Construction and Practice Research of Campus Sports Culture Environment Based on Peer Education ()
1. Introduction
Under the new era of “Five Educations in Parallel,” college sports play a crucial role in cultivating socialist builders and successors who are well-rounded in morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics, and labor. Peer education, with its characteristics of equality, mutual assistance, and role modeling, provides new ideas for deepening reforms in physical education, aesthetic education, and labor education. As higher education becomes more widespread and society’s demands for talent cultivation quality increase, campus culture construction is receiving increasing attention.
Peer education, an educational model emphasizing student-to-student collaborative learning, holds significant importance in building a positive, vibrant, and energetic campus sports culture. Firstly, peer education enhances students’ learning interest and classroom participation. Research indicates that compared to traditional teacher-centered teaching models, peer education is more effective in stimulating students’ learning motivation and improving learning efficiency [1]. Through group collaboration, peer education provides students with more opportunities for interactive learning and practical application, which is particularly crucial for technically demanding sports like badminton, basketball, and tennis [2]-[4]. Secondly, peer education effectively promotes students’ socialization and cultivates teamwork spirit. Implementing peer education in sports teaching helps students build positive interpersonal relationships, learn how to communicate, collaborate, and solve problems with others, ultimately fostering a strong sense of teamwork and collective honor [5]. Li Guangguo (2016) also pointed out that group learning cultivates students’ cooperation and sharing awareness, making it easier for them to integrate into society [6]. Thirdly, peer education can compensate for the shortage of teacher resources and achieve personalized teaching. In a traditional classroom setting, teachers often struggle to cater to the individual differences of each student. Peer education, however, allows students to form learning groups, where those with stronger learning abilities can assist and guide their peers, facilitating resource sharing and complementary strengths [7].
Of course, the effective implementation of peer education relies on teachers’ scientific guidance and reasonable arrangements. Teachers need to group students scientifically based on their individual differences and establish clear learning objectives and evaluation mechanisms to ensure that every student actively participates in learning activities and benefits from them [8]. As demonstrated in Dai Jindou’s (2014) research, teachers’ guidance and adjustments can effectively enhance students’ cooperative enthusiasm and learning outcomes [9]. In conclusion, peer education is a vital pathway to building a positive campus sports culture. Through mutual learning and shared progress among peers, it effectively elevates students’ learning interest, promotes their socialization, and ultimately fosters a positive, upward, and mutually supportive campus sports culture.
As an integral part of campus culture, campus sports culture plays an irreplaceable role in shaping students’ sound personalities and promoting their holistic development [10]. However, current campus sports culture construction in universities still faces some challenges, such as low student participation, monotonous sports activity formats, and a lack of a strong sports culture atmosphere [10]. To explore effective approaches to enhance campus sports culture construction, academia has conducted in-depth research on the peer education model. Numerous studies have demonstrated the significant achievements of peer education in various areas of higher education, including ideological and political education [11] [12], mental health education [13] [14], freshman adaptation education [15], and general education [16]. Its advantages primarily lie in the following aspects: First, the natural psychological distance between peers is smaller, making it easier to establish trust and achieve higher communication efficiency [14]. Second, peer education emphasizes practicality and experience, enabling educational activities to be conducted in engaging ways that resonate with students [17]. Third, peer groups can provide timely and convenient assistance and support, to a certain extent compensating for the shortage of professional teacher resources [11] [14]. Despite the rich research and achievements in peer education, studies on its application in constructing campus sports culture environments remain relatively scarce. Existing research mainly focuses on the theoretical foundation, implementation pathways, and application effects of peer education in other educational fields, lacking a systematic exploration of how peer education promotes campus sports culture construction. Moreover, current research predominantly relies on qualitative analysis, lacking quantitative studies based on empirical data. This makes it difficult to scientifically and objectively evaluate the mechanisms and impact of peer education on campus sports culture construction.
