ABSTRACT
Sport education is a curriculum and
instructional model designed to offer authentic, educationally rich sport
experiences for girls and boys in the context of school physical education
(Siedentop, 1994; Siedentop, Hastie, & Van der Mars, 2004). The literature
on sport education suggests that most of the studies examining its effectiveness are
within middle or secondary schools and there are fewer studies on the
perceptions or representations of the model by students in primary settings
(Hastie, Ojeba, & Luquin, 2011; Kinchin,
2006; Wallhead & O’Sullivan, 2005). This study presents findings related to primary students’
representations and practices of sport education. More specifically, the purpose of this
study was to explore and describe Greek-Cypriot students’ perceptions and experiences of a basketball season that followed a sport
education format. Twenty-two (22) year—6 students (11- to
12-year-old), 12 boys and 10 girls, from a public primary school in Cyprus, participated in the
sport education unit which lasted thirteen (13) lessons. Data were collected
through interviews,
questionnaires, observations, and documents (unit and lesson plans) and were later analysed
inductively (Patton, 2001). Results
suggested that students in this study were successfully affiliated within their
teams and appropriate opportunities were created for autonomous and meaningful
learning. In addition, findings revealed that during the lessons there was a joyful and
positive atmosphere which enabled all members to work hard as a whole in order
to achieve their goals. Based on our results we have drawn the following two
conclusions: first, the model of sport education enhanced the level of
participation and motivation of students towards physical education; se- cond,
the participants in this study encountered meaningful learning experiences
during the implementation of the sport education model.