Short-term effects of the peer teaching model on specialized content knowledge of pre-service physical education teachers

Pre-service physical education teachers often possess strong technical skills yet struggle to translate those skills into effective instruction. Grounded in the theoretical framework of specialized content knowledge (SCK), this study examined the short-term effects of the peer teaching model on teaching competence among pre-service physical education teachers. Using a quasi-experimental crossover design, 24 male physical education teacher education students completed two 60-minute basketball-focused instructional sessions, one employing a peer teaching model and one using conventional teacher-led instruction. Groups alternated between teacher and learner roles across the two sessions. Independent observation assessments of basketball shooting and chest passing were used to evaluate changes in common content knowledge (CCK; movement description and demonstration) and SCK (pedagogical key points). Two-factor repeated-measures ANOVAs were conducted for the eight outcome measures, with statistical significance set at α = 0.05. Significant group × time interactions were found for the pedagogy scores of both the chest pass and the overhead shot and for the chest passing total score, and students who assumed the teacher role showed greater SCK gains than those who acted as learners; no significant interaction effects were found for demonstration or description scores (CCK). These findings suggest that the peer teaching model has preliminary promise for promoting teaching competence in pre-service physical education teachers, particularly by providing structured opportunities for students to verbalize and demonstrate technical content to peers, and may inform the design of more authentic learning experiences within professional skill courses. However, the brief intervention duration and small sample warrant caution, and further longitudinal research is needed before broad implementation.