Investigation of Secondary School Student's Value Perceptions and Attitudes Regarding to Physical Education and Sports Lesson

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the value perceptions and attitudes of secondary school students towards physical education and sports lessons. The research, which was designed in a quasi-experimental model with a pretest-posttest control group, was conducted with 91 7th-grade students in the second semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. The students were divided into 4 groups according to the course content applied in the physical education lesson: “Sports Education Model (SEM)”, “Physical Activity Card (PAC)”, “Traditional Children's Games (TCG)” and “Control Group (CG)”. Physical education lessons were carried out with the groups for 10 weeks. The data were collected using the mixed method explanatory sequential design approach. "Physical Education and Sports Lesson Values Education Scale" and "Physical Education and Sports Attitude Scale" were used to collect quantitative data. In the analysis of the data, arithmetic means, correlation, Wilcoxon, Mann Whitney U, and Kruskal Wallis analyzes were performed. Qualitative data, on the other hand, were collected through lesson observations and focus group interviews and analyzed by content analysis. According to the research findings; there has been an increase in secondary school students' physical education lesson value perceptions and attitudes. The most developed value of the students was friendship, followed by self-control, helpfulness, justice, and responsibility, respectively. The students in the TCG and SEM groups showed more improvement in their helpfulness, friendship, and general value perception. Those in the TCG group improved more in responsibility and self-control than the CG and PAC groups. Physical education lesson attitudes of SEM, PAC, and TCG group students improved more than CG students. While there was a development in favor of males in self-control value, no significant difference was found in other values dimensions and course attitudes according to gender. A positive moderate relationship was found between students' value perceptions and course attitudes. In the focus group interview, the students in different groups interpreted the research findings in different ways. As a result of the research; TCG and SEM were at the forefront in the development of students' value perception, and PAC and TCG in the development of course attitudes. Based on these results, it is recommended that teachers teach lessons with different models, methods, and course materials.