The effectiveness of peer education in physical education and sports lessons in secondary schools: Use of physical activity cards (Elaziğ province example)

The purpose of this study is to determine the change in student attitudes towards Physical Education and Sports Lesson in the skills development of the students as a result of the use of Physical Activity Cards, the Effectiveness of Peer Education in Physical Education and Sports Lesson in Secondary Schools and modeling the use of Physical Activity Cards by peer educators in Physical Education and Sports lesson. In 2nd Semester of 2015-2016 Education year, Atatürk Secondary School located in the Maden district of Elazığ province and 120 students attending the 7th class of the Cumhuriyet Secondary School located in the district of Sivrice. 7-A Branch in Atatürk Secondary School was selected as control group and 7-B Branch as experimental group, 7-B Branch in Cumhuriyet Secondary School was selected as control group and 7-A Branch as experimental group. There are 30 students in the experimental group and 30 students in the control group. For the student selection to be heterogeneous, student selection was made by applying Peer Educator Observation Form and "Who is this?" Test in the class. The process was explained to the designated peer educators and voluntary consent forms were obtained. Before beginning the process, "Physical Education Class Attitude Scale" was applied to all students. Physical activity cards trainings were given to peer educators in theoretical and practical applications (Training time: 1.30 hours a day, 10 days total, 15 hours). The students who received peer education were provided with diaries covering the training process and the application process. Peer education to students in the experimental group were given by the educator with physical activity cards (4 weeks). The control group was given education by physical education teacher (4 weeks) with the same physical activity cards. At the end of the four-week course period, peer education and physical activity cards were discussed with the experimental and control group students through individual and focus group interviews. "Physical Education Class Attitude Scale" was applied to all students again. "Skill rating scale" prepared by researchers and experts were also applied. The diaries kept by students and teachers are turned into reports. In the study, data were obtained with different techniques of quantitative and qualitative research methods. For the purpose of the research, the Peer Educator Observation Form, Who is this? Test, Physical Education and Sports Lesson Attitude Scale, Skill rating scale, Peer Educator Diary, Individual and Focus Interview Forms were applied. Qualitative data were obtained from the diaries of physical education teachers and students. In the analysis of the data, descriptive analysis for qualitative dimension was analyzed using % for quantitative data, t test for frequency and repeated measures and one-way variance analysis. SPSS (22) package program was used for analysis of quantitative data. Quantitative data are explained by tabulation. The data obtained from observation forms are also presented in tables with frequency and percentage values. The qualitative data were coded and the themes were obtained. When the effectiveness of physical activity cards on the students' attitudes towards lesson is examined, a significant difference was found in the common effect of the experimental group. According to this result, the education that the students in the experimental and control groups have received led to a significant difference in favor of the end-test at the pre- and post-program attitude levels. When student opinions about peer education and physical activity cards used in physical education lessons are researched; the majority of the students have stated that studying with peer education and physical activity cards make a difference in the lessons, made them enjoyable, increased their attendance to the lessons, the cards improved their mobility skills, developed their confidence, they didn't have any difficulty in using the cards, allowed them to act in cooperation and made the lesson more enjoyable. Key Words: Physical Activity Cards, Physical Education and Attitude, Peer Review