A study of the Effects of the Sports Education Model on Learning -Take the Example of the Teaching of a University Table Tennis Course

[[abstract]]The purpose of this study is to teach students under different class types through the Sports Education Model, exploring the learning effects, learning climate, and the students’ attitudes and feelings during the learning process. Purposive sampling was adopted. The participants were students from two classes of optional table tennis (intermediate) courses in National Taiwan Normal University. They were divided into Class A, consisting of 26 males and 18 females, and Class B, comprising 24 males and 4 females. In terms of the research design, pre-tests and post-tests of cognition and skills were carried out to determine the students’ primary learning effects. In addition, participant observation and questionnaires were administered in the teaching process to examine the learning climate the students created in the Sports Education Model as well as their learning attitudes and feelings. As for data analysis, dependent-sample and independent-sample t-tests were applied to the pre-tests and post-tests of cognition and skills; constant comparison was used to deal with the qualitative data gathered in the teaching process. The conclusions drawn from the study are as follows: First, in the Sports Education Model, there is a difference in skills among students under different class types. The main cause was the difference between the males and the females’ attitudes and cognition about learning sports skills. Second, the Sports Education Model offers noticeable benefits in the cognition and skills learning effects of university students under different class types. Third, the Sports Education Model provides both the males and the females with a good learning environment. When it comes to the performances of cognition, skills leaning and self-awareness, the females obtained more learning opportunities and expressed better interaction feelings. Fourth, in the Sports Education Model, university students create different learning climates under different class types. The females played a more important part in the class, contributing to increased interaction in classes where gender is more equally distributed, resulting in a better learning climate. Fifth, university students under different class types all highly accept the Sports Education Model. Most students exhibited positive, affirmative attitudes, especially the females.