2. Theoretical Foundation of Peer Education and Campus
Sports Culture Environment Construction
2.1. Definition and Connotation Analysis of Peer Education
Peer education is an educational model that emphasizes student active participation and collaborative learning. Its core lies in promoting learning and development through interaction and mutual assistance among peers. More specifically, peer education refers to students, under the guidance of teachers, forming groups to collaboratively learn teaching content [7]. Through mutual help and encouragement, they work together to complete learning tasks [1]. In this process, students with stronger learning abilities can assist those with weaker abilities, facilitating resource sharing and complementary strengths [7]. Of course, the successful implementation of peer education is inseparable from teachers’ careful design and guidance, including reasonable grouping, clear objectives, and scientific evaluation [8].
Its core lies in utilizing the characteristics and advantages of adolescent groups themselves, promoting individual physical and mental health development and social adaptability improvement through interaction and communication among peers. Peer education is not simply “playing among peers of the same age,” but has clear educational goals and guiding principles. Its theoretical basis mainly stems from the fields of psychology and education.
In terms of psychology, peer education emphasizes the importance of adolescent socialization development and the impact of peer relationships on individual mental health. In terms of education, peer education emphasizes the social, cooperative, and interactive nature of learning, believing that interaction among peers can promote understanding, reflection, and innovation in the learning process.
2.2. Connotation, Structure, and Elements of Campus Sports
Culture Environment
In the field of college sports, the application of peer education mainly manifests in the following aspects.
Sports Skill Training: Utilizing mutual guidance, demonstration, and practice among peers to improve students’ sports skills.
Sports Psychological Regulation: Helping students relieve stress and anxiety brought by sports training and competitions through peer sharing, encouragement, and support.
Sports Rules and Etiquette Education: Helping students understand and abide by sports rules and etiquette, and cultivate good sportsmanship through peer interaction and communication.
Peer education in college sports has the following advantages:
High Student Participation: Peer education emphasizes student subjectivity and participation, which can stimulate students’ learning interest and enthusiasm.
Strong Interactivity: Peer education promotes understanding and trust among students through peer interaction and communication, creating a good learning atmosphere.
Strong Personalization: Peer education can provide personalized learning support and assistance according to individual student differences.
2.3. Inherent Connection between Peer Education and Campus
Sports Culture Environment Construction
Peer education is closely linked to the construction of campus sports culture environment. Peer education can effectively promote the construction of campus sports culture environment and enhance its educational function.
Enriching Campus Sports Culture Activities: Through peer assistance, peer demonstration, and peer support, peer education can enrich the types and content of campus sports culture activities, increasing student participation and enthusiasm.
Improving Campus Sports Culture Atmosphere: Through interaction and communication among peers, a positive and upward campus sports culture atmosphere can be created, enhancing students’ interest and love for sports.
Promoting Campus Sports Culture Inheritance: Through peer inheritance and dissemination, campus sports culture can be better inherited and developed. The mechanism of peer education in the construction of campus sports culture environment mainly manifests in the following aspects.
Promoting Student Self-Value Realization: Through peer interaction and communication, students can better understand themselves, discover their strengths and potential, and realize their self-worth through sports activities.
Enhancing Students’ Social Adaptability: Through peer cooperation and competition, students can learn teamwork, communication and coordination, problem-solving and other social skills, enhancing their social adaptability.
Cultivating Students’ Positive Mental Outlook: Through peer encouragement and support, students can develop a positive and upward mental outlook, enhancing their self-confidence and sense of responsibility.
3. Multi-Dimensional Impact of Peer Education on Campus
Sports Culture Construction
Peer education practices on campus are diverse and multifaceted. For example, in college badminton learning, peers can help and improve each other through cyclical training methods and paired training methods [2]. In high school long-distance running teaching, peers can train in groups, set group goals, encourage each other, and complete tasks together [5]. In a school-wide open physical education class, teacher-guided teamwork allows students to learn cooperation and enhance learning effectiveness during competitions [9]. Moreover, sports like basketball and tennis can also adopt cooperative group approaches, enabling students to learn skills and improve tactical levels through collaboration [3] [4]. In conclusion, peer education in campus sports teaching takes on flexible and diverse forms. Teachers need to design and guide it rationally and effectively based on teaching content and student characteristics.
