It is evident that secondary physical education students are not meeting the overarching goals of PE programs, are less motivated and demonstrate negative effects while in class.
How can we motivate students using the Self-Determination Theory (Darci & Ryan, 1985) in a Physical Education setting.
This theory suggests that there are three psychological needs that are essential for healthy and effective functioning. The needs are autonomy (the ability to give input or participate in self-endorsed activities), competence (need to effectively interact with one’s environment and yield wanted effects and outcomes), and relatedness (need to feel connected and accepted by others). When these three needs are satisfied, the result is self-determined motivation. (Deci & Ryan 1991)
According to the World Health Organization and Canadian recommendations, to derive health benefits, children and youth should have at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day (Statistics Canada, 2015). However, the Canadian Health Measure Survey (CHMS) concluded that 7% of children and youth actually attain this level of activity. Looking at these statistics as a physical education teacher, it reiterates the importance of motivating our students to be physically active while in the class period because it may be the only time some students are exposed to activity.
I want to implement this theory at the beginning of my practicum and compare the results with their “Arena” program in which students decide which activities or units they participate in for March, April and May. In conducting my inquiry I hope to find that this notion of motivation is positively linked to an increase in autonomy, relatedness and competency. “There are three things to remember about education. The first is motivation. The second is motivation. The third is motivation” (Terell H. Bell).