An Investigation of Content-Specific Unit Emotions in Secondary Physical Education

Abstract

The intent of quality high school physical education (PE) is to develop a connection with students to help enhance their desire to continue engagement beyond K–12 education. While traditional instructional approaches may produce benefits, it is important to recognize continued data suggesting reasons for decreased student motivation and participation. The purpose of this study was to investigate student responses in their perceived control, value, emotions, and intentions for future activity as it pertained to differing content areas throughout their PE curriculum. The participants included 72 9th grade students. The students participated in five instructional units: modified volleyball, spikeball, outdoor adventure, yoga, and drumfit. At the conclusion of each unit, students responded to a virtual survey utilizing previously validated instruments measuring a variety of emotional contexts. The results were analyzed using a variety of measurements. The in-depth data revealed that student intention may be more anchored in value and emotion than previously identified. Students’ emotional connection to the content appears to be vital to their motivation, engagement, and intention to engage in the activity outside of PE. Based on these findings, teachers should make a concerted effort to select content based on student interests and value, instead of choosing content they find interesting and meaningful.

1. Introduction

The goals of quality K–12 physical education (PE) in the United States include developing physical literacy and an increase in physical activity (PA) attitudes and behaviors [1,2]. Achieving this goal results from meeting PE objectives in the psychomotor, cognitive, and affective learning domains presented by the teacher. However, speculation as to the degree PE courses and curricula are designed to meet these objectives has been questioned [1]. This is due to the considerable amount of data that shows steady declines in PE engagement [3,4] and PA attitudes and behaviors for students throughout schooling [5,6].

In short, it appears that much of the development of students in PE includes a focus on skill competencies, fitness testing/levels, and time in PA [1,7,8], with little regard to student interest, value of content, and emotional connection with what is being learned [9]. Social-emotional concepts have been suggested to have great impact on student motivation and in-class engagement as well as lifetime PA choices [3,10,11,12]; thus, the lack of regard for these concepts reduces the likelihood of reaching PE outcomes in a meaningful way. Given this evidence, it appears there needs to be more consideration for the content taught in PE and how it impacts student motivation, values, and emotions [13].

Student motivation and emotional experiences within PE have continued to be a highly researched and evaluated topic within the subject [3,4,14]. Motivation and emotion are not seen as separate constructs but as intertwined to explain the reasons why a goal is pursued and how it makes one feel [13,15]. Traditionally, students’ subjective experiences in PE have had major ramifications on outcomes, including learning and behavior [16,17]. Research suggests that motivational beliefs and emotions may dictate the level and intensity of motivation one puts forth for a particular activity [18]. Specifically, one way to capture students perceived motivational beliefs within PE includes their emotions [10,13,19]. For example, students who experience enjoyment in PE have reported high levels of engagement and PA behavior in and out of school [19]. Meanwhile, students who have feelings of boredom, shame, or anxiety have negative influences on a myriad of behaviors and outcomes including in-class behaviors, self-concept, and reduced PA outside of PE [4]. Given the powerful impact of student emotional experiences in PE, it is imperative to determine the instructional and contextual sources for these emotions as they seem to dictate motivational regulations.

A great deal of research has focused on the impact of instructional strategies on student motivation and enjoyment [17,20,21,22]. In general, autonomy-supportive and need-supportive pedagogical strategies and structures have been linked to increases in intrinsic motivation and satisfaction with PE [20,22]. Teacher communication and clarity has also been linked to increases in positive emotions like enjoyment when used in a developmentally appropriate way [21,23]. Lastly, evidence-based instructional and curriculum models with specific pedagogical functions have shown strong links to student enjoyment, PA time, learning, and reductions in amotivation [17,24,25]. It is recommended that teachers adopt a more student-centered and less controlling teaching style to improve students’ subjective experiences in PE [1,21,23].

Despite these findings, less consideration has been given to PE content choices made by teachers as it relates to student motivational beliefs and emotion. Banville et al. [26] found that students and teachers reported a predominance of team sport-based content and fitness games and activities in secondary PE. However, approximately 60% of participants reported they did not participate in any of the dominant PE content in their leisure time. Similar findings show that teachers have continued to select content based on their own interests, over the interests of their students and the contemporary changes in society related to valued PA choices [1,6,12]. Therefore, a strong disconnect exists between how teachers may be developing content in their PE curriculum for reaching goals like physical literacy and the interests, values, and emotional experiences of students. In sum, it is easy to see how outdated curricula and instruction approaches may contribute to the emotional disconnect students appear to have for PE, making achievement in PE potentially meaningless and thus contributing to reduced PA attitudes and behaviors. In fact, Cardinal et al. [10] and Ladwig et al. [11] found that negative emotional experiences reported by young adults regarding their school PE experience were the most significant predictors for reduced PA into adulthood. These negative experiences were associated with perceived irrelevant curricula and outdated content and instruction. There is also a plethora of research on the pitfalls of a traditional sport curriculum or fitness-focused curricula that may have limited or had a negative impact towards the less skilled [3,16].This is also true for the marginality of female students who are placed in overwhelmingly male-dominated activities [14]. There is reason to believe that even with best practice teaching techniques, these marginalized groups find little value or interest and generate negative emotions and motivational beliefs toward certain content areas in PE.