3.1. Innovation of Sports Teaching Modes
Promoting peer-assisted and group cooperative teaching models, breaking away from the traditional teacher-centered teaching model, and emphasizing students’ subjectivity and interactive learning. In peer-assisted learning, students help and learn from each other, making progress together; group cooperative learning focuses on teamwork, cultivating students’ sense of collectivity and cooperation. By selecting and training outstanding students as “peer coaches” to assist teachers in teaching, teaching efficiency and quality can be effectively improved. “Peer coaches” can not only help other students master sports skills but also subtly convey sportsmanship and values, creating a positive and upward sports learning atmosphere.
This model fully utilizes the advantages of peer education, narrows the distance between students, enhances the fun and interactivity of learning, and thus better constructs a positive and healthy campus sports culture environment. This model can also reduce teachers’ burden and allow teachers to focus more on teaching design and overall guidance, forming a good teaching pattern of teacher guidance and peer assistance.
3.2. Deepening Sports Training Innovation
The training concept of “peer motivation and coach guidance” aims to improve the effectiveness of sports training through mutual encouragement and help among peers.
Different from the traditional single coach guidance model, peer motivation emphasizes the role of encouragement, demonstration, and supervision among peers. Students with stronger abilities can motivate other students to progress together, forming a positive, helpful, and progressive training atmosphere, stimulating students’ training enthusiasm and enhancing training effects.
Encourage cross-project communication and mutual learning. By organizing students from different sports to communicate and learn from each other, sharing training experience and skills, students’ horizons can be broadened, promoting mutual understanding and learning between different projects, and even inspiring new training ideas and methods. Cross-project communication is not only beneficial to the improvement of individual students’ abilities but also promotes the integration and development of campus sports culture, building a more diverse and inclusive sports culture environment. This model breaks down barriers between projects, promotes resource sharing and complementary advantages, thus improving overall training levels.
3.3. Enriching the Connotation of Sports Competitions
Emphasize enriching campus sports culture by organizing multi-level and multi-type sports competitions. Multi-level competitions refer to setting different levels of competitions for students with different sports levels, allowing each student to find a suitable stage to experience the fun of competitive sports and avoid the situation of “one competition decides everything.” Multi-type competitions refer to organizing different forms of sports competitions, such as individual competitions, team competitions, and fun sports meets, to meet students’ diverse needs and increase participation.
Students can participate in the organization, planning, and promotion of competitions, such as serving as referees, volunteers, or cheerleaders. This not only exercises students’ organizational and practical abilities but also enhances their sense of responsibility and collective honor. It further enriches the connotation of sports competitions, making competitions not only a stage for competition but also a platform for students’ comprehensive quality improvement, ultimately promoting the construction of a positive and healthy campus sports culture environment.
3.4. Expanding the Connotation of Sports Culture
Propose “My Sports Role Model” themed education activities, aiming to establish positive and positive sports role models through peer learning and communication, promote sportsmanship, and deepen the connotation of sports culture. Students can share their sports role models, tell stories about them, and discuss their spiritual qualities, thus igniting their own passion for sports and establishing correct sports values. This educational approach based on peers is more easily accepted and identified by students and can better promote the spread and internalization of sports culture.
In addition to traditional publicity methods, it pays more attention to utilizing new media platforms and peer networks for dissemination, such as through WeChat public accounts, campus forums, and club activities, to spread sports culture knowledge, share sports experience, and promote healthy lifestyles. Peer-to-peer word-of-mouth and mutual influence can create a wider dissemination effect, creating a thicker campus sports culture atmosphere, and ultimately building a more diverse, rich, and positive campus sports culture environment.
3.5. Promoting Sports Practice Education
Advocate for organizing sports volunteer services, sports teaching and assistance activities to spread sports culture to a wider social space while enhancing students’ social service capabilities. For example, students can organize or participate in community sports activities, rural sports teaching, and other activities, applying their learned sports knowledge and skills to practice and serve society with love. In the process of practice, students can not only spread sports culture and promote healthy lifestyles but also improve their communication skills, organizational skills, and teamwork skills through interaction with different groups of people.
