WHO IS HAVING FUN IN PHYSICAL-EDUCATION CLASSES - EXPERIENCES OF 6TH-GRADE STUDENTS IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Observers of any public school physical education class could notice s tudents performing tasks at different levels of mastery. Some would pe rform the tasks well or modestly well, whereas others might display pe rsistent problems in executing simple motor skills. Some things, of co urse, could not be observed. Less visible, for example, would be the c umulative motoric, social, and psychological consequences for individu als of low skin in physical education settings. Less obvious would be the subtle patterns of social interaction involving the low skilled. P hysical educators lack systematic information about low-skilled studen ts' experiences in physical education and the long-term consequences o f being low skilled. There are no descriptions of intact physical educ ation classes concerning the role played by students of low skill in t he day-to-day events of teaching and learning. Significant numbers of students in virtually every physical education class are not doing wel l; therefore, it is important to understand why this lack of achieveme nt occurs. Two areas of literature were used to frame this study: (a) performance in physical education classes, and (b) learned helplessnes s.