CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE Non-Traditional Activities and Their Influence on Middle School Physical Education Students' Situational Interest A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Science in Kinesiology By John Mercer May 2011 This thesis of John Mercer is approved by: ) Date Date' California State University, Northridge 11 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to the friends and family that I, unfortunately, have not been able to spend nearly enough time with over the past year. Most importantly, this work is dedicated to the two most influential people in my life: my Mom, Lisa and my Grandpa, Raymond. The indelible mark you have left on my life motivates me to this day. You are missed more than words can ever express. 111 Acknowledgements I want to thank my committee for all their encouragement, support, and feedback that brought this project to fruition; Dr. Abourezk, Dr. Romack, and Dr. Sariscsany. I have such admiration for the work you've done. The opportunities, insight, and motivation that you have provided me is greatly appreciated. Hopefully I can give back to the field a fraction of what you've given me. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Vrongistinos for his valuable contributions to the data analysis. Last but certainly not least, I want to thank my friends for their words of advice, the ability to provide a good laugh, reminding me to stay 'H', and the unexpected statistics about New Hampshire or home runs. You have made the past year more enjoyable than I ever could have imagined. lV Table of Contents Signature Page...................................................................... 11 Dedication. .. 11I Acknowledgements...................................................................... IV List of Figures........................................................................... VI Abstract. .. .. .. vn Introduction........................... 1 Review of Literature. 3 Interest .................................................................... 5 Situational Interest ........................................................... 7 Situational Interest in Physical Education.>: .............................. 9 Non-Traditional Activities ................................................... 11 Purpose ..................................................................... 13 Methods .............................................................................. 14 Setting ........................................................................ 14 Participants .................................................................. 17 Data Collection...... 19 One-on-One Interviews.................................................... 19 Field Observations ......................................... , ................ 20 Situational Interest Scale Questionnaire ................................. 20 Data Analysis-........................................................................ 21 Qualitative .................................................................. 21 Quantitative ................................................................. 22 Results ................................................................................ 24 Instant Enjoyment ......................................................... 24 Attention Demand......................................................... 35 Exploration Intention..................................................... 42 Novelty ...................................................................... 49 Challenge. 51 Variety ...................................................................... 57 Discussion........... 60 Limitations.......................................................................... 70 References. 72 Appendix A............. 77 Appendix B......................................................................... 80 Appendix C .......................................... , . 82 Appendix D......................................................................... 83 Appendix E ........ -. 84 Appendix F .......................-................................................... 86 Appendix G... 87 v Appendix H........................................................................... 90 Appendix I. .. 91 Vl List of Tables Table 1- Descriptive Statistics eighth grade students (Period A).......... 32 Table 2- Descriptive Statistics seventh grade students (Period B)......... 33 Table 3- Descriptive Statistics seventh grade students (Period C)......... 34 Table 4- Grand Means among classes and questionnaires................... 41 Table 5- Multivariate Tests; Between and Within Subjects................. 46 Table 6- Post Hoc Multiple Comparisons Test............................... 47 Vll Abstract Non-Traditional Activities and Their Influence on Middle School.Physical Education Students' Situational Interest By John Mercer Master of Science in Kinesiology With the ever decreasing interest level of students in physical education and the repetitive learning tasks that are often associated with the curriculum we sought to investigate the impact of non-traditional activities on Situational Interest. Situational Interest is a multi-faceted construct that derives from the relationship between a person and an activity. As practitioners strive to enhance the interest level of students in physical education examining the appealing characteristics that a learning task might offer has the ability to create an environment that evokes Situational Interest. The purpose was to study the impact of non-traditional activities in a traditional physical education environment and the effect on Situational Interest and its individual measures. Data collection included interviews, observations, and the use of a questionnaire. The results suggest that a curriculum that emphasizes variety, provides novel learning tasks, and utilizes activities that are high in cognitive and physical demand have the ability to enhance Situational Interest and its individual characteristics. Providing meaningful learning experiences in physical education is essential to enhancing the interest levels of students and understanding the impact that a "new" physical education program has on Situational Interest is essential to the development of the activities in physical education. Vlll Introduction Interest has the power to motivate the learner to pursue the outcome of knowing and promote pleasant emotional responses (Dewey, 1913), and the consistent decline of interest levels adds to the disengagement of students in physical education (Ennis et al., 1997). A primary purpose of enhancing interest is to boost learning, regardless of content or subject matter. With obesity rates on the rise and activity levels falling annually (CDC, 2008) the public is becoming cognizant of the need for students to learn and value I physical activity. Because American teens and children spend about 32.5 hours a week at school (Juster, Ono, & Stafford, 2004) it would seem that physical education is an ideal environment to help meet these needs. Physical education comes under much scrutiny because it frequently fails to provide meaningful learning experiences. Many physical education programs offer a very limited cirricula that fails to meet the needs and desires of students (Pennington, 1999). It is often addressed as the "business as usual" approach to physical education where programs offer a traditional sport and exercise curriculum (Ennis, 2007). Some students see no purpose for physical education and consistently mention boredom, repetition, and lack of meaningful work as being responsible for dislike (Carlson, 1995). Situations that seem un-meaningful to students can lead them to withdraw from class mentally and physically. These same emotional responses and reasons for dislike have been prevalent in physical education for decades (Ennis et al., 1997; Carlson, 1995; Pennington, 1999; Chen and Ennis, 2004) The physical education curriculum is often overlooked by teachers, parents, and administrators as a determinant for students' lack of motivation and interest. Further 1 investigation into the curriculum and its individual learning tasks can help practitioners better understand the concept of interest and how it can be impacted by the activities provided in physical education. 2 Review ofLiterature The largest decrease in children's physical activity is taking place between the ages of9-15 years (CDC, 2008; Nader, Bradley, Houts, McRitchie, & O'Brian, 2008). The longitudinal study measuring physical activity levels in children from ages 9-15 found that at 9 years the majority of children were above the CDC (2008) recommended · 60 minutes of Moderate to Vigorous Activity (MVPA) per day. By the age of 15 only 32% of children met those guidelines on weekdays and only 18% on weekends. During this time the majority of the population is enrolled in middle or high school and children spend over half their day at school. With69.3% of elementary schools, 83.9% of middle schools, and 95.2% ofhigh schools requiring students to enroll in physical education (CDC, 2007) this environment seems ideal for students to learn about and value physical activity. The American Heart Association (2009) recommends at least 225 minutes per week of quality physical education which equates to 45 minutes per day. Along with this decrease in physical activity there is a significant increase in obesity among adolescents. Obesity rates among adolescents, age 12-19, in the United States has more than