Meditation on Motivation Home                

Motivation in Physical Education

Collaborative Teacher Action Research

2000-01

By John Grundke, Physical Education Department, HPHS

 

Introduction

Question

Will learning activities based on real life situations motivate students to increase their learning?

Class Information

The data that was compiled for this report was taken from Freshman Physical Education classes at Highland Park High School.  The classes are coed classes of students, but the classes are split according to gender for some units.  All of the classes in this report were conducted in morning classes.  The unit that I will focus on is the weight training unit.  I taught the unit three times.  The first time, the class was an all female course taught from early November to late December.  The second two classes were coed classes taught from mid January to late February.

The units were taught in a similar fashion all three times this year.  The unit started with an introduction to weight training.  In the introduction, students learned many principles if training, weight training vocabulary, muscle groups and the precise lifts that would improve those muscle groups.  After the introduction, The students were given examples of proper lifting form.  This year the examples were done by the teacher.  Next the students attempted the lifts with a spotter.  Up to this point all three classes were conducted in similar ways. In the next paragraph, I will explain the extra assignment that the second and third classes completed for this unit.  In all classes, after the students attempted all of the lifts, they designed and participated in a lifting routine that would be beneficial to their individual lifestyles.

The only difference was in the second two classes the students completed an instructional video assignment that they knew would be viewed by next years incoming freshman.  This assignment was the real life assignment for this unit.  The students had to use resources in class, other than the teacher, to try to teach a novice lifter how to safely execute their lift.  The students knew that the videos would be viewed not only by the teacher for a grade, but also by next year's students as a teaching tool.  They knew that they were performing for a real audience.

Process                            Data                           Reflection