Background/Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how Sport Education (SE) and a traditional teaching style (TS) would impact physical activity, aerobic fitness and intrinsic motivation.
Method High school students (n=40) were randomly selected, stratified by gender and grade, to participate in either a 19-lesson SE season or a TS unit. Students in both groups wore a Walk4Life Inc. model LS 2525 pedometer during each lesson, executed the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test of aerobic fitness pre- and post- intervention and completed a post-experimental version of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI).
Analysis/Results Two separate Analysis of Variances (ANOVAs) indicated that the SE group took significantly more steps during the season/unit [F(1, 39) = 8.48, p=.006] and performed significantly better on the post PACER test [F(1, 39) = 4.17, p=.048]. Three separate ANOVAs on the IMI data indicated that the SE group scored significantly higher on measures of Enjoyment/Interest [F(1, 39) = 8.73, p=.000] and Effort/Importance, F(1, 39) = 6.95, p=.012].
Conclusions The results suggest that a SE season may be a more engaging and enjoyable experience than a TS unit, and as a consequence, may lead to greater aerobic fitness gains.