Background/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a personal and social responsibility-based physical education course on students in a university-based alternative high school.
Method: Using Hellison's (2011) Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model, three physical education teachers taught 47 high school freshmen. Students' responsibility and its changes in classrooms and physical education were rated individually by three academic teachers and the physical education teachers using a modified Personal and Social Responsibility Questionnaire (PSRQ) (Li et. al., 2008) before, during, and after instruction over a school year. Participating students also rated their own level of responsibility in the classroom and the gym using the PSRQ.
Analysis/Results: A multivariate analysis revealed all teachers rated students' responsibility highest at the mid-point (F=3.60, p<.05). However, classroom teachers' ratings were significantly higher than PE teachers (F=9.37, p<.01). The analysis also showed the student's self-evaluation over time (F=4.33, p<.05) and the same for both settings (F=1.28, p=.26).
Conclusions: Data showed that responsibility increased from the beginning to the end of the course. This was especially true for the classroom setting. Although the analysis showed that students' responsibility was highest at the midpoint, data at the post-measure remained higher than the pre-measure. This suggests that students' responsibility levels were positively impacted over time, regardless of the setting. Such findings show promise for the use of responsibility-based physical activity programs, especially in an alternative high school setting. In addition, the ability for responsibility transfer to take place from one setting to another appears tenable.