The Implementation of Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model on the Elementary School Frisbee PE Program: An Action Research

Purpose: This action research aimed to investigate the students’ responsibility level performance and interpersonal interaction improvement in PE class before and after the integration of Teaching Personal and Social... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose: This action research aimed to investigate the students’ responsibility level performance and interpersonal interaction improvement in PE class before and after the integration of Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model into the elementary school frisbee PE program. It also explored the teacher’s teaching experience and reflection. Methods: The participants were 2 classes of 31 fifth graders, including 12 males and 19 females, from an elementary school in Hualien County. The TPSR Frisbee lessons lasted for 12 weeks with two 40-minute sessions per week. “The Personal and Social Responsibility Questionnaires” were used to collect quantitative data and the paired-sample t-test was applied to analyze the data statistically. The qualitative data were collected from 32 students’ learning sheets, semi-structured interviews with 11 students, a total of 110 minutes and 20 seconds, and the teacher teaching journals. Results and Discussion: The findings indicated that: (1) There were significant differences in the responsibility levels of making efforts, self-direction, and helping others after the teaching intervention. (2) The low-achievers and bullied students started to attempt striving for learning on their own while the dominant students were gradually willing to accept others. The exclusion phenomenon in the class was improved by degrees. The students mutually learned to negotiate and cooperate, set up exercise goals by themselves, abandon individual biases, and control emotions to get along with others. (3) The study showed that the Frisbee PE Program generated differentiated learning effects in the two classes. Therefore, the teacher needed to designed different questions to direct group discussions and self-reflections to assist the students in establishing conception of responsibility levels. Conclusion: TPSR Frisbee PE program facilitated the affective performance of the students and the interpersonal relationships between the students. Structural and goal oriented teamwork activity design is recommended to enhance the effectiveness of TPSR model.