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Purpose: This article is centered on the Mixed Methods Research (MMR) used by the "Sports Life" research team to analyze the conditions under which social interactions are developed in the physical education (PE) setting and PE teacher training context. Firstly, we focus on the value of combining various types of quantitative data with the verbalization occurrences comprised in the interactive dynamics between students to learn motor skills within dyads or cooperative groups. Secondly, combining self-reported measurements and self-confrontation interviews, we examine whether integrating a cooperative learning design into pre-service teacher training might impact their motivation to teach physical practice later. Finally, because the social interaction issue suggests going beyond the respective roles of student/teacher, a forward-looking debate is conducted on the articulation of data collection in order to handle this complexity in a holistic manner.

Background: One of the key questions of physical education teacher educators (PETE) programmes refers to whether future teachers are prepared to build knowledge and skills to feel self-efficacious in teaching physical education (PE). This issue concerns the instructional model of teaching used to help PE pre-service teachers to master both pedagogical knowledge and motor skills. According to this twofold challenge, the direct instruction (DI) is mainly used for pre-service teacher training. Beyond this traditional model, other instructional models as cooperative learning (CL) approach arise in the initial PE teacher education. Nevertheless, surrounding attempts at innovation, little information related to the instructor's role. Under the social cognitive perspective of self-efficacy and instructional competency building, more information is currently expected with regard to the strategies the instructor uses to scaffold the mastery of skills for PE pre-service teachers' effective teaching. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to consider whether PE pre-service teachers are trained during short training sessions aimed to discover new physical activities. We examine the influence of a scaffolding procedure (CLS design) on PE pre-service teachers' knowledge, skills and self-efficacy in comparison to a CL and a DI experience. This leads to consider to what extent this instructional support provided by the instructor would help pre-service teachers to perceive themselves as self-efficacious to teach contents in PE. Participants and design: After a pre-test, sixty-nine PE pre-service teachers were randomly assigned to one of the three following conditions: CL (14 males and 7 females); CLS (20 males and 8 females) or direct instruction condition (DI; 12 males and 8 females). For the training session a selected CL procedure (Jigsaw) [Aronson, Elliot, and Shelley Patnoe. 1997. "The Jigsaw Classroom: Building Cooperation in the Classroom." 2nd ed. Wokingham: Addison-Wesley Educational]) was used to split CL and CLS participants into mixed-sex teams, whereas DI participants practiced the same exercises in dyads. According to the training conditions, the same instructor provided different information to participants along the three 2-hour instructional sessions with regard to: (a) warm-up (DI), (b) CL organization (CL), and (c) scaffolding integrated into a CL implementation (CLS). Data collection: A Pre-test/post-test design was used to consider PE pre-service teacher's motor skill, knowledge for practice, and self-efficacy improvements. The post-test also examined participants' pedagogical knowledge. Findings: The results showed that the participants in the three conditions progressed on performance, knowledge for practice, knowledge for teaching, and self-efficacy. Although no difference was found in self-efficacy between the three training conditions over time, significant differences appeared on pedagogical knowledge or/and motor skills with an advantage for the CL and CLS participants, respectively. Conclusion: Although short training sessions dedicated to discovering new sports stay problematic for teacher professional development, implementing CL pre-service teacher training designs would be a relevant alternative. Instructional knowledge would be developed mainly when they have explicitly access to information concerning the teacher intervention. Nevertheless, such a scaffolding procedure integrated into CL training designs would need to be applied repeatedly to various physical activities to have an impact on pre-service teachers' self-efficacy.

This article is grounded in social constructivist perspectives of learning: its purpose is to provide an overview of the "Interactions Sociales et Acquisition" (ISA) [Social Interactions and Acquisition] French group's research that examines how a peer-assisted learning (PAL) group context facilitates students' acquisition of motor and social skills in physical education (PE). Issues addressed include the pairing of students in dyads and how training them to endorse tutor and tutee roles facilitates students to work in small groups. The effects of peer interaction on social relations and the inclusion of students with special needs are also overviewed. Findings regarding the influence of student interactions on learning were derived using a variety of data collection methodologies, including quantitative data used to test the effectiveness of various interactive procedures and qualitative analyses of verbal protocols to better understand the interactive dynamics involved in such learning devices. The ISA work highlights the complementary value of both of these methodological approaches for studying group work effects. ISA findings suggest that PE teachers prepare students for functional interaction group work by taking into consideration the students' characteristics (like gender or desire for control) in the constitution of dyads and then effectively training the tutors to deliver the expected content. Cooperative learning (CL) contexts also provided a viable alternative for facilitating the inclusion of students with disabilities or those with lower initial skill levels.

