Effects of Situated Game Teaching through Set Plays on Secondary Students' Tactical Knowledge and Situational Interest in physical education

Based on Situated Learning Theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991), Li and Xie (2017) have proposed a curricular model called “Situated Game Teaching through Set Plays” (SGTSP) to teach sports and games in physical education. The... [ view full abstract ]

Based on Situated Learning Theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991), Li and Xie (2017) have proposed a curricular model called “Situated Game Teaching through Set Plays” (SGTSP) to teach sports and games in physical education. The goal of this curricular model is to develop students’ game competence through situated, relational set plays. The effectiveness of this model on students’ game learning has not been examined. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of SGTSP on secondary students’ tactical knowledge and situational interest in comparison to traditional techniques-focused approach in a 5-day soccer unit. A total number of 21 sixth graders from two classes voluntarily participated in this study. Students’ tactical knowledge was assessed prior to and after intervention. Situational Interest Questionnaire (Chen et al., 2001) was used to examine students’ perceived interest toward the soccer unit. A series of ANCOVAs with/without a repeated measure were used to analyze the data. No statistical difference was found in the change scores of students’ tactical knowledge at the end of soccer unit between two groups. However, an inspection of the means showed that participants’ tactical knowledge test scores in the SGTSP group improved more than those in the traditional group. Statistical difference was found in students’ perceived Novelty toward the soccer unit between two groups (F_group (1,11) = 4.87, p<0.05, h2=0.31). Participants in the SGTSP group reported higher levels of Novelty than those in the traditional group. Significant interaction effects were found between group and skill levels on Total Interest, Exploration Interest, and Attention Demand toward the soccer unit, with low skilled students in the SGTSP group exhibiting higher levels than those in the traditional group. It is suggested that SGTSP may be effective to increase students’ situational interest and tactical knowledge in sports through innovative learning tasks.