Physical education in Taiwan: When students begin to take control

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect on self-regulated learning (SRL) of a physical education (PE) pedagogy based on Zimmerman’s (2000) model of SRL by means of an 8-week PE curriculum intervention in Taiwan. Participants were 632 Taiwanese students (aged 13.9 ±0.3 years; 28 PE classes) and a wait list control class (n = 21; aged 14.1 ±0.2 years). Constructs from the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and the Five Component Scale for Self-Regulation were measured pre-and post the intervention by means of on an online survey platform. Multiple repeated measures ANOVAs were used to determine if there were any significant differences pre-and post the intervention and any interaction effects between the intervention and the control. The classes who participated in the intervention showed relatively small mean increases in enjoyment, perceived competence, intrinsic value, self-efficacy, cognitive strategy use, goal setting, strategy implementation and strategy monitoring. In contrast for the control class, eight out of the eleven factors showed relatively larger negative changes in scores. These data indicate that with this sample the benefits of adopting a self-regulated learning approach in PE lessons over an 8-week period appeared to be more about maintenance of the stability of these personal characteristics rather than the enhancement of them.