Physical Education Self-Determination Theory Essay

Research has been done on self-determination theory (SDT) that shows self-determined motivation is directly linked to adaptive motivational behaviors. This research showed much promise, but was not well translated or integrated to make physical education (PE) more effective in further learning. Bo Shen, Nate McCaughtry, Jeffrey Martin, and Mariane Fahlman researched the effects of teacher autonomy supporting autonomous motivation on learning through physical education self-determination theory. The article Effects of Teacher Autonomy Support and Students’ Autonomous Motivation on Learning in Physical Education could prove essential in developing effective PE programs to lead to self-determined motivation in other areas of education. This particular study shows promise, but could be improved by expanding the subject pool demographically and by taking more background influences into consideration.
This study included 331 students enrolled in three middle schools from a large inner city school district in the Midwestern U.S. – all schools being demographically similar. In this study, autonomous motivation was measured by calculating the means of three indexes: Teacher Autonomy Support
This study needs improvement on its demographics and information gathering regarding the individual participant’s circumstances. Definitely a wonderful stepping stone to integrate autonomy support with autonomous motivation learning, this article shows promise. By expanding the demographics and evening out race, culture, and ethnicities in study participants, more accurate results could be gathered. Even with room for improvement, Effects of Teacher Autonomy Support and Students’ Autonomous Motivation on Learning in Physical Education is an important