Student Motivation

The researchers studied two groups of children:

• A traditional method group that used basic drills for practice and had an authoritative teacher who focused on individual exercises and based recognition and evaluation on performance.
• A mastery method group that used a variety of exercises, shared decision-making, used partner and small group exercises, and focused on effort and improvement.

For example, the traditional method group may do repeated leg kicks whereas the mastery method group may kick a ball, a bag, or a hand target and students may suggest combinations and exercises.

The researchers found that a focus on expertise in sports is associated with greater perceived effort, greater enjoyment, and increased team satisfaction. Whereas, a focus on performance outcome leads to greater worry and less team satisfaction.