Examining Student Teachers' Use of Instructional Choice in Physical Education

Purpose: Both achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992) and self-determination theory (Deci, 1992) propose that choices provided by teachers (i.e., instructional choices) in the classroom have a positive impact on student motivation and learning. But little empirical work is available concerning teachers' provision of instructional choice in physical education. Therefore, this study examined student teachers' use of instructional choices in teaching physical education classes. Student teachers were selected for this study because they represent “next generation” of physical educators and, hopefully, the data obtained may better inform physical education teacher education (PETE) programs how to infuse the use of instructional choices that may be used to motivate students and increase learning in the physical education setting.

Methods:Participants included 103 (36 males; 67 females) student teachers from a major university in the southern U.S. They completed questionnaires that assessed the kinds of instructional choices used in their teaching upon completion of 12-week student teaching. The 19 5-point scale items identified three types of instructional choices: a) organizational (e.g., allowing students to choose their partners), b) procedural (e.g., allowing students to express their interests in different activities), and c) cognitive (e.g., giving students opportunities to solve problems independently). The three open-ended questions assessed student teachers' beliefs about why they gave students choices. The items and questions were modified from previous research (Flowerday & Schraw, 2000; Stefanou, Perencevich, DiCintio, & Turner, 2004).

Analysis/Results:Descriptive statistics revealed student teachers reported their use of organizational (M = 3.59, SD = 0.93), procedural (M = 4.16, SD = .61), and cognitive (M = 4.37, SD = 0.48) choices in their teaching. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA and post hoc tests further indicated they used cognitive choices more than the other two types of choices. This result is encouraging, as cognitive choices play a more important role in student motivation and learning than either procedural or organizational choices (Stefanou et al., 2004). Inductive analysis of the participants' responses to the three open-ended questions revealed student teachers gave students choices because they believed choices a) give students a sense of control over their own learning, b) increase student interest in learning, c) reward students for effort or good behaviors, and d) add variety to the lessons. These beliefs are generally consistent with the classroom research.

Conclusions: Overall, the results of this study suggest this group of student teachers believed beneficial effects of instructional choices and utilized them in their student teaching.