The effect of an interdisciplinary Greek traditional dance programme on Middle School students’ goal orientation and anxiety

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of an interdisciplinary program of Greek folk dance, with topics from history and geography on Middle School students’ goal orientation and anxiety level. The sample consisted of 260 students (134 boys &amp; 126 girls). The experimental group (n=144) followed the interdisciplinary four-week program (two lessons per week) while the control group (n=126) followed the corresponding typical physical education program. For the data collection, the questionnaire used was the “Goal orientation” by Papaioannou, Milosis, Kosmidou, and Tsiggilis (2002) and the Greek version (Kakkos &amp; Zervas, 1996) of “Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2” (Martens et al., 1990). The students filled in the questionnaires before and after their participating in each program. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and Repeated Measures ANOVA were used. Results showed that a. Cronbach’s alpha was satisfactory. b. Τhe experimental group decreased significantly the levels of “ego-strengthening” and “ego-protection”, and on the contrary significantly increase the “personal development”, and “social acceptance”. c. Experimental group’s boys and girls decreased their “ego-strengthening” and “ego-protection”, and enhanced their “personal development” and “social acceptance” more than their control group peers. d. The experimental group decreased the levels of somatic and cognitive anxieties and increased significantly their self-confidence. e. male students increased their self-confidence more than female students. These findings support the view that an interdisciplinary program of traditional Greek dance with issues from history and geography enable us to reduce the rates of ego-strengthening, ego-protection, somatic and cognitive anxiety while simultaneously increases students’ personal development, social acceptance, and self-confidence</jats:p>

User Interface Design of Jaipong Dance Applications for Elementary School using the User-Centered Design (UCD) Method

“…Dance learning involves physical activity in groups [6]. Therefore, dance learning is essential in influencing children's social, emotional, and intellectual development [7], well-being, and communicative skills [8]. Introducing dance to children is one way to maintain and preserve culture because it can shape children's values following the nation's culture [9].…”

Participation Motives of Greek Expatriates in the Middle East in Greek Dancing Lessons

“…The motives of participation in Greek dancing lessons and the function of the institutions that operate within this context have been extensively studied. Summarizing the results of various researchers makes it evident that the main motives for participation in Greek dancing lessons are affiliation, stress elimination, escape from everyday routine, dancing skills improvement, physical condition maintenance or even improvement, acquaintance with culture and preservation of the tradition McCleary et al, 2006;Filippou et al, 2009;Zanou et al, 2001;Papaioannidou et al, 2005;Lilou et al, 2010;Rokka et al, 2015;Filippou et al, 2016;Filippou et al, 2020).…”