Scheduled for Research Consortium Pedagogy I Poster Session, Thursday, April 27, 2006, 10:15 AM - 11:45 AM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall Poster Area I


Achivement Goals and Students' Reported Disruptive Behavior in an After-School Physical Education Program

Bulent Agbuga, Ping Xiang and Ron E. McBride, Texas A&M University-College Station, College Station, TX

In recent years, achievement goal theory has become a theoretical framework for understanding students' disruptive behavior in the classroom (Kaplan et al., 2002). Disruptive behavior distracts teachers from instructional activities and interferes with students' academic learning time, which is highly related to their achievement. In their study, Kaplan et al. (2002) reported that mastery goals were related to lower reports of disruptive behavior while performance approach and performance avoidance goals were related to higher reports of disruptive behavior in mathematics classrooms. They suggested that achievement goal theory can offer a preventative holistic approach for reducing students' disruptive behaviors in school. In physical activity settings, however, little information is available concerning relationships between students' achievement goals and their disruptive behaviors. Therefore, the present study investigated whether achievement goals students adopted in an after school physical education program were related to their disruptive behaviors. Participants included 81 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade students (35 boys and 46 girls) from one school district, (who were) qualified for participation in the after school physical education program. They completed a 29-item, 5-point Likert scale questionnaire assessing their achievement goals (mastery approach, performance approach, performance avoidance) and disruptive behaviors in after school physical education classes. All items were modified from previous research and subjected to factor analyses. Pearson product-moment analyses revealed no significant correlation between students' reported disruptive behaviors and their performance approach and performance avoidance goals. However, the mastery goals were negatively related to reported disruptive behaviors. Multiple regression analysis indicated that mastery goals (β = -.337, p = .003) emerged as a significant negative predictor. The predictor explained 9% of variance in students' reported disruptive behaviors. Results of this study indicated that students whose goals were to master learning activities and improve ability were less likely to demonstrate disruptive behaviors. This finding is consistent with the Kaplan et al. (2002) study and provides another empirical support for the notion that mastery goals are beneficial to student motivation and learning in school. Based on our data, we recommend that promotion of mastery goals among students (should) become a high priority in physical activity settings.
Keyword(s): elementary education, student issues

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