Motor Skill Development of Students Enrolled in a Sport Education Volleyball Season Delivered by In-Service Physical Education Teachers

Authors

  • Ooksang Cho
  • K. Andrew Richards
  • Bonnie T. Blankenship
  • Alan L. Smith
  • Thomas J. Templin

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate students’ motor skill development through a sport education volleyball season as implemented by in-service teachers with the support of ongoing professional development. Eight teachers (four middle school teachers and four junior high school teachers) and randomly selected students in the sixth grade (middle school; n = 66) and the seventh grade (junior high school; n = 64) at a Midwestern U.S. school corporation participated in this study. A 2-day sport education workshop was provided to the participating teachers, who then developed and taught volleyball lessons to their students using the sport-education model over 6 to 8 weeks with the ongoing support of a university research team. Student motor skill development was measured through a volleyball game of “Keep It Alive,” with volleyball form, communication, movement to the ball, effective play, and total score the focal dependent variables. Volleyball skill was assessed at pre- and postseason. Pre- to postseason change was exhibited in volleyball form, communication, movement to ball, and total score. Change was not dependent on grade or school, though sport education implementation differences were evident across the schools. The results show that sport education can be successfully introduced to and implemented by in-service teachers with benefit to student motor skill development.

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Published

2012-12-14

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Articles