More recently, Simonton et al. [9] found that opposition exists between the content that is taught and what students want to learn in PE. Similarly, researchers found that emotional and motivational beliefs from secondary PE predicted PA attitudes, physical self-concept, and self-reported moderate to vigorous PA in early adulthood [12]. There is currently limited evidence that examines the relationship between specific content and students’ emotional experiences in PE, despite the potential certain types of content have on eliciting emotions [9,12]. Thus, this study compares student emotions, motivational beliefs, and intentions for engaging in different content outside of school, based on the educational content units offered during PE.

2. Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions

Within the Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions (CVTAE) [18], discrete emotions are posited as a central tenant for explaining behavior and achievement. Emotions are predicted by one’s perceived control and value of the task and are direct predictors with action behaviors. In summary, environmental and contextual factors, as well as cognitive appraisals, become indirect predictors of behavior via one’s emotions. This model would suggest that emotional antecedents are shaped by the content within PE which lead to positive and negative emotions, which then explain behaviors such as intention to engage [13]. In causal order, the CVTAE presents control-value beliefs as predicting a variety of emotions, and those emotions leading to a variety of outcomes, achievement, and behavior. Starting with the emotional antecedents, or control-value beliefs, control is considered one’s personal efficacy to engage in behaviors and is explained as the internal or external agency one has over one’s own capabilities [18]. Specifically, control beliefs relate to one’s competence and ability to succeed or overcome barriers. Value beliefs are parceled between intrinsic and extrinsic value, where intrinsic value relates to one’s interest in the activity or topic regardless of outcome, reward, or external recognition [18]. Extrinsic value is defined as the importance one places on the activity or topic for its utility, achievement, or external reward/recognition [18]. Perceived value in combination with control beliefs are seen to moderate the type of emotion experienced and the magnitude of that emotion.

Emotions are defined by their valence, activation, and their unique action tendencies [27]. These tendencies are specific actions, thoughts, and outcomes that are unique to that emotion. For example, a student who is bored will likely have much different behavioral actions compared to a student who experiences anxiety. Thus, a generalized measure of positive and negative affect clusters these discrete emotions and fails to delineate physiological and psychological differences [27]. In this particular study, four emotions were targeted to provide a spectrum of positive and negative, learning- and outcome-based, and personally and socially driven emotions. These included enjoyment, boredom, anxiety, and shame. Enjoyment is considered a positive, in-activity emotion linked to strong intrinsic value, control beliefs, and high engagement [18,28]. Boredom is considered a negative, in-activity emotion that is related to low value beliefs and disengaged behavior [18]. Anxiety can be considered negative and to be both in-activity and outcome-based, and is tied to feeling uncertain about one’s abilities or expectations despite wanting to try and succeed or appear capable. Lastly, shame is considered a negative outcome-based emotion which is central to feeling bouts of failure and perceiving a lot of pressure to succeed [28]. These emotions were included as they are highly reported emotions from previous research on secondary student PE experiences, and as they have all been identified and linked to out-of-school PA behaviors [29,30]. In addition, these four emotions provide a full spectrum of motivational beliefs and tendencies outlined in the conceptualization of emotions within CVTAE (i.e., activating/deactivating, positive/negative, and in-activity/outcome-based).

Recent research on PE emotions for secondary students shows that control-value beliefs consistently impact students’ emotions differently [23,29], and that when considering emotions, it is essential to also evaluate their emotional antecedents to further explain their perspective of the environment. Positive emotions like enjoyment are linked to increased physical self-concept and positive attitudes towards PA, whereas emotions like boredom have had an impact on in-class learning and engagement [30]. Likewise, anxiety appears to have negative ramifications on out-of-school PA time and general perceptions about one’s physical abilities [12]. Shame is unique in being difficult for teachers to identify and seems to be a hidden psychological battle for many students in which they feel like a failure and singled out, which severely detracts from their positive view of PE despite ‘toeing the line’ in PE [30]. Regardless of the growing evidence on the impact of PE environments and teachers on students’ emotional experiences, there has been less investigation as to how this relates to the influence of specific PE content units. Given the data and misalignment of student and teacher perceptions of interesting content, PE experiences are often measured at the subject level, although it is clear that emotions and beliefs appear to differ based on differing content topics. However, to date, there has not been evidence to support some of these assertions.

3. Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate student responses in their perceived control, value, emotions, and intentions for future activity as it pertained to differing content areas throughout their PE curriculum. The CVTAE served as the foundational structure to explore student beliefs and emotional connections within the differing content areas. Three research questions guided this study: (RQ1) Do students’ control-value beliefs, emotions, and intentions differ among multiple PE content units across the semester? (RQ2) To what degree do male and female students report differences in their control-value beliefs, emotions, and intentions for the differing PE units across the semester? (RQ3) What relationships exist between the control-value beliefs, emotions, and intentions for each differing PE unit experienced during the semester?

4. Methods

4.1. Procedures

Following university Institutional Review Board approval, researchers recruited and gained approval for the exploratory study from one high school PE teacher and their respective administration. The physical educator provided a mapped scope and sequence of their curriculum for one academic semester to both provide the objectives, activities, and progressions, and also to support the research team in identifying the content areas and when data could be collected respective of each academic unit. Researchers opted to collect survey data on the final class session of each unit throughout the semester, to which five total units were taught. All students within each of the PE sections were approached in class by the research team for recruitment and to explain the study. Students who received parental consent and provided assent were asked to voluntarily participate in the research survey on the final day of each academic content unit. This particular school was deemed a one-to-one technology environment, meaning all students had access to a laptop or tablet in class and all survey responses were collected online using a link provided by researchers. Each unit-specific survey took approximately 12 min for all participants to complete. All data remained anonymous and confidential as all participants were assigned an ID number to track their data from unit to unit.

4.2. Participants and Setting

For this study, one PE teacher was recruited who taught four sections of the same PE course. This one teacher was targeted to provide some fidelity in the instructional similarities for all of the student participants, who were essentially receiving a very similar PE experience in each lesson for all class sections. The student participants for this study included 72 9th grade students (M_age = 14.09, SD = 0.53; 58% female; 42% male) located in a large suburban community in the southeastern part of the U.S. Students self-reported as 62% White/Caucasian, 14% Black/African American, 10% Asian/Asian American, 6% Hispanic/Latinx, 5% multi-racial, and 3% American Indian/Native Pacific Islander. All PE classes met on alternating days for 40 min for each class session. In this state and school district, all 9th grade students are required to take one year of PE and these students were all enrolled in the compulsory PE sections offered. Each academic unit consisted of approximately 10–12 lessons each. Each unit consisted of basic skill development, application of skills and decision making, and small group learning experiences. The intent of this study was not to evaluate the instructional quality or fidelity, but to explore students’ experiences more so regarding the type of content being learned.

The five units explored in this study included (1) modified volleyball, (2) spikeball, (3) outdoor adventure (cooperative learning via differing outdoor pursuits), (4) yoga, and (5) drumfit (fitness). Modified volleyball consisted of basic skill development and game play opportunities with a modified number of players per team (4v4) and smaller playing areas (smaller courts, lower nets). Spikeball included the traditional game equipment and rules and was set up with mainly 2v2 games played after skills, strategies, and rules were taught. The outdoor adventure unit included several content areas under the theme of being active outside, focusing on teamwork, and cooperation for success. Activities included hiking challenges, geocaching and map reading, and team building challenges. Yoga was considered a more typical unit of learning yoga skills and performing challenging routines led mainly by the teacher. Lastly, drumfit was a unit based on learning rhythm and drumming techniques with exercise balls and buckets, while engaging in different fitness topics related to aerobic and muscular endurance.

4.3. Measures

For this study, participants responded to a virtual survey, utilizing the Qualtrics software platform and a shared link, to provide answers to several previously validated instruments regarding the variables of interest, as well as several basic demographic items including age, identified gender, ethnicity, and ID number. As mentioned previously the same survey (including all measures) was provided at the end of each academic unit; thus, all items were adjusted to provide prompts that elicited the students’ feelings and beliefs regarding the respective unit.

4.3.1. Perceived Control Beliefs

The Academic Control Scale [31] was used as it is grounded in CVTAE assumptions and has been adapted and used in previous PE settings [12,29]. The scale was adapted for each unit within PE as students were prompted, “Please select the degree to which each question pertains to you in the [content] unit in PE. When I was in the [content] lessons…”. Example items included, “I had a great deal of control over my performance in the activity”, and “I was certain I could master the skills being taught”. The scale consisted of eight items ranked on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not true at all) to 5 (very true).

