Examining the Attitudes of the Students of Anatolian High Schools and Other High Schools towards Physical Education Classes

Examining the Attitudes of the Students of Anatolian High Schools and Other High Schools towards Physical Education Classes Mustafa ALTINKÖK Akdeniz University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Physical Education Teaching Department E-mail: mustafaaltinkok@akdeniz.edu.tr Abstract This study was conducted to determine the attitudes of high school students towards physical education classes. The sampling of the study consisted of 217 female and 217 male students (a total of 434 students) who were studying at 9 th, 10 th, 11 th and 12 th Grades of Anatolian High schools and in other high schools that were later converted into Anatolian high schools. The Physical Education Classes Attitude Scale, which was developed by Güllü and Güçlü in 2009, was used in order to determine the attitudes of the students towards Physical Education Classes. The scale consisted of 35 items and the validity and reliability studies of it were conducted. The students participated in the study voluntarily. The statistical package program was used to analyze the data and to find the computed values in the study. In order to determine the distribution of the variables, the frequency and percentage values were used. The t Test for Independent Variables was used in order to reveal the differences between the variables. The One-Way variance analysis, post-hoc Scheffe and Levene s Tests were used to find the relation between the parameters. It was determined in the study that the movement education, extracurricular social and sports activities, the contents and application styles of physical education classes, the viewpoint on physical education classes, the attitudes that are transferred from previous learning-teaching medium, and the differences in regional sports culture influence the attitudes of the high school students towards physical education classes in a positive or negative manner. Key Words: Physical Education, Attitude, Physical Education Class Attitudes, High School Education 1.INTRODUCTION It is already known to be extremely important that physical education classes, which constitute an indispensable part of education, should be revised in the light of the expectations of the individuals, the society and the subject area. It is also well-known that Physical Education classes not only ensure activity at schools but also contribute to the development of the conditions to live together, and to the bodily, mental, emotional and social development of the individuals. Humans need activity in order to sustain their lives in a healthier and quality way. The children who are at the age of attending school try to reach targets that differ according to their age groups. It has been reported in several studies that these targets include health, fitness, entertainment, influencing and being influenced, aesthetics, shaping he body, performance, self-confidence, adventure, being social, recreation, etc. It is expected that core idea of sports, which changes the sports education, human lifestyle, culture, viewpoint and morality of modern educational approaches, will also change the manner of education as well. It has been reported that more qualified, more human-centered, brain-centered and more social inclinations constitute the thinking styles of the modern educational models (Erdemli, 1990; Pangrazi, 2001; Gallahue & Donnelly, 2003; Kasap, 2010; Altınkök, 2012). Basically, physical education and sports fulfill the bodily, mental and emotional development of individuals as well as the function of socializing together with the influence of environmental factors during the educational process; and therefore, physical education and sports may be defined as the planned activities that supplement the general education. It is considered that the actual purpose of the movement education and Physical Education, which have a great importance in general education, is to help children to be educated through physical activities, bring their movement capacity to upper levels, and make them accepted by the social environment (CDC, 2004; AAP, 2000; Pate et al., 2002; McKenzie, 2003). It is also considered that many factors like previous experiences, the viewpoint to activity, and the considerations of social environment are reflected to the learning-teaching medium and to the physical education classes by the individual when s/he is included in the physical activities. Attitude is the negative or positive evaluation of an individual for an object (Franzoi, 2003). The attitudes of the students being positive for Physical Education classes may facilitate the teaching of the classes in a more productive manner and reaching the targets of the class or ensuring that the students participate voluntarily in various future activities (Silverman & Scrabis, 2004). 611

The Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study was to investigate the attitudes of the high school students towards Physical Education classes in terms of some variables like gender, school center and doing exercises, examine the relation levels among classes, and to determine the positive or negative attitudes developed by high school students towards Physical Education classes. The Problem of the Study When the fact that the attitudes of the high school students, who are at puberty age, towards Physical Education classes have been already shaped at a great deal is considered, what kind of regulations can be made to revise the Physical Education classes in high schools in Turkey after determining the direction and severity of the attitudes of the students towards Physical Education classes? 2.METHOD The Method of the Study The Descriptive Method and the Questionnaire Model have been employed in the study. This method and the model are among the scientific research models that intend to define and classify a certain type of behavior and to determine its relations with the other behaviors with the help of present experiences (Kaptan, 1991; Büyüköztürk et al, 2008; Ekiz, 2009; Sönmez & Alacapınar, 2013; Fowler, 2013). The Population and the Sampling of the Study The sampling of the study consisted of 434 students 217 of whom were male and 217 of whom were female selected randomly from the 9 th, 10 th, 11 th and 12 th Grades of Normal High schools and Anatolian High schools. The sampling of the study was organized in such a structure that would represent the study population and allow the generalization of it. The Data Collection Tools The Physical Education Class Attitude Scale (Güllü & Güçlü, 2009) was used in order to determine the attitudes of the students, who participated in the study, towards Physical Education classes. The validity and reliability studies of the scale were previously performed. The Physical Education Class Attitude Scale consisted of a total of 35 items 24 of which were positive and 11 of which were negative (Items 3, 17, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 34, 35). The Scale was designed in the 5-Point Likert style as (1) I do not totally agree, (2) I do not agree, (3) I am indecisive, (4) I agree, and (5) I totally agree. The lowest point that might be received from the scale was 35, and the highest point was 175. The Internal Consistency Coefficient (Cronbach Alfa) coefficient was investigated to determine the reliability of the scale with an interval of 45 days with the test-retest method. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient that was obtained with the application of the scale to 600 individuals was determined to be 0,94; and the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was determined as 0,80. According to the specialists, the alpha coefficient has to be between 0,80 and 1, and the correlation coefficient must be at least 0,70 in order for a scale to be accepted as reliable (Alpar, 2001; Tavşancıl 2002). The Collection of the Data The data to determine the attitudes of the high school students towards Physical Education classes were collected with Physical Education Class Attitude Scale from 434 students 217 of whom were male and 217 were female studying at 9 th, 10 th, 11 th, 12 th Grades of Normal and Anatolian High Schools in Physical Education classes in the first week of the spring semester. The Analysis of the Data The statistical package program was used in evaluating the data and in finding the computed values. The frequency and percentage values were used to determine the distribution of the gender, school type, grades and exercise status; the t test for Independent Samples was used to determine the differences between the points of the Physical Education Class Attitude Scale in terms of gender, school type and doing or not doing exercise variables; the One-Way Variance Analyses was applied to find the relation between the attitude parameters at 612

grade level; and the Levene s tests were used to determine the normality of the distributions to apply the posthoc Scheffe test. 3.FINDINGS The findings obtained with the frequency values and percentage statistical computing methods are as follows. Table 1. The Frequency and Percentage Values for the Gender, School Type and Exercise Status Gender Frequency % School Type Frequency % Exercise Status Frequency % Female 217 50 Anatolian High School 216 49,8 Doing Exercises 229 52,8 Male 217 50 Normal High School 218 50,2 Not Doing Exercises 205 47,2 Total 434 100 434 100 46 100 In the table above, when the frequency values on the gender variable are considered, it is observed that there are 217 female students, and they constitute 50% of the sampling, and there are 217 male students and they constitute 50% of the sampling. When the frequency values on school types are evaluated it is observed that there are 216 students from Anatolian High Schools, and they constitute 49,8% of the sampling; and there are 218 students from Normal High Schools, and constitute 50,2% of the sampling. When the frequency values on school types are evaluated according to the exercise status variable it is observed that the group who does exercises consist of 229 students and constitute 