At the same time, by participating in social practice, students can more deeply understand the social value and cultural significance of sports, enhance their sense of social responsibility and civic awareness. This approach of combining sports practice with social service not only enriches the connotation of the campus sports culture environment but also promotes students’ all-round development and achieves the ultimate goal of sports education.
4. Implementation Strategies for Constructing Campus
Sports Culture Environment Based on Peer Education
4.1. Organizational Guarantee
Establish a sound organizational management system. Specific measures include:
Establish a leading group: Composed of relevant department heads and experts from the school, responsible for the overall planning, coordination, and supervision of the project. Develop management methods: Clearly define the responsibilities and rights of all participating parties, standardize the implementation process and management mechanism of the project, ensuring that the research work is well-organized. Establish a special fund: Provide necessary financial support for various activities of the project, ensuring the smooth progress of the research work. Establish a regular meeting system: Hold project team meetings regularly to summarize experience, solve problems, and ensure the continuous progress of the research.
These organizational guaranteed measures aim to provide a solid backing for the research, ensuring the orderly progress and goal achievement of the research work. By establishing a sound organizational management system, resources from all parties can be effectively mobilized, work efficiency can be improved, and the quality and application value of research results can be ensured, ultimately promoting the construction of campus sports culture environment and the all-round development of college students.
4.2. Sports Teaching Reform
To fully leverage the role of peer education, it is advocated to introduce new models such as peer assistance and demonstration teaching in physical education, breaking through the limitations of traditional teaching and building a more efficient and interactive learning environment. Peer assistance: Encourage students to help and learn from each other, making progress together. In physical education, students can be grouped, allowing stronger students to help weaker students complete learning tasks together. Demonstration teaching: Select outstanding students to demonstrate skills, and other students can observe and learn. This method is closer to students’ perspectives, making it easier to understand and imitate. Introducing these new models can not only improve students’ learning interest and enthusiasm but also cultivate their teamwork and communication skills.
At the same time, interaction and communication among peers can also help create a positive classroom atmosphere, promote mutual understanding and respect among students, and build more harmonious teacher-student and student-student relationships, ultimately promoting the optimization of campus sports culture environment and the all-round development of college students. This is also conducive to giving full play to students’ subjectivity, allowing students to make progress together through mutual assistance learning.
4.3. Sports Training Innovation
Implement the “peer motivation and coach guidance” mechanism to improve the traditional single coach guidance model. Peer motivation refers to encouraging stronger students to motivate and help other students during training, promoting collective improvement. This approach can fully utilize the influence of peers, create a positive training atmosphere, stimulate students’ training enthusiasm, and improve training efficiency. Coaches play a role in guidance and supervision, ensuring the scientific and safe nature of training.
Furthermore, this research also advocates for cross-project communication. By organizing students from different sports to communicate and learn from each other, sharing training experience and skills, students’ horizons can be broadened, promoting mutual learning and integration between different projects. Cross-project communication is not only beneficial to the improvement of individual student abilities but also promotes the exchange and development of campus sports culture, building a more diverse and inclusive sports culture environment, ultimately achieving the goal of sports education.
4.4. Sports Competition Innovation
Promote the establishment of multi-level and multi-type competitions to meet the needs of different students, allowing more students to participate in sports competitions.
Multi-level competitions: Based on students’ sports skills, different levels of competitions are set up, such as entry-level, intermediate level, and professional level, allowing each student to find a suitable stage, experience the fun of competitive sports, and gain a sense of achievement. This avoids the situation of “one competition decides everything,” allowing students of different levels to find their place. Multi-type competitions: Organize different forms of sports competitions, such as individual competitions, team competitions, and fun sports meets, as well as competitions in different sports, such as ball games, track and field events, and water sports, to meet students’ diverse sports needs.
By enriching the types of competitions, more students can be attracted to participate, improving students’ enthusiasm for physical exercise, creating a more active campus sports atmosphere, and ultimately promoting the construction of campus sports culture.
