5This study investigated the effectiveness of a creative physical education (CPE) intervention on 6 students' perceptions of motivational climate in physical education (PE), leisure-time physical 7 activity (PA) motivation, and overall PA. A sample of 382 fourth to sixth grade students (Mage = 8 10.87[.93]) from two elementary schools were assigned to the CPE intervention (n = 196; Mage = 9 10.84[.95]) and control 'PE-as-usual' (n = 186; Mage = 10.90[.90]) groups. Students' perceived 10 task-and ego-supportive climate in PE, leisure-time PA motivation, and overall PA were 11 measured before and after the one-year intervention. Analyses of covariance and path analyses 12 were implemented to test the effectiveness of the intervention. The intervention had a positive 13 effect on students' perceptions of task-supportive climate in PE (p<.001) and a negative effect 14 on ego-supportive climate (p<.001). Students' perceptions of task-supportive climate had a 15 positive effect on their leisure-time PA motivation (p<.001), which, in turn, had a positive effect 16 on their overall PA (p<.001). The results suggest that CPE-based PE may increase students' 17 perceptions of task-supportive climate in PE, which predicts their later leisure-time PA 18 motivation outside the school context and overall PA. 19 20 Keywords: child-centered approach, motivational climate, school physical education, models-21 based practice 22Education (Hastie, 2011;Siedentop, 1998). However there is limited evidence of the ways these 46 model-based practices impact students' PA participation. Models are useful pedagogical tools 47 but should not be accepted uncritically. As Landi et al. (2016) have highlighted, citing Jewett and 48 Bain (1985, p. 81), "physical educators should be cognizant that each model 'makes assumptions 49 about human beings, the role of education in society and the nature of subject matter in physical 50 education'" (p. 402). A model developed from a theoretical position that takes these 51 considerations into direct account is Creative PE (CPE; Quay et al., 2016; Peters, 52 2008, 2012). 53 CPE is founded in an existential framework that marries phenomenological-ontological 54 and pragmatic interpretations of experience and applies this to education (Quay, 2013(Quay, , 2015. 55This existential framework enables CPE to offer a more developed conception of child-centered 56 pedagogy, one that embeds both curriculum and pedagogy in ontology. Noting that Finnish 57 teachers of PE tend to use more teacher-centered pedagogies (Jaakkola and Watt, 2011), we 58 hypothesize that CPE should positively impact students' PA participation, a hypothesis this study 59 investigated by testing the effect of a CPE intervention on Finnish elementary school students' 60 perceptions of motivational climate in PE, their leisure-time PA motivation, and overall PA. 61 62 Motivation and physical activity 63This study was guided by two postulations: (1) PE students' perceptions of their 64 psychological environment (i.e. motivational climate) wi...

The study examined the role of motivation in students’ performance and engagement in elementary and middle school physical education. Cross-lagged relationships between performance and engagement were investigated across Grades 6–9. A total of 763 (365 girls, 398 boys) Finnish school students (11- to 12-year old) were followed across three years. Students’ expectancy beliefs, attainment, intrinsic interest, utility value, and effort were measured using self-report questionnaires, whereas grades were retrieved from the school records. The study showed expectancy beliefs and intrinsic interest values to explain performance, whereas attainment values for girls and intrinsic interest value for boys facilitated the engagement. Although girls and boys were differently motivated, these differences were stable across time. This study supports the utility of the Expectancy-Values Model as a framework to understand motivation. We recommend educators to facilitate students’ expectancy beliefs, importance, and intrinsic interest to increase students’ performance and engagement in school physical education.

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Using a cross-sectional study design, we tested a structural equation model of hypothesized relationships among a group of variables: motivational climate in physical education (PE), students’ social competence in PE, out of-school physical activity (PA) motivation, PA intention and their moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). Based on the self-reports of 363 fourth to sixth grade elementary school students (172 girls, 191 boys), the model revealed that the task-involving motivational climate in PE was linked to higher MVPA via cooperation in PE, and also via extrinsic motivation and PA intention. Ego-involving motivational climate was related to higher extrinsic motivation and amotivation, further to higher PA intention and, finally, to higher MVPA. Task-involving motivational climate was positively linked to students’ social competence markers of cooperation and empathy, and negatively to disruptiveness. Ego-involving motivational climate was positively related to disruptiveness and impulsivity, the markers of low social competence. The study showed that the motivational climate and co-operational aspect of social competence both played significant roles in students’ PA motivation, PA intention and MVPA. A pedagogical model that brings the learning of social competence relevant skills to the fore is creative physical education (CPE). Analysis of CPE is provided which highlights teaching behaviors which contribute to the students’ MVPA through motivational climates, co-operation, PA motivation and PA intention.

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