Physical Education and Non-Physical Education Major Students' Empirical Experiences in Sport Education

Background/Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the 26 collegiate students' empirically experiences and receptivity and how they changed the perception of Sport Education (SE) model (Siedentop, Hastie, & van der Mars, 2004) in Physical Activity (PA) class.

Method Nine PE major and 17 non-PE major collegiate students participated in PA class for 15 weeks that focused on exercising and implementing SE. Qualitative data were collected through class observations and interviews to assess students' receptivity and perceptions of the SE model as well as students' attitudes and beliefs about SE.

Analysis/Results Every student expressed a variety of experiences of SE in PA class. (1) All students recognized the benefit of the SE model in PA class (i.e. actual involvement, leadership, and skill improvement). (2) Several students pointed out that implementing the SE model in PE class took too much time at the beginning of the unit of instruction. (3) Mixed students (PE major & non-PE major) class setting supported non-PE students easy to acquire sports skills and understand knowledge.

Conclusions Most students complained that the lack of their understanding of the SE model concept increased the implementation time at the beginning of the season because it was very time consuming to implement due to the organization involved. Nonetheless, the students at both majors did see the greater utility of the SE model for skill improvement and decision making opportunities- the shift from an instructor centered to a student centered model of instruction as students took on various roles during the season.