4.5. Sports Culture Construction
Organize various activities such as themed education, creative competitions, and celebrity story-sharing sessions to expand the connotation of sports culture and enhance students’ sports culture literacy. Themed education: Activities can revolve around themes such as sportsmanship, sports ethics, and healthy lifestyles, such as lectures, forums, and exhibitions, guiding students to establish correct sports values. Creative competitions: Encourage students to unleash their creativity through sports-themed creations, such as designing sports cultural works, creating sports-themed songs, and shooting sports micro-films, stimulating students’ innovative spirit and practical abilities. Celebrity story-sharing sessions: Invite outstanding individuals from the sports world or outstanding alumni to share their growth experiences and sports stories, inspiring students with the power of example and promoting sportsmanship.
By holding diverse and content-rich sports culture activities, students’ sense of identity and belonging to sports culture can be strengthened, creating a strong campus sports culture atmosphere, promoting the construction of a positive and healthy campus sports culture environment, and ultimately promoting the all-round development of college students. These activities can also promote peer interaction and learning, enhancing campus cohesion.
4.6. Sports Social Practice
Organize various forms of sports social practice activities such as sports volunteering, surveys and research, and innovation and entrepreneurship. This will expand students’ practical experience and enhance their sense of social responsibility and service capabilities. Sports Volunteering: This can include organizing community sports activities and providing volunteer services for large-scale sporting events. By participating in volunteer services, students can apply their learned sports knowledge and skills in practice, serving society and contributing to the community. Surveys and Research: This can focus on areas such as the current status of sports development, trends in the sports industry, and community sports needs, cultivating students’ research and analytical abilities. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Encourage students to combine sports with innovation and entrepreneurship, such as developing sports apps, designing sports equipment, and establishing sports training institutions, cultivating students’ innovative spirit and entrepreneurial awareness.
Through participation in these sports social practice activities, students can not only improve their professional skills and practical abilities but also enhance their sense of social responsibility and civic awareness. They can gain a deeper understanding of the social value and cultural significance of sports, ultimately promoting the construction of campus sports culture and the all-round development of college students.
These practices can also promote peer cooperation and communication, enhancing teamwork spirit.
This research aims to explore strategies for constructing a campus sports culture environment based on peer education and enhance the influence of peer education through six aspects: organizational support, teaching reform, training innovation, competition innovation, cultural construction, and social practice. Specifically, a dedicated leadership group will be established to formulate management measures and provide organizational and institutional support. In teaching, new models such as peer assistance and demonstration teaching will be introduced, encouraging students to help each other and progress together. In training, a “peer-driven, coach-guided” mechanism will be implemented, along with cross-project exchanges to broaden students’ horizons.
In competitions, multi-level and multi-type events will be organized to meet students’ diverse sports needs. In cultural construction, themed education, creative competitions, and celebrity story-sharing sessions will be held to strengthen students’ identification with sports culture. In social practice, activities such as sports volunteer services, surveys, and innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives will be organized to enhance students’ social responsibility. Through these measures, a vibrant, positive, and mutually supportive campus sports culture environment will be built, ultimately promoting the holistic development of university students.
5. Conclusion and Outlook
5.1. Conclusion
This research constructs a theoretical framework for constructing campus sports culture environment from the perspective of peer education. By summarizing the relevant theories of peer education and campus sports culture environment construction, this study clarifies the connotation, characteristics, and application advantages of peer education in the field of college sports. It also explains the components, educational functions, and implementation paths of campus sports culture environment.
The research finds that peer education and the construction of campus sports culture environment have a close internal connection. Peer education can effectively promote the optimization of campus sports culture environment and enhance its educational function. Peer education emphasizes the concepts of equality, mutual assistance, and cooperation, which are highly consistent with the values advocated by campus sports culture, such as teamwork, fair competition, and positive outlook, injecting new vitality into campus sports culture construction.
