Problem Statement:
The behavior I am observing is the amount of time during a 30 minute period in which John is on task.
On task involves listening to his trainers and performing the activities he is assigned to do. The reason I
chose this behavior is because it is detrimental to the entire class as it distracts not only John and me,
but the rest of the students too. If I can increase his on-task time, it will benefit all of the students.
Literature Review:
During physical education, it can be difficult to manage every student as you often have 30-40
students to one teacher. Aside from classroom management, is the struggle to keep every student
participating throughout each activity. In keeping a student participating, it can be referred to keeping
them on task as well. This is an important distinction as there are many instances in a physical
education class where students are waiting or transitioning into a different activity. Physical education
teachers have tried many different intervention strategies that have proved to be effective in increasing
on-task and performance time in students during a class period.
Article 1: Sport Education and Extracurricular Sport Participation: An Examination Using the TransContextual Model of Motivation.
In this study, Wallhead, Hagger, and Smith (2010) used the trans-contextual model of
motivation to examine the effects of Sport Education on students’ participation in a voluntary recess
sport club. Participants had the opportunity to participate weekly, voluntary lunch recess sport club
sessions during the intervention period. The trans-contextual model accounted for a significant
proportion of the explained variance in lunch recess sport club intention and participation. This may
have the potential to facilitate the transfer of motivation and participation in physical activity from a
physical education to an extracurricular context.
Article 2: Breaking down gender stereotypes: Increasing 5th grade physical education participation by
building self esteem.
In this article, the teacher researcher utilized formal data gathering tools of pre-intervention and
post-intervention student surveys, teacher observations, and student reflections to gauge the students’
feelings and beliefs, both before and after the intervention strategies. The teacher researcher taught
floor hockey and dance, both are where gender stereotyping often occurs. During each unit, the
students watched a movie clip that showed the non-stereotypical genders’ participation in that activity.
The results of showing the students these clips indicated that when it comes to participation in a
stereotypically male or female activity, both male and female students will increase their active
participation and self-esteem. Jeffries (2009) claims that physical education teachers can increase their
students’ action and self-esteem by introducing students to gender-conscious units and by discussing
the gender stereotypes associated with each.
Article 3: A prospective study of participation in optional school physical education using a selfdetermination theory framework.
This study examined whether contextual and personal motivational variables, taken from the
self-determination theory, could predict student cognitive and affective experiences in physical
education. Structural equation modeling analysis with a sample of 302 British adolescents showed that
need support provided by the PE teachers was related to student need satisfaction, which in turn
predicted the self-determined motivation. The findings were that the self-determined motivation
intervention in physical education can enhance student’s positive experiences and participation rates.
Intervention Articles:
Article 1: How to take back control in your urban physical education classes.
Henninger and Coleman (2008) discuss the use of reactive skills to address disruptions in a
physical education class. They found that non-confrontational skills such as soft imperatives, redirection, patience, and humor serve to put a lid on minor disruptions. The definition they gave for soft
imperatives are like invitations to misbehaving students to engage in appropriate behavior. Also,
mentioned in this article is the use of redirection which involves the teacher calmly approaching the
student or students and explain the importance of their participation in the activity to themselves and
the rest of the class. It was found effective to use this intervention with students who were isolating
themselves from participating in certain activities in physical education particularly because they didn’t
feel they were very good at them. The specific behaviors discussed in the article were outbursts, nonparticipation, and off-task.
Article 2: What’s in it for me? An intervention to increase Physical Activity among Adolescents in Physical
Education.
Chase, Vealey, Galli, and Evers (2007) discuss a few different interventions possible to keep
adolescents involved in physical education. The first is called goal mapping. They describe the purpose
of the goal-mapping intervention as to introduce the students to an effective way of developing and
logging individual progress toward physical activity goals. It can allow students to set goals and better
evaluate and adjust them accordingly. By setting individual goals, it is then said that performance will
be enhanced more than by using general goals such as “do your best” or “give 100%.” The behaviors
focused with this intervention are lack of motivation to improve their performance in physical
education.
The next intervention discussed by Chase, Vealey, Galli, and Evers (2007) is referred to as a P3
Thinking. This acronym refers to getting students to think about thoughts that are purposeful,
productive, and focused on possibility. The goal of using this intervention strategy is for students
thinking to be less likely focused on negative thoughts and more in ways that make physical activity
enjoyable. Behaviors targeted here are focused on the unwillingness of students to participate in
physical activity in physical education because they merely don’t have the desire to.
Article 3: Enhancing Motivation in Physical Education.
Alderman, Beighle, and Pangrazi (2006) discuss motivating students to participate in physical
activity and sports for the sheer enjoyment they experience while moving and interacting with their
peers. They say that to increase intrinsic motivation it is important to allow the students the freedom to
make choices during physical education. Based on the authors’ perspective (2006), students who feel
they have more than one activity to choose from are more likely to be motivated to perform the activity
than if they are required to participate in a single activity. This intervention strategy doesn’t particularly
focus on specific behaviors, but can be applied to any type of behavior that results in the lack of
participation in physical education or the occurrence of a student being off-task. Motivation to stay on
task is going to keep a student doing what he or she is supposed to be doing throughout the class
period.
Article 4: Psychology for Physical Educators: Student in Focus.