4.3.2. Value Beliefs

The CVTAE-related value beliefs scale [28] consists of 10 items, five items which target intrinsic value and five for extrinsic value. The scale is designed to be adapted to the content and has been previously used successfully in PE contexts [12,29]. Students were prompted with, “Think about the [content] unit and lessons when answering the degree you agree/disagree with the following statements”. An example intrinsic value item included, “This unit is very important to me, irrespective of what grade I get”. An example item for extrinsic value was, “It is very important for me to get good grades in this unit”. Each item was measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

4.3.3. Student Emotions

Four discrete emotions were used from the Discrete Emotions in Physical Education Scale [30], including enjoyment, boredom, anxiety, and shame. These four emotions were selected to provide a full spectrum of motivational beliefs and tendencies outlined within CVTAE (i.e., activating/deactivating, positive/negative, and in-activity/outcome-based) and to reduce the potential statistical overlap with similar emotions [30]. Student emotions toward each unit were prompted by, “Please indicate the degree of how you feel during the [content] lessons you just experienced based on the items below”. An example item for enjoyment was “I enjoy being in this activity”; for boredom, an example was, “I get bored during this activity”; an example for anxiety was, “Thinking about participating made me feel uneasy”; and lastly, for shame, “I get embarrassed when I participate in this activity”. All 16 items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

4.3.4. Content-Specific Intention

To evaluate students’ perceived intentions to engage in the content unit they learned in PE outside of PE in their volitional time, a modified version of the activity intention questionnaire [32,33] was used. Participants were prompted to answer the likelihood of three items after being prompted to respond based on the content unit area they just learned about. These adaptation shifts align with recommendations for differing intention foci [32,34]. The three items included, “I am determined to participate in the [content] at least 3 times during the next month”, “I intend to participate in the [content] at least 3 times during the next month”, and “I plan to participate in the [content] at least 3 times during the next month”. All items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very unlikely) to 7 (very likely).

5. Data Analysis

Data were initially reviewed for outliers and missing data. Estimation maximization was used to handle missing data (<20%) because it is recommended over pairwise, listwise, and means substitution techniques [35]. Next, descriptive statistics and internal consistency estimates were calculated for all multi-item measures using Cronbach’s Alpha scores (α). To address RQ1 and RQ2, two repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance (RM-MANCOVA) and one RM-ANCOVA were used to evaluate the main effect differences for each of the five time points (units) as well as any interactions in change by reported student gender. Three models were used due to the sample size, which targeted three aspects of the CVTAE model including beliefs, emotions, and intentions. The first RM-MANCOVA model included control, intrinsic value, and extrinsic value beliefs; model two included the emotions enjoyment, boredom, anxiety, and shame; and model three, an RM-ANCOVA, included intentions. Any significant effects were followed up with an individual analysis of variance (ANOVA) model using Sidak post-hoc testing to identify where differences might be occurring. The method is recommended given its conservative nature with a smaller sample size, large number of variables, and uneven groups [36]. All adjusted mean score differences were used to probe interactions and mean trends, with the partial eta squared (η_p²) scores used to determine effect sizes.

To evaluate RQ3, multiple hierarchical regression models were tested to explore the relationships posited within CVTAE, regarding the relationships between control and value beliefs, emotions, and intentions. One model was tested for each of the five content unit areas, with intentions as the outcome. In step 1 of the model, the control, intrinsic value, and extrinsic value beliefs were input as predictors, followed by the four emotions (enjoyment, boredom, anxiety, and shame) in step 2 of the model. The covariates included in each step of the model were the coded class sections, to account for potential differences based on class. The hierarchical regression analysis generates two primary results including (a) statistical results for the model fit of the data, and (b) significant pathway relationships [36]. The model evaluation includes f-test statistics, unstandardized and standardized coefficients (β) based on p-values (<0.05), and effect size by variance accounted for (R²) and change in explained variance (ΔR²) for the hierarchical analysis [36,37].

6. Results

All descriptive statistics by unit and variable can be found in

Table 1. Mean scores and standard deviations for each variable by PE unit content area.

