Although empirical research in academic areas provides support for both a 3-factor as well as a 4-factor achievement goal model, both models were proposed and tested with a collegiate sample. Little is known about the generalizability of either model with high school level samples. This study was designed to examine whether the 3-factor model…

Achievement goal theory and the expectancy-value model of achievement choice were used to examine fourth-grade students' motivational changes in an elementary physical education running program. In fall and spring of the school year, participants (N = 113; 66 boys, 47 girls) completed questionnaires assessing achievement goals, expectancy beliefs,…

Achievement goal theory was used as a theoretical framework to identify motivational climates in second- and fourth-grade physical education classes. Findings indicated that the motivational climate was a blending of the mastery and performance approaches, with teachers providing a variety of meaningful activities, recognizing and evaluating…

This study examined the relationship between achievement goals and social goals and explored how students' achievement goals and social goals might affect their reported persistence and effort expended toward physical education in high school settings. Participants were 544 students from two high schools in the southwest U.S. Multiple regression…

Compared Chinese fourth-, eighth-, and eleventh-graders' self-perceptions of ability in physical education. Found no grade-related decline in perceived ability. All students used effort, ability, and comparison to judge their ability. Students at all grades perceived task mastery as the major ability indicator and tended to assess ability in…

Using Achievement Goal Theory as a theoretical framework, this study examined an elementary physical education running program called Roadrunners and assessed relationships among achievement goals, perceived motivational climate, and student achievement behavior. Roadrunners promotes cardiovascular health, physical active lifestyles, and mastery…

In this study we examined Chinese physical educators' attitudes toward teaching physical activity and fitness. We then compared the Chinese teacher attitudes to their American counterparts. Participants were 330 Chinese elementary, middle and high school physical educators. The Teachers' Attitudes Toward Curriculum in Physical Education (TATCPE)…

The present study examined relationships among variables drawn from achievement goal theory and the expectancy-value model of achievement choice as well as mean level changes of these variables over time in elementary physical education. Participants (N = 207) completed questionnaires over a 2-year period: once while in the second and fourth…

Examined relationships between achievement goals, perceived motivational climate, and elementary and secondary students' self- reported mastery behaviors, noting age-related differences. Student surveys indicated that achievement goals and perceived motivational climate related to mastery behaviors, and those relations varied by age. Older…

Examined preservice teachers' beliefs about elementary physical education (PE) and the impact of a field-based elementary PE methods course on their beliefs. Participant surveys indicated that preservice teachers held similar beliefs about the values and purposes of elementary PE to those of PE professionals. The methods course positively impacted…

Two types of social goals associated with students' academic performance have received attention from researchers. One is the social responsibility goal and the other is the social relationship goal. While several scales have been validated for measuring social relationship and social responsibility goals in academic settings, few studies have…

Examined achievement goals and their correlates in physical education in 180 Chinese students and 121 Anglo-American students in grades 4, 5, and 6. The same two-dimensional factor structure of goal orientation (task and ego orientation) cut across the two cultural groups in physical education, but relationships seemed to vary as a function of…