52,8% of the sampling, and the group who does not do exercises consist of 205 students and constitute 47,2% of the sampling. Table 2. The Frequency and Percentage Values for Grade Variable Grade Frequency % 9. Grade 108 24,9 10. Grade 108 24,9 11. Grade 108 24,9 12. Grade 110 25,3 Total 434 100 When the frequency values on school types given in the table above are evaluated according to the grade variable it is observed that there are 108 students at the 9 th Grade, and constitute 24,9% of the sampling, there are 108 students at the 10 th grade and constitute 24,9% of the sampling, and there are 108 students in the 11 th grade and constitute 24,9% of the sampling, and there are 110 students in the 12 th Grade and constitute 25,3% of the sampling. The results of the Independent t Test conducted to determine whether the Physical Education Classes Attitude Scale points of the students vary according to the gender, school type, and exercise status of the students. Table 3. The results of the Independent t Test conducted to determine whether the Physical Education Classes Attitude Scale points vary according to the gender of the students. t Test Point Groups N Ave. SD T SD p Male 217 116,83 8,371 Attitude 1,193 432,011 Female 217 112,91 13,554 As it is observed in the table, the difference between the arithmetic averages of the Physical Education Classes Attitude Scale points of the students vary according to the gender variable and is statistically significant (t=1,193; p<,01). The difference is in favor of the male students. Table 4. The results of the Independent t Test conducted to determine whether the Physical Education Classes Attitude Scale points of the students vary according to the school type of the students. t Test Point School Type N Ave. SD t SD P Anatolian High School 216 108,75 13,848 Attitude 2,119 432,035 Normal High School 218 111,40 12,131 As it is observed in the table, the difference between the arithmetic averages of the Physical Education Classes Attitude Scale points of the students, who constituted the sampling, vary according to the school type variable 613

and is statistically significant (t=2,119; p<,05). The difference is in favor of the students from Normal High School. Table 5. The Results of the Independent Group t Test conducted to determine whether the attitude scale points of the students in Physical Education classes vary according to the doing or not doing exercise variable t Test Point Exercise N Ave. SD t SD P Doing 229 115,30 10,089 Attitude 9,533 432,000 Not doing 205 104,25 13,563 As it is observed in the table, the difference between the attitude points of the students, who constitute the sampling, in Physical Education Classes according to the exercise variable was found to be statistically significant (t=9,533; p<,01). The difference is in favor of the students who do exercises. The Results of the One-Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA) that is applied in order to find whether Physical Education Class Attitude Points vary according to the grades of the students. Table 6. The Results of One-Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA) applied in order to find whether the Physical Education classes attitude scale points vary according to the grade variable f x ss, and Values ANOVA Results Point Group Var. K. 9. Grade 108 116,75 8,59 Intergroup 6813,029 3 2271,010 10. Grade 108 107,89 12,69 Intragroup 67113,148 430 156,077 Attitude 14,551,000 11. Grade 108 109,26 15,81 Total 73926,177 433 12. Grade 110 106,49 11,81 As it may be observed in the table, One-Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA) was applied in order to determine whether the difference between the arithmetic average points of the students in Physical Education classes vary according to the Grade variable or not, and the difference between the arithmetic values of the Grade Groups is statistically significant (F=14,551; 01). After this process, the Complementary Post-Hoc Analysis Techniques were applied in order to determine which group caused the significant difference, which was determined after ANOVA. N x ss KT Sd KO F p In order to decide which Post-Hoc Comparison Technique would be used after the One-Way Analysis, first of all, it was tested whether the group distribution variations were homogenous or not with Levene s test, and it was determined that the variances were homogenous (LF=0,347;05). Then, the Scheffe Multiple Comparison Technique, which is used commonly in case the variances are homogenous, was preferred. Another reason of preferring the Scheffe Test was the fact that it was sensitive to alpha-type errors. The results of the Scheffe Multiple Comparison analysis are given below. Table 7. The Results of Post-Hoc Scheffe test, which was applied after One-Way Variance analysis (ANOVA), in order to determine whether the Physical Education scale points vary according to Grade variable or not. Groups (i) Groups (j) xi x j Sh x p 10. Grade 8,861 * 1,700,000 9. Grade 11. Grade 7,491 * 1,700,000 12. Grade 10,259 * 1,692,000 9. Grade -8,861 * 1,700,000 10. Grade 11. Grade -1,370 1,700,852 12. Grade 1,397 1,692,842 9. Grade -7,490 * 1,700,000 11. Grade 10. Grade 1,370 1,700,852 12. Grade 2,768 1,692,360 9. Grade -10,259 1,692,000 12. Grade 10. Grade -1,397 1,692,842 11. Grade -2,768 1,692,360 According to the results of the Post-Hoc Scheffe test, which was applied after One-Way Variance Analysis (ANOVA) for the purpose of determining among which groups the Physical Education classes attitude scale points differed according to the Grade variable, a statistically significant difference was determined between the 614

