Change of student attitudes toward physical education following enrollment in a concepts physical education course.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in attitudes toward physical education for students who were enrolled in a one-semester, concepts-oriented physical education course at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The experimental group consisted of 119 students enrolled in Physical Education 021, Concepts and Applications in Physical Education. Further, 128 students enrolled in Psychology 101, Introduction to Psychology, during the same term served as the control group for this investigation.

All students were administered the Wear Physical Education Attitude Inventory (Form A) as a pretest at the beginning of the semester and again as a posttest at the end of the semester. The five-point Likert Scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree was used for scoring the 30-item questionnaire. The variables of physical, mental, social, and general were measured by the instrument.

The data were collected, coded, and prepared for computer analysis with the SPSS{dollar}\sp{lcub}\rm X{rcub}{dollar} HP 3000 System being used to analyze the data. Analysis of Covariance and t-test were utilized to analyze change scores between and within the experimental and control groups based on sex and classification for the four separate areas of the inventory. All hypotheses were tested at the.05 level of significance.

Results of the study were: (1) the control group showed no significant change of attitude, pretest to posttest, in any of the four areas (physical, social, emotional, general); (2) a significant difference was evident in the experimental group for the social, emotional, and general areas; (3) the experimental group's posttest scores demonstrated a significant improvement when compared with the posttest scores of the control group; (4) Physical Education 021 proved to generate a significantly higher positive effect in the social area for females when compared to males; and (5) Physical Education 021 provided a significantly greater effect upon upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) than on underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) in the areas of physical, social, and emotional.

In conclusion, student attitudes toward physical education indicated positive changes as a result of being enrolled in Physical Education 021. Greater changes occurred for upperclassmen in the areas of social, emotional, and general and for females in the social area.