No abstract

This study examined the relationship between achievement goals and social goals and explored how students’ achievement goals and social goals might affect their reported persistence and effort expended toward physical education in high school settings. Participants were 544 students from two high schools in the southwest U.S. Multiple regression analysis revealed that social responsibility goals represented the greatest contributor to students’ expenditure of persistence and effort toward physical education. This was followed by mastery-approach goals, mastery-avoidance goals, and performance-approach goals. In addition, girls reported significantly higher values on both social-relationship goals and responsibility goals than did boys. Findings revealed that students had multiple goals for wanting to succeed in physical education; using both achievement goals and social goals when studying student motivation and achievement in high school physical education settings is recommend.

Achievement goal theory and the expectancy-value model of achievement choice were used to examine fourth-grade students' motivational changes in an elementary physical education running program. In fall and spring of the school year, participants (N = 113; 66 boys, 47 girls) completed questionnaires assessing achievement goals, expectancy beliefs, subjective task values, and intention for future running participation. They also completed a timed 1-mile (1.6 km) run. The number of laps they ran/walked during the school year was used to assess students' persistence/effort. Results indicated the students improved their run but became less motivated about running while participating in a year-long running program. Children's beliefs about how good they were in the running program (i.e., expectancy beliefs) and their perceptions of how interesting and fun it was (i.e., interest) emerged as the strongest positive predictors of their motivation for running over time. These findings provide strong empirical evidence that expectancy beliefs and interest are essential to children's motivation in elementary physical education.

Using Achievement Goal Theory as a theoretical framework, this study examined an elementary physical education running program called Roadrunners and assessed relationships among achievement goals, perceived motivational climate, and student achievement behavior. Roadrunners promotes cardiovascular health, physical active lifestyles, and mastery behaviors such as persistence and effort. Students were required to run/walk once a week during the school year in their regularly scheduled physical education classes. Participants included 116 fourth graders (67 boys, 49 girls), who participated in Roadrunners since kindergarten. Near the end of spring semester, students completed a 36‐item questionnaire assessing achievement goals and perceived motivational climate of Roadrunners. Student persistence/effort was assessed by the number of run/walk laps over the year‐long program. Performance was measured by a timed, one‐mile run. Results revealed the mastery goal related positively to student persistence/effort for Roadrunners and to their one‐mile run performance. Interaction between the mastery goal and perception of a mastery‐focused climate emerged as a positive predictor of student one‐mile run performance. Results provided additional empirical support for mastery goals and perceptions of a mastery‐focused climate as beneficial to student motivation and learning.