Background: Within a socio-constructivist perspective, this study is situated at the crossroads of three theoretical approaches. First, it is based upon team sport and the tactical act model in games teaching. Second, it took place in dyadic or small group learning conditions with verbal interaction. Furthermore, these interventions were based on cooperative learning (CL) models. The cultural context is the French school curriculum, so it emphasizes the role of sports as social practice and uses the applied concept of French didactic transposition. It took place in a socio-constructivist perspective of the teaching-learning process and extends the notion of "debate-of-idea". Purpose: This article explores the role of CL in a Physical Education (PE) classroom setting and particularly the role of verbal exchanges among peers in team-sport teaching. Research design: This article reports two interventions. The first study showed the positive effects of discussions within a team in an adapted basketball game. Seventeen boys and 13 girls from a French school (third and fourth grades), all novices in basketball, were assigned to two independent groups of a two (Learning condition) design. Dependent measures included collective game efficacy and individual skill levels. A second study concerned an instructional setting of a handball team game (two attackers against a defender in each half of the ground) with 11-12-year-old girls. Two groups were constituted by learning condition: symmetrical versus dissymmetrical dyads. Data collection and analysis: During PE lessons, verbal interactions were filmed and recorded for the two studies. Matches were filmed in study 1, while data in study 2 were collected by an expert on an observation worksheet. ANOVA were conducted in both studies. Results: The two studies showed that oral discussions between peers about the goal and the strategies of the game facilitated the development of motor and tactical skills. The second study showed the superiority of a slightly dissymmetric dyadic condition. The low-skilled pupils in dissymmetrical dyads obtained more benefit from the verbal interactions than those in a symmetrical setting. In the dissymmetrical condition, while the initially low-skilled participants had the highest rate of progression, the initially high-skilled players had to explain their solution and could also benefit from the dyadic interaction. Conclusion: In both studies, action rules were constructed by peers' verbal exchanges in a reflective way. In a PE socio-constructivist setting, the teaching of games facilitates mutual aid, social relationships, and participation in community activities.

Students often do not take full advantage of peer tutoring instructional strategies because they are not sufficiently prepared to fulfill the role of tutor. This study examined whether implementing a peer tutor training program prior to the beginning of reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) sessions might help overcome this issue. Gender differences were also explored. In a physical education setting, 48 novice ninth-graders were assigned in symmetric dyads to a physical practice associated with trained RPT condition (TRPT; n = 24) or a physical practice associated with spontaneous RPT condition (SRPT; n = 24). Moreover, 24 participants were assigned to a physical practice without any form of RPT control condition (PP). The peer tutor training, based on an original group interview technique, aimed at enhancing the explanatory potential of the tutor and his/her sensitivity to the specific needs of the tutee. Results indicated a superior motor performance for the TRPT condition and no difference between the SRPT and PP conditions. Interestingly, a positive relation between motor performance and self-efficacy beliefs was found for TRPT females. The assumption that the development of metacognitive awareness is one of the mechanisms underlying RPT's effectiveness was thus supported.

The goal of this study was to identify the relationships between the learning choices made by pupils and their personal characteristics, including cognitive style (field dependence--independence), a motivational variable (feeling of self-efficacy), and a cognitive variable (task representation). The participants were 64 twelve-year-old sixth graders from a suburban middle school in France (35 boys and 29 girls). Cognitive style was measured with the Group Embedded Figures Test, a perceptual test that requires finding a simple geometrical figure embedded in a complex geometrical one. Five learning conditions (autonomy, tutoring, verbal instruction, silent demonstration, and verbal demonstration) were then proposed in random order to the pupils. They were asked to select a learning method to solve a motor problem: a badminton service. The results indicated an absence of relationships between the choice of a learning condition and cognitive style. Three variables partially predicted the learning-condition choice: feeling of self-efficacy, task representation, and motor performance. The present results can be interpreted in the light of studies on children's help-seeking behavior in problem-solving situations.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of dyadic verbal peer interactions in a team sport such as handball. Participants, 20 boys and 20 girls aged between 11 and 12, were assigned to two learning condition groups. The task was an instructional setting in team handball (2 attackers against 1 defender in each half court). The experimental group with verbal exchanges was expected to obtain higher performances in the post-tests than those who had not interacted verbally between playing sequences. The secondary objective was to investigate whether dyadic gender had an effect on tactical choice and cognitive skills in playing games. The experiment demonstrated the superiority of the dyadic verbal interaction group over the non-interactive group as regards tactical choices and action projects. It also showed gender differences since males performed better females with regard to action efficiency. The results are discussed within the theoretical framework of the social psychology of acquisition and development and within that of teaching for understanding. In conclusion, the socio-constructivist approach would seem to be pertinent in team sport decision-making tasks. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

This research is centered on the training effects in cooperative learning (CL). Indeed, if the CL proved its efficiency for the academic or not academic acquisitions, the necessity of training pupils is often underlined so that all can benefit from CL. If there are some examples in traditional disciplines, no protocol of training in physical education exists. Our article proposes an example of training in CL for a Physical Education unit. By comparing two 8th grade classes, we will show the positive influence of this formation on the social relations but also on the motor acquisitions of the trained class compared to the untrained class. By comparing two of high school, we shall show the positive influence of this training on social relationships but also on driving acquisitions of the class trained compared with the not trained class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent evolution of the programs of the elementary school and the college (2016) weaves a strong bond with the concept of complexity. Inspired by Freinet pedagogy, the school proposes today "not to avoid, to dodge this complex" (Freinet, 1976, p. 92), by promoting teaching by complex situation in which the pupils integrate different resources in co-operation. The object of this article aims at showing in what the results of a recent work of thesis carried out in ecological situation of class in EPS echo the design of the complexity developed by Freinet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]