Effects of Fair Play Instruction on student social skills during a middle school Sport Education unit

Abstract Background: Research on social skills in physical education has shown that students' fair play behaviors remain underdeveloped unless teachers include social skills instruction into the curriculum. Fair play behaviors are learned behaviors that are specific to the context of physical education and sport, and may generalize to other settings. One approach that may guide a student in social interactions without detracting from engagement in learning tasks is to integrate the teaching of fair play concepts into the instruction. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Fair Play Instruction on middle school physical education classes during a tag rugby unit. Participants and setting: Participants were eighth-grade (12–13 years of age) students in a mid-western American school. Seven individual students were observed for 40 minutes per lesson for 18 lessons. Intervention: The Fair Play Instruction consisted of: (a) students developing a chart with fair play cues to be accomplished during the lesson, (b) teacher's prompts and praise during the lesson related to fair play behaviors, and (c) positive pinpointing of fair play behaviors used by students during the lesson closure. Research design: A single subject multiple baseline design across two behaviors was used to assess the effects of Fair Play Instruction. Data collection: Data were collected on: (a) students' active participation, and (b) students' helpful and harmful behaviors. Helpful and harmful behaviors were coded live, and effort behaviors were coded through videotape sessions. Social validity questionnaires were completed by students, the teacher, and a panel of physical education professionals. Data analysis: The number of occurrences of helpful and harmful behaviors, and percentage of students' level of active participation were plotted on graphs for visual inspection. Findings: Fair Play Instruction was consistently effective in increasing students' active participation, and in decreasing waiting time for all participants. There was little difference between baseline and intervention for helpful behaviors. There was, however, a decrease in the number of harmful behaviors. Conclusions: The primary explanation for the difference in effects between the effort behaviors and the helpful behaviors was attributed to the frequency of prompts and praise. During the intervention for effort behaviors the teacher increased her frequency of prompting and praising substantially over baseline. This was not the case for helpful behaviors. The social validity questionnaire showed that Fair Play Instruction was considered an acceptable pedagogy among the students, the teacher, and a panel of physical education professionals. Although further investigation is needed, this study shows that Fair Play Instruction is a promising path to pursue the teaching of social skills in physical education. Keywords: fair playsocial skillsSport Education