PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Physical Education



Physical Education

Introduction

Physical fitness is an essential component of our overall health and well-being. As today's generation of children may be the first in the United States to have a life expectancy shorter than their parents. Low levels of fitness caused by inactivity and poor nutritional habits of many of today's youth may be a contributing factor. The National Association of Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) have also deemed physical fitness and a healthy lifestyle important. NASPE recommends school-age children accumulate at least 60 minutes and up to several hours of physical activity per day while avoiding prolonged periods of inactivity. In addition, The National Association for the Education of Young Children has emphasized its value within our education system. Yet, within our educational system, the amount of attention towards physical education has declined.

Currently, so many youngsters are turned off by their physical education (PE) classes, do not engage in adequate physical activity, and are risk of developing serious health conditions (obesity, diabetes, etc.). Thus, it is imperative that children and adolescents be encouraged to adopt a physically active lifestyle.

It is generally accepted that school PE is likely to play a key role in encouraging pupils' participation in regular physical activity. There is evidence that PE can involve people in daily physical activities and fosters healthy lifestyles, and that students who feel motivated toward physical activity in PE are more likely to participate in physical activities in their leisure time. Because of this, enhancing adolescents' motivation is an important objective in contemporary physical education as adaptive motivation has been linked to exercise participation outside of school and to prepare children for a lifetime physical activity.

Although most pupils are intrinsically motivated to participate in PE lessons, there are many children who are extrinsically motivated or lack motivation to participate. Interest and participation in PE gradually declines with age.

Though motivation has been well studied in organized sport settings, there is a dearth of research relation to motivation for participation in school PE.

Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is a judgment of one's capability to accomplish a certain level of performance. Accomplishing a certain level of performance requires both, confidence in one's capabilities, as well as confidence in one's abilities to overcome potential barriers to execute the particular action. Researchers examining the impact of the construct of self-efficacy either assess the impact of the global construct of self-efficacy or differentiate between two types of self-efficacy: task self-efficacy and barrier self-efficacy. Task self-efficacy refers to an individual's perceptions of their own abilities to execute the task. Barrier self-efficacy refers to an individual's perceptions of their ability to overcome the personal, social, and environmental barriers associated with executing the task (McKenzie, Nader, 2003).

Current Problems of Physical Education

Zhou (1999) indicated that some teachers have explored different teaching methods and strategies such as collaborative learning, Yet teachers in general like to stick to convention and give little attention to innovation in their physical education teaching. The academic achievement-oriented society in Taiwan seems to prevent students from taking part ...