Abstract
With a breakdown in classroom discipline, bullying and social withdrawal have become social problems in recent years; there is a heightened expectation toward physical education for developing proper social attitudes and cultivating morality. In this study, children were instructed to play “Nakama-oni (helping tag)”, a tag game variant promoting helping behavior through physical education. Thereafter, the frequency of helping behavior in Nakama-oni was checked, and the effect of participation in physical education through Nakama-oni on children’s helping behavior-related self-efficacy was discussed. Sixty elementary school children in the fifth grade played both Nakama-oni and normal tag. The results suggested that: 1) children experienced helping behavior more often in Nakama-oni, compared to normal tag; and 2) participation in Nakama-oni enhanced children’s helping behavior-related self-efficacy. In conclusion, results suggest that incorporating Nakama-oni that promotes helping behavior in physical education enhances children’s helping behavior-related self-efficacy.
Highlights
Generalization of the fair play spirit attained through physical activities in daily living is one of the desiderata that modern society expects of physical education
With a breakdown in classroom discipline, bullying and social withdrawal have become social problems in recent years; there is a heightened expectation toward physical education for developing proper social attitudes and cultivating morality
A t-test showed that the difference in mean values between the two tag games was significant (Helping behavior: t(59) = 6.42, p < 0.001, d = 0.79, Experience of being helped by others: t(59) = 6.34, p < 0.001, d = 0.97 (Table 1))
Summary
Generalization of the fair play spirit attained through physical activities in daily living is one of the desiderata that modern society expects of physical education. With the breakdown in classroom discipline, bullying and social withdrawal have become social problems in recent years; there is an ever-increasing expectation toward physical education to play the role of developing proper social attitudes as well cultivating morality (Hellison, 2003; Otsu et al, 2010; Umegaki & Tomozoe, 2010; Tomozoe, 2009). Based on many years of primatology research, Yamagiwa (2012) noted that against the backdrop of change in the role of the family and community, one’s efforts to work together with his/her peers to complement one another towards a single goal and improve one’s ability, would lead to maintenance of society and happiness. Some studies have already been carried out, with a focus on a game of tag, as child’s play, to promote children’s helping behavior through participation in the game (Ueno, 2014, 2015)
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