Students' perceptions of the motivational climate, achievement beliefs, and satisfaction in physical education

The present study examined the relationship between students 'perceptions o f the motivational climate and beliefs about the causes of success, prefere nce for challenging tasks, and satisfaction in physical education. Response s of 50 female and 46 male students (M age = 12.08 years; SD = .72) showed that perceptions of a mastery-oriented motivational climate were related to the belief that motivation of effort caused success and satisfaction. In c ontrast, perceptions of a performance climate were related to the belief th at deception caused success and related negatively to the students 'prefere nce for challenging tasks. Results of hierarchical regression analyses reve aled that perceptions of the motivational climate explained a significant a mount of unique variance in the students' responses after controlling for d ispositional goal orientations. The results suggest that the leacher can in fluence the salience of a mastery-oriented climate and, in so doing, optimi ze a child's motivation in physical education.