Improving enjoyment during physical education lesson in primary school students

Objective: Assessing the effects of different instructional plans on affective learning aims (i.e., the level of enjoyment) within physical education (PE) classes in elementary school students. Method: The second-grade classes of a primary school were randomly assigned to two different groups (i.e., experimental and control). The control group (n = 29) followed the regular physical education curriculum based on skill practices meanwhile the teacher used a directive style. The experimental group (n = 35) followed a PE plan based on the use of the Tactical Game Model approach to teach handball-based invasion game. The affective learning aims were assessed by means of the Italian version of the PACES scale and it was administered prior to, and at the end of the instructional period. Scale reliability was estimated for each assessment and group. Furthermore, the impact of the plans was estimated and interpreted according to Cohen’s effect size measure. Results: For the control group, the reliability results were between moderate and excellent (i.e., Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.82 to 0.93), while the same results for experimental group were moderate in pre- and post-training assessment (i.e., Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.77 to 0.92). No significant between-group differences were estimated at the start of the study. At the end of the instructional period there were significant and moderate-to-large differences for the positive scores, while significant and low-to-moderate differences for the negative scores. Implications: Current results identified the TGM approach as an effective strategy for supporting fun and motivational PE lessons, since teachers can use these reflections for developing appropriately PE lessons.