Purpose: Based on the framework of interest, studies have shown that teachers can enhance students' situational interest (SI) by manipulating the components of learning tasks. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of learning task design on students' SI in physical education (PE). Method: The participants were 167 secondary school…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was two-fold: to examine the motivational profiles of secondary school students in physical education classes, and to examine the associations between the students' motivational profile characteristics and positive and negative affective experiences. Methods: A total of 1,570 students from Hong Kong were invited…

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify gender and body weight differences in Chinese adolescents' perceived expectancy value (EV) motivation in their physical education (PE) class. The study also explored the relationship between EV and adolescents' health-related fitness performances. Method: A group of seventh and eighth graders (N =…

Purpose: Guided by Stodden et al.'s (2008) conceptual model, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations among perceived competence, actual motor competence (MC), physical activity (PA), and cardiorespiratory fitness in elementary children. The group differences were also investigated as a function of MC levels. Methods: A…

The aims of the study were (a) to test the effectiveness of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict Greek university students' voluntary participation in an extracurricular gymnastics course, and (b) to evaluate gender differences. Two hundred sixty-three (127 female, 136 male) students participated in the study. Students' attitudes,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of high school students toward fitness testing. An instrument containing 18 items and four factors measuring student's attitudes toward fitness testing: cognitive, affect-enjoyment, affect-feelings, and affect-teacher was completed by 524 boys and 675 girls (N = 1199). MANOVA indicated…

Sport Education has embedded pedagogical strategies proposed to reduce the prevalence of amotivation in physical education. The purpose of this study was to provide an examination of the game play participation rates of amotivated students within a Sport Education season. A sample of 395 high school students participated in a season of team…

This research primarily aimed to examine the compatibility of teaching perspectives of teachers with the Physical Education (PE) curriculum in China. The Teaching Perspective Inventory (Pratt, 1998) was used to collect data from 272 PE teachers. Descriptive statistics, MANOVAs, and correlational procedures were used for quantitative data analysis.…

This study examined adolescents' interest in aerobic fitness testing and its relation to the test performances. Adolescents (N = 356) from three middle schools participated in the study. The participants took two aerobic fitness tests: the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) and One-Mile Run (1MR) with a two-day interval, and…

Three hundred and sixty-one students participating in university physical activity classes completed questionnaires assessing perceived health and self-regulated learning. In addition, 20 students (11 men; 9 women) were interviewed about their reasons for enrolling, participation and goals in the class. Results indicated the students endorsed…

While there have been many studies into students' attitudes toward Physical Education at the school level, far fewer studies have been conducted at the university level, especially in China. This study explored 949 students' attitudes toward their university Physical Education experiences in four Chinese universities. An intercorrelated model of…

Affective learning is a major focus of the national K-12 physical education (PE) content standards (National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE, 2004]). Understanding how students might fit into different affective learning subgroups would help extend affective learning theory in PE and suggest possible intervention strategies for…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of (a) skill test type, (b) choices, and (c) gender on the situational motivation profiles of adolescents during skill testing in physical education. Participants were 507 students (53% male) aged 12-16 years (M = 13.87; SD = 0.94) attending a suburban junior high school in a western state in…

Several studies have reported declining student enrolment rates in optional physical education. This study--incorporating constructs from social cognitive, self-determination, and body image theory--investigated factors that might be influential to this trend. Surveys were administered to 227 tenth-grade students from five schools in one school…

The impact of Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAPs) on urban children's, educators', and parents' physical activity (PA) is relatively unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore overall changes in student, educator, and parent PA after an 8-month CSPAP-based program. This longitudinal, exploratory study implemented a…