Examination of Important Factors for Effective High School Physical Education Class

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to examine the general concept and hypothetical structure of an effective physical education class in high schools and to important factors (and their sub-components) based on theoretical validity and concrete data. As a result of an examination of content validity and some pre-surveying, four factors (enjoyment, outcome, ways of learning, and cooperation), and 42 items measuring them, were selected. The survey was administered to physical education teachers and students selected at random from high schools in F prefecture. Data from 99 teachers and 938 students were used in the analysis. Accepting various limitations of this study, such as definitions of technical terms, subjects' characteristics, question items, and statistical procedures, the following could be concluded. 1) The four factors stated above which were tentatively selected for this study are valid as factors of effective physical education classes, and similarly, 40 items (Nos. 8 and 26 are the exceptions) could be considered as representative items. 2) A significant difference in six items out of 40 items was found in the ideal ways that teachers and students regard effective physical education classes. That is to say, that teachers and students do not always consider all of the 40 items to be valid in evaluating classes.