more often during organized activities and less during free activities, like breakfast time and discussion.  Article visualizations

Intervention Effect of Supportive Group Therapy and Physical Exercise on the Quality of Life of Cancer Patients

Psychological distress is a multidimensional concern affecting patients’ ability to cope with cancer, its physical symptoms, and treatments. This study examined the effect of an exercise program and a group psychotherapy program on the quality of life of Greek cancer patients. The sample consisted of 39 cancer patients (10 males and 29 females), assigned randomly in three groups of 13 patients each group, that is, a control, an exercise and a psychotherapy group. The duration of the training program for the individuals of the exercise group was 10 weeks at a frequency of two sessions per week, 60 minutes each session. The patients of the psychotherapy group received a 10 weeks’ supportive–expressive group therapy, at a frequency of one time per week, of 90 minutes each meeting. The quality of life SF-36 questionnaire was administered to examine the short-term effect of both programs prior and after intervention on quality of life. Control group individuals did not participate in any program and they just filled in the SF-36 questionnaire prior and after intervention. Improvement in “vitality” (p = .006) and mental health subscale (p = .011) was statistically significant between pre and post measures in the supportive therapy group. All other domains exhibit no significant changes. In the exercise group, physical functioning, role functioning and emotional role values were also improved but not to the point to generate statistically significant results. The findings of the present study support the positive impact of psychotherapy intervention on vitality and mental health component of patients with cancer, followed in less extent by the beneficial effect of the exercise program

Students’ Attitudes Toward Assessment in Physical Education

Despite the recent increase in attention on studies focusing on different types of assessment of student participation in physical education (PE), there is little research concerning students’ attitudes toward the PE assessment process. This study aimed to investigate students’ attitudes toward assessment procedures in PE by developing and validating a quantitative instrument concerning crucial areas of pedagogy such as curriculum, teachers, grading, and fitness tests. It further investigates important attitude determinants such as grade level and gender differences. The scale was distributed to 1,403 students in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th grades. Principal components analysis showed an eigenvalue factor greater than 1, which accounted for 47% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded satisfactory indices that confirmed the unidimensional model with high internal consistency (α = .84). A two-way analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between the 7th and 10th grades. At the same time, students expressed a high level of positive attitudes toward the different aspects of assessment procedures. The study examined various aspects of students’ attitudes toward assessment and resulted in a reliable, valid, and easy-to-use quantitative instrument that can be used by educators and researchers to assess students’ attitudes toward assessment in PE

The Role of Competitive Activities on Preschool Children Performance

It is well recognized the importance of preschool children understanding of a product goal or a process goal in a school activity and in which way the kind of the goal could affect children’s performance in this activity. As known, product goals determine the outcome of learning and lead students’ attention to the outcome rather than to the strategy or method that can lead to the result. Instead, the process goal refers to methods and strategies that lead students learn handling a specific task. Herein, 30 preschool children, at a mean age of 5 ½ years, participated in two different games, twice each with different goal each time (product goal/process goal). The results showed that preschool children exhibited better performance in both games when the goal was of product type. Moreover, in the case of a process goal, it was observed that children encouraged their classmate who played the game, while in case of a product goal they did not encourage their classmate, but they only counted his successful efforts. The results show that children understand the difference between process goal and product goal, enhancing their performance in case of product goals aiming to win. Nevertheless, previous studies which contacted in older children, under competitive learning environment where the goal of an activity emphasize to the outcome, showed that children brake their efforts, when they feel that they cannot win. According the obtained results, preschool teachers should avoid the product goals and emphasize to the process goals.</jats:p