Secondly, this research explores practical paths for constructing campus sports culture environment based on peer education. The study proposes specific strategies for integrating peer education concepts in five aspects: sports teaching, sports training, sports competitions, sports culture construction, and sports social practice. In sports teaching, new models such as peer assistance and demonstration teaching are introduced, encouraging students to serve as “peer coaches,” improving students’ learning interest and participation. In sports training, the “peer motivation and coach guidance” mechanism is implemented, and cross-project communication is carried out, creating a positive training atmosphere. In sports competitions, multi-level and multi-type competitions are organized, leveraging the role of peers and enriching campus sports life. In sports culture construction, themed education, creative competitions, and celebrity story-sharing sessions are held, expanding the connotation of sports culture. In sports social practice, activities such as sports volunteering, surveys, and innovation and entrepreneurship are organized, enhancing students’ social service capabilities. These practical paths provide operable solutions for colleges to implement peer education and build a positive and healthy campus sports culture environment.
Finally, this research reveals the multi-dimensional influence of campus sports culture environment on college student development and the promoting role of peer education. The study finds that a positive and healthy campus sports culture environment can promote students’ physical and mental health, improve sports skills, cultivate teamwork spirit, enhance social adaptability, and positively influence students’ values and personality development. The integration of peer education can further amplify the educational function of the campus sports culture environment. Peer interaction, demonstration, and support can enhance students’ learning motivation and participation enthusiasm, promote mutual understanding and respect among students, and create a harmonious campus atmosphere, thereby better promoting the all-round development of college students.
This research highlights that universities bear significant responsibilities in constructing a peer education-based campus sports culture environment, including establishing organizational support systems, driving reform and innovation, and providing resource support. Specifically, a leadership group composed of school department heads and experts will be responsible for the overall planning, coordination, and supervision of the project. They will provide institutional and financial support through the development of management measures and the establishment of dedicated funds. Meanwhile, physical education teachers play a crucial role in teaching, training, and competitions. They need to actively incorporate peer education concepts, design appropriate teaching plans, and provide effective guidance and evaluation throughout students’ learning process. Furthermore, outstanding students take on the roles of “peer coaches” and “role models,” motivating and assisting other students in creating a positive and upward-trending sports learning atmosphere. In conclusion, the implementation of peer education requires multi-party participation from universities, teachers, and students to form a synergistic force. Only then can a positive and healthy campus sports culture environment be effectively built, ultimately promoting the holistic development of university students.
5.2. Outlook on Future Research Directions
Future research should focus on the differentiated application of peer education in the construction of sports culture environments in different universities. Different types of universities have different sports culture environments and student needs, so targeted research should be conducted on comprehensive universities, normal universities, and sports universities, among others, to develop more targeted peer education application strategies. For example, research could explore the acceptance of peer education among students in different universities, the characteristics of their sports culture environments, and the applicability of peer education, ultimately constructing more targeted and effective peer education models.
Furthermore, it is crucial to strengthen the construction of an evaluation system for peer education and campus sports culture environment building. Currently, there is a lack of a scientific and standardized index system to evaluate the effectiveness of peer education and assess the campus sports culture environment. In the future, a multi-dimensional evaluation system can be built, encompassing indicators such as peer interaction quality, sports culture atmosphere, and student physical literacy. This system should be adjusted and improved according to the specific circumstances of different universities to more accurately measure the implementation effects of peer education and the construction level of the campus sports culture environment.
Moreover, in-depth exploration is needed on the role mechanism of peer education in promoting the improvement of college students’ physical literacy. Physical literacy is an essential component of college students’ overall development. Future research can delve into the influence mechanism of peer education on college students’ physical skills, knowledge, awareness, and spirit. For example, analyze how peer interaction affects students’ motivation to learn sports, how peer demonstration promotes the mastery of sports skills, and how peer support shapes students’ sports values. By clarifying these mechanisms, the role of peer education in promoting the improvement of college students’ physical literacy can be better leveraged, ultimately achieving the goal of physical education. For instance, further research can investigate the different impacts of various types of peer interaction on college students’ physical literacy and explore how to optimize peer interaction models to maximize their positive effects.
Funding
Higher Education Teaching Reform Research Project at Zhejiang Yuexiu University “Construction and Practice Research of Campus Sports Culture Environment Based on Peer Education” (2405120004).
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest.