Background/Purpose: Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of a number of innovations in educational practice in recent years for which a range of positive outcomes for students is claimed. However, little is done in the area of physical education. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of using a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach to teach health-related physical fitness knowledge for high school students.
Method: Participants included 161 students enrolled in PE and their teacher at two high schools. One school with two classes of 11th grader (n=77) was designed as an experimental group and received PBL approach for 10 weeks. One school with two classes of 11th grader (n=84) was designed as a comparable group and received a traditional teaching approach for 10 weeks. Both groups were administered the “Heart Smart Cognitive Test” (HSCT) from pre-test and post-test. Both groups were received the same program which was design by the researcher to enhance the students content knowledge of health-related physical fitness.
Analysis/Results: The results from ANCOVA were as follows: a). the Problem-Based Learning approach was effectively improved students' health-related physical fitness knowledge from pre-test to post-test; b). the traditional teaching approach was not significantly improved students' health-related physical fitness knowledge from pre-test to post-test; and c) the students in the Problem-Based Learning approach group had better scores on health-related physical fitness knowledge than the traditional teaching approach.
Conclusions: It was concluded that the problem-based learning approach was effective in raising the health-related physical fitness knowledge of the participating students.
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