Background/Purpose:
While research has supported using Sport Education in physical education, little investigation has been conducted regarding the effectiveness of Sport Education in the early elementary grades.
The purposes of this investigation were to investigate the extent to which students could perform the less teacher-directed components of the model, namely, (1) performing team duties and skill practices independently of the teacher, (2) playing a modified game without constant intervention from the teacher, (3) successfully officiating games (4) managing the various organizational tasks associated with the season.
Method:
The participants in this study were 48 students from two fourth grade classrooms. Each task (N=640) from two complete seasons were coded according to the following categories: type of task, the explicitness of the task, and student compliance. Skill opportunities and success, referee involvement and success were also coded.
Analysis/Results:
Results indicated that students achieved high levels of compliance (94%) in all tasks across the season, even as tasks moved from a more explicit to implicit form of presentation. There was no increase in management time as teacher supervision decreased, even as the class prepared for the culminating event. Skill success improved from the formal competition to the post-season phase (F=7.44, p=.041), as well as refereeing success (F=26.39, p=.004) and the active involvement (F=39.85, p=.001) of students in their refereeing roles.
Conclusions:
These results indicate positive student responses to their initial experience with Sport Education and suggest that it can potentially be incorporated with students in the early elementary grades.
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