Scheduled for Research Consortium Psychology and Sociocultural Poster Session, Wednesday, April 26, 2006, 1:45 PM - 3:15 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall Poster Area I


Investigating Elementary School Students' Movement Skills, Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction in Physical Education

Li-Jen Chiang1, Hsin-Hung Lin1, Kuo-Tung Shih2, Mei-Ting Tsou3 and Mei-Yao Huang2, (1)National College of Physical Education and Sports, Taoyuan, Taiwan, (2)National College of Physical Education and Sports, Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan, (3)Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung Li, Taiwan

Why do some students approach school tasks eagerly and exercise diligently in elementary school physical education, while others avoid school physical education activities? Motivation in elementary physical education is critical to the quality of student engagement and achievement in school (Bruene, Xiang, & Guan, 2004). Keller (1999) has developed a four-factor theory to explain learning motivation. These elements of the learning motivation were summarized as attention (A), relevance (R), confidence (C), and satisfaction (S). The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school students on movement skills, attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction in physical education. Participants were two hundred thirty-one students (boys=121 & girls=110) in Taipei. Two instruments were conducted to collect data including the ARCS Survey and movement skills test. The students' skill were divided into two levels as higher skill and lower skill by measuring movement skill, as well as motivation were divided into higher motivation and lower motivation by ARCS Survey. The results pointed out the students with higher motivation had significantly higher scores than the students with lower motivation on attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction, and movement skills (t=-12.65; -15.70; -11.12; -14.30; -2.29, p< .05). The findings also indicated students with higher movement skill was significantly superior to students with lower skill (t=-2.80, p < .05) on the factor of relevance. The results indicated boys' movement skill had significantly higher scores than girls' movement skill (t=2.35, p< .05). There was no significant difference between boys and girls on the factors of attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between different levels of students' movement skills on the factors of attention, confidence, and satisfaction. The results also showed a significant relationship between movement skills, attention, relevance, and satisfaction (r=.13; .26; .21; p< .05). Finally, there was no interaction between gender and different motivated students on movement skills (F= .27, p> .05). In summary, even the most able students will not learn if they do not pay attention and exert some effort in elementary school physical education. If students are to derive the maximum benefits from physical education classes in school, physical educators must provide learning contexts in which students are motivated to engage actively and productively in school physical education activities. The ARCS model combines a descriptive synthesis approach to motivational design. It can provide physical education teachers with motivational strategies and tactics in order to improve curriculum design and teaching strategies.
Keyword(s): elementary education, physical activity

Back to the 2006 AAHPERD National Convention and Exposition