Liuukkonen talks about goal-setting in his book Psychology for Physical Educators: Student in
Focus (2007). This book considers a number of principles that should be noted. They include: goals
should be specific rather than vague, challenging rather than easy, and controllable by the individual
rather than dependent on others. Also, the book refers to 3 different phases in goal setting: planning
and preparation, education and acquisition, and implementation and follow-up. The information
presented in this book is useful in designing an opportunity to let the student I am focusing on design
their own goals to become more on-task in class.
Article 5: A Model of Contextual Motivation in Physical Education: Using Constructs From SelfDetermination and Achievement Goal Theories to Predict Physical Activity Intentions.
Similar to a goal setting intervention is using a combination of the self-determination theory and
goal setting intervention. Standage, Duda, and Ntoumanis (2003) proposed a model of examining how
these constructs impact self-regulation styles in PE through the mediators of autonomy, competence,
and relatedness. They used structural equation modeling and also examined self-regulations can predict
students’ intention to be physically active in their leisure time. The results found in this study are good
and with a further look at the details in this study, the hope is that parts of this model can be used in my
future intervention.
Intervention Strategy
The behavior I would like to see changed is the amount of time John is spending on-task during
the 30 minutes he is partnered up with his peers. Being on task involves listening to his trainers and
performing the activities he is told. The off-task behavior will be measured by recording each time John
is distracted from doing his activities (usually involves approaching me or the other instructor to talk).
Frequency recording was used to observe the behavior. This proved to be relevant because the goal
was to decrease the frequency of John being off-task by making him more focused on the activities he is
supposed to be engaged in.
The first intervention used was based on intrinsic motivation and the use of foreshadowing to
increase John’s participation. I gave John many different choices of activities to do as well as informed
him that I am keeping track of the amount of times he is off-task, which will result in missing out on the
fun activity at the end of class. This intervention proved to be ineffective, as very little change was
noticed in the data.
As a result of many failed attempts to increase John’s on-task time, the idea of using the goal
mapping intervention paired with a music motivator could be beneficial. This intervention involved
sitting down with John for 5 minutes before each class period and discussing the goals he deemed
appropriate for that day. John was rewarded if the amount of off-task recordings were lower than the
previous day with the choice of picking his favorite song to play at the end of class. If the frequency was
increased from the previous day, John was not able to pick out a song to play at the end of class.
Data Collection: Frequency Recording
Baseline
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Intervention 1
Intervention 2
6
5
6
7
4
5
4
5
6
4
7
8
5
4
2
0
3
2
Intervention Effectiveness
The data provides some evidence that the second intervention was effective based on the
amount of observable days. It proves that for this type of setting, using goal setting in combination with
a motivator can be an effective way to increase a students’ on-task time in physical education. I plan to
continue this intervention strategy to observe whether or not it will continue to increase his
participation in the assigned activities. The motivator will likely have to change as music will probably
not hold up as a good reward forever.
Reflection
After completing the intervention with my student, John, I am excited to see the results. For the
past two years, John would continue to be off-task and it was distracting for him, me, and the rest of the
students. Many different types of interventions were put into place, but the goal mapping in
combination with using a motivator of interest seemed to be the most useful. I don’t think this
intervention strategy will work with all my students, but for those who seem to have the toughest time
staying on-task due to being distracted; this may be a good approach for intervening.
Bibliography
Alderman, B.L; Beighle, A.; & Pangrazi, R.P. (2006). Enhancing Motivation in Physical Education. Journal
of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. 77, 41-45, 51.
Chase, M.; Vealey, R.; Galli, N. & Evers, J. (2007). What’s in it for Me? An Intervention to Increase
Physical Activity Among Adolescents in Physical Education. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation &
Dance, Jan 2007, 78, 1. Pg 34-39.
Henninger, M & Coleman, M. (2008). De-escalation: How to take back control in your urban physical
education classes. Strategies, January/February, 11-14.
Jeffries, C. A. (2009). Breaking Down Gender Stereotypes: Increasing 5th Grade Physical Education
Participation by Building Self Esteem. Online Submission, May, 1-103 p.
Liukkonen, J. (2007). Psychology for Physical Educators: Student in Focus. Human Kinetics.
Ntoumanis, N. (2005). A Prospective Study of Participation in Optional School Physical Education Using a
Self-Determination Theory Framework. Journal of Educational Psychology. 97(3), 444-453.
Standage, M., Duda, J.L., & Ntoumanis, N. (2003). A Model of Contextual Motivation in Physical
Education: Using Constructs From Self-Determination and Achievement Goal Theories to Predict Physical
Activity Intentions. Journal of Educational Psychology. Vol. 95, No. 1, 97-110.
Treasure, D.C & Roberts, R.C. (1995). Applications of Achievement Goal Theory to Physical Education:
Implications for Enhancing Motivation. National Association for Physical Education in Higher Education,
47, 475-489.
Wallhead, T.L., Haggar, M., & Smith, D. T. (2010). Sport Education and Extracurricular Sport
Participation: An Examination Using the Trans-Contextual Model of Motivation. Research Quarterly for
Exercise and Sport. 81(4), 442-455.
Zanovec, M., Johnson, L.G., Marx, B.D., Keenan, M.J. and Tuuri, G. (2009). Self-Reported Physical Activity
Improves Prediction of Body Fatness in Young Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 328-335.