ABSTRACT
Teaching strategies using peers to influence student-learning outcomes are commonly used in physical education. Reciprocal peer learning is a teaching strategy where students work in pairs as tutor and tutee. Effective peer tutoring requires knowledge about the critical elements for correct performance (i.e. common content knowledge, CCK) and knowing how to detect and address common errors (i.e. specialized content knowledge, SCK). Research on training students for their task as tutor to increase peer learning effectiveness is limited.
This study documents an online approach to prepare students for their role as tutor during reciprocal peer learning. Also, it investigates the effect of online CCK + SCK-training versus online CCK-only training on (a) skill performance by tutees and error detection by tutors during peer learning; and (b) individual skill performance at a 1-week retention test.
Seventy-seven undergraduate students (25 female, 52 male) were randomly assigned to an online CCK + SCK (n = 37) or CCK-only (n = 40) training for learning Basic Life Support (BLS) as part of their curriculum. All participants learned online the correct procedure for BLS according to international guidelines (i.e. CCK). In the CCK + SCK condition, students additionally learned online to detect and correct four common errors related to chest compression. Following the online training all students learned BLS using reciprocal peer learning with manikins. For each student pair skill performance during practice by tutees was reported using digital manikins and error detection by tutors was collected using systematic observation of video recordings. One week following practice (i.e. retention), BLS-performance was assessed individually using a validated protocol.
During peer learning, SCK-trained tutees performed less unique errors (Mdn = 2 vs. 1, p < .05) and SCK-trained tutors detected a higher proportion of unique errors (Mdn 100% vs. 0%, p < .05) compared to CCK-only trained students. At retention, SCK-trained students outperformed the CCK-group for chest compressions with adequate rate (Mdn 91% vs. 69% p < .05) and complete release (Mdn 81% vs. 35% p < .05).
Teaching undergraduate students online to detect and correct errors positively impacted the quality of practice during peer learning and the performance at retention.
ABSTRACT
The interactions between behavior, environment and personal factors are the basis of the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, A. 1986. Social Foundations of Thought and Action. NJ: Prentice Halls). Within this theory, students’ behavior and motivation toward an activity is dependent on their feelings, thoughts and beliefs (Lodewyck and Pybus 2013. “Investigating Factors in the Retention of Students in High School Physical Education.” Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 32 (1): 61–77). Physical education can provide attractive contexts to promote students’ learning, but this depends on the teachers’ ability to offer them relevant educational experiences (Bailey, R. 2018. “Sport, Physical Education and Educational Worth.” Educational Review 70 (1): 51–66). Meaningful physical education is a pedagogical approach whose aim is to help teachers design significant experiences for all students (Beni, S., T. Fletcher, and D. Ní Chróinín. 2022. “‘It’s not a Linear Thing; There are a Lot of Intersecting Circles’: Factors Influencing Teachers’ Implementation of Meaningful Physical Education.” Teaching and Teacher Education 117: 103806). Physical education is a compulsory subject in Spain, but it is not included in the final year of high school. In 2018, one autonomous community decided to offer it as an elective subject in this course. Scholars and institutions claim for more hours of physical education. But, what about the students? Do they really want more?
The goal of the present study was to uncover the reasons why students selected, or not, physical education when it was included as an elective subject in their final year of high school.
A total of 795 year-13 students (17–18 years), enrolled in 13 different high schools participated. 444 (55.8%) had not selected physical education (61.71% females), while 351 (44.2%) did selected it (44.44% females). Convenience sampling was used to include participants, considering the possibilities of the researchers to access them.
The study followed an ex post facto, transversal, prospective research design to gather data in a single time point (Cohen, L., K. Manion, and K. Morrison. 2011. Research Methods in Education. Routledge). Within this framework, a qualitative research design was selected to obtain rich, detailed, and heavily contextualized information from the source (Creswell, J. W. 2013. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Sage). The participants responded to an open-ended question 3–4 weeks after the beginning of the school year to ‘fully explain the reason(s) for (not) selecting physical education in the final year of high school’. The qualitative software package MAXQDA 11 was used to help with data administration.
The deep analysis of the participants’ res