10 th, 11 th and 12 th Grade and 9 th Grade in favor of the 9 th Grade (p<.01). This situation shows that the attitudes of the students from 9 th Grade towards Physical Education classes were developed more than the 10 th, 11 th and 12 th Grades. The differences between the other sub-dimensions were not found to be statistically significant (p>.05). 4.DISCUSSION AND RESULT It was determined in the study that the attitude points of the students towards Physical Education classes showed variations according to the gender variable. This difference is in favor of the male students, which may be understood in the average points of the gender variable. Smoll & Schutz 1980; Şişko & Demirhan, 2002; Arslan & Mendeş, 2002; Koca & Aşçı, 2002; Kangalgil et al., 2004; Tekin et al., 2005; Taşğın et al., 2005; Hünük, 2006; Tekin et al., 2007; Güllü & Güçlü, 2009; Taşğın & Tekin 2009; Akandere et al., 2010; Çelik & Pulur, 2011; Ekici et al., 2011; Yanık & Çamlıyer (2015) conducted studies and reported a difference or significance between the attitude points of the students towards physical education classes according to gender variable in favor of male students. In this context, our findings show similarities with the results of these studies. The students attitude points towards Physical Education classes also vary according to the school type variable. This difference is in favor of the students of Normal High Schools that were converted later into Anatolian High Schools, which may be understood from the average points of the students according to the school type variable. It is considered that this difference may stem from the variety of the Physical Education applications, the reflection of Physical Education classes to the students in due manner by teachers, and the teachers including the students more actively in classes, and due to the socio-demographic structure. In the literature review, no studies that were similar to or different from ours were determined in terms of this variable. The Physical Education class attitude points of the students vary according to the doing/not doing exercise variable. This difference is in favor of the students who do exercises, which may be understood from the points on doing exercises variable. Kangalgil et al., 2004; Hünük, 2006; Güllü, 2007; Cox et al., 2008; Alparslan, 2008; Akandere et al., 2010; Özyalvaç, 2010; Yanık & Çamlıyer (2015) conducted studies on the Physical Education classes attitudes and reported significance or differences in favor of the students who did exercises. In this context, the results of these studies show similarities with the results of our study. The relation between the Physical Education classes attitude points in terms of grades show significance according to the grades, which may be observed in the One-Way Variance Analysis results. As a result of the Post-Hoc Scheffe test, which was conducted to determine between which groups the difference was according to the grade variable, a statistically significant difference was determined between 10 th, 11 th and 12 th Grade and 9 th Grade in favor of the 9 th Grade. This situation shows that the attitudes of 9 th Grade students towards Physical Education classes are developed more than those of the 10 th, 11 th and 12 th Grades. It is considered that this situation stems from the transition period of the 9 th Grade students from secondary school to high school. No studies, similar to or different from the present study, conducted on this variable have been detected in the literature review. As a conclusion, the levels of the relations between the attitudes of high school students towards Physical Education classes and their gender, school center, and doing exercises variables have been revealed in this study. It was concluded in the study that the attitudes of high school students towards Physical Education classes are influenced positively or negatively, directly or indirectly by many factors such as the variety of the Physical Education applications, the Physical Education teachers reflecting the classes in due manner, including the students in the activities in a more active manner, the differences in socio-demographic and socio-economic structures, the viewpoints of the society on Physical Education and sports culture, the awareness on the support provided by Physical Education for personality development, the structure of Physical Education teachers, the attitudes, characters and respect to the professions. REFERENCES 615

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