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The purpose of the study was to analyze students' motivation in relation to their participation in fitness testing classes. Participants were 134 Finnish Grade 5 and 8 students. Students completed the contextual motivation and perceived physical competence scales before the fitness testing class and the situational motivation questionnaire immediately after the class. During the fitness test class, abdominal muscle endurance was measured by curl-up test, lower body explosive strength and locomotor skills by the five leaps test, and speed and agility by the Figure 8 running test. For the fitness testing class, students reported higher scores for intrinsic motivation, identified motivation, and amotivation than in their general physical education program. The result of the path analysis showed physical fitness was positively related to perceived physical competence. In addition, perceived competence was found to be a positive predictor of situational intrinsic motivation, but not of other forms of situational motivation. Significant path coefficients in the model ranged from -0.15 to 0.26.

The main purpose of the study was to analyze teaching styles used in Finnish physical education. Another aim was to investigate the relationships between background characteristics of teachers and use of teaching styles. The participants of the study were 294 (185 females and 109 males) Finnish physical education teachers. The teachers responded to an electronic questionnaire accessed through a link delivered to them by e-mail. The instrument included background information items (gender, teaching experience, education, school level, mean class size) and questions pertaining to "teacher use" and "perceived benefits to students" of the various teaching styles. The results of the study revealed that teachers used the command and practice styles of teaching most frequently and the self-check and convergent discovery styles least frequently. The trend was to use more teacher-centered than student-centered styles. The teachers perceived the practice and divergent production styles as most and the reciprocal and convergent discovery styles as least beneficial for their students. (Contains 6 tables.)

The purpose of the study was to analyze students' motivation in relation to their participation in fitness testing classes. Participants were 134 Finnish Grade 5 and 8 students. Students completed the contextual motivation and perceived physical competence scales before the fitness testing class and the situational motivation questionnaire immediately after the class. During the fitness test class, abdominal muscle endurance was measured by curl-up test, lower body explosive strength and locomotor skills by the five leaps test, and speed and agility by the Figure 8 running test. For the fitness testing class, students reported higher scores for intrinsic motivation, identified motivation, and amotivation than in their general physical education program. The result of the path analysis showed physical fitness was positively related to perceived physical competence. In addition, perceived competence was found to be a positive predictor of situational intrinsic motivation, but not of other forms of situational motivation. Significant path coefficients in the model ranged from -.15 to .26. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the study was to analyze teaching styles used in Finnish physical education. Another aim was to investigate the relationships between background characteristics of teachers and use of teaching styles. The participants of the study were 294 (185 females and 109 males) Finnish physical education teachers. The teachers responded to an electronic questionnaire accessed through a link delivered to them by e-mail. The instrument included background information items (gender, teaching experience, education, school level, mean class size) and questions pertaining to 'teacher use' and 'perceived benefits to students' of the various teaching styles. The results of the study revealed that teachers used the command and practice styles of teaching most frequently and the self-check and convergent discovery styles least frequently. The trend was to use more teacher-centered than student-centered styles. The teachers perceived the practice and divergent production styles as most and the reciprocal and convergent discovery styles as least beneficial for their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]