	CON	IV	EV	ENJ	BOR	SHA	ANX	INT
Volleyball	3.10 (0.40) *	3.34 (0.77) *	3.81 (0.78) *	3.99 (0.84) *	2.39 (0.88)	1.87 (0.81)	1.84 (0.85)	4.30 (1.90) *
Spikeball	3.09 (0.29)	3.07 (0.82)	3.80 (0.68) *	3.78 (0.70) *	2.59 (0.82)	2.05 (0.81)	2.08 (0.78)	4.14 (1.38)
Adv. Ed.	2.97 (0.33)	3.19 (0.99)	3.57 (0.64)	3.77 (0.94)	2.66 (1.11)	2.05 (0.84)	2.19 (0.69)	4.68 (1.67) *
Yoga	3.04 (0.43)	3.14 (0.94)	3.49 (0.75)	3.51 (0.99)	2.61 (1.10)	2.42 (1.02)	2.22 (0.89)	4.05 (1.73)
Drumfit	3.03 (0.27)	2.69 (0.82)	3.44 (0.89)	2.87 (0.93)	3.20 (0.98) *	2.52 (1.19) *	2.45 (0.92) *	3.20 (1.82)

Note. Adv. Ed. = adventure education; CON = control beliefs; IV = intrinsic value beliefs; EV = extrinsic value beliefs; ENJ = enjoyment; BOR = boredom; SHA = shame; ANX = anxiety; INT = intentions for future participation. CON, IV, EV, ENJ, BOR, SHA, and ANX were measured on a 5-point scale; INT was measured on a 7-point scale. * significant differences compared to other units (p < 0.05).

. In addition, each multi-item measure, for each unit time point, met and/or exceeded the reliability score criteria (α > 0.70). To address RQ1 and RQ2, a series of RM-MANCOVA were tested for each of the CVTAE variable sections, including control-value beliefs, emotions, and intentions amongst each of the five content units. Each individual RM-MANCOVA showed nonsignificant Box’s Tests of Equality of Covariance (p > 0.05). These results suggest that the groups tested shared equal covariances, had no major differences and can be compared with confidence [36]. Both main effects and interactions were tested by time (unit) and self-reported gender (male and female). In all of the models tested, no differences by self-reported gender were identified within any unit or among the variables tested. First, to address RQ1, statistical differences were identified between PE content units for all three sections of variables. For the control-value beliefs, an overall within-subject effect over time was found (Wilk’s Λ = 0.797, F(12, 750) = 5.574, p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.07). Univariate follow-up scores showed that the perceived intrinsic value for the PE unit of modified volleyball was significantly higher compared to that of the spikeball (p = 0.006) and drumfit (p < 0.001) units. Also, it was found that all units had statistically higher intrinsic value over the drumfit unit (p < 0.001). For extrinsic value, students also reported statistically higher scores for modified volleyball as compared to adventure education (p = 0.012), yoga (p < 0.001), and drumfit (p = 0.001). In addition, the extrinsic value for spikeball was reported to be significantly higher as compared to those for adventure education (p = 0.007), yoga (p = 0.001), and drumfit (p < 0.001). No other unit differences were identified.

Next, for emotions, a statistical main effect for time was also identified (Wilk’s Λ = 0.631, F(16, 860) = 8.724, p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.11). Univariate follow-up analysis showed statistical differences for all four emotions. Enjoyment was reported as statistically higher for modified volleyball compared to spikeball (p = 0.019), yoga (p < 0.001), and drumfit (p < 0.001). Additionally, enjoyment was statistically higher for both spikeball and adventure education as compared to yoga (p = 0.018; p = 0.042) and drumfit (p < 0.001; p < 0.001). For boredom, similar opposing trends were identified. Boredom was reported to be statistically lower for modified volleyball as compared to spikeball (p = 0.024), adventure education (p = 0.041), and drumfit (p < 0.001). Additionally, all units were reported as having statistically lower boredom than drumfit (p < 0.001). Next, anxiety was reported to be statistically lower for modified volleyball as compared to all other units (p < 0.010). Both spikeball (p = 0.005) and adventured education (p = 0.043) identified less anxiety as compared to drumfit. For shame, it was reported that modified volleyball was statistically lower than spikeball (p = 0.026), yoga (p < 0.001), and drumfit (p < 0.001). Spikeball was identified to have statistically less shame reported as compared to yoga (p = 0.008) and drumfit (p = 0.005). This was also true for adventure education, having less shame as compared to yoga (p = 0.003) and drumfit (p = 0.009) also.

Lastly, for reported intention differences between units, some similar but differing theoretical trends emerged as compared to control-value beliefs and emotions. First, an overall main effect for time was identified (Wilk’s Λ = 0.644, F(4, 68) = 9.411, p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.36). Univariate analysis revealed that intention reported for playing modified volleyball was statistically higher than that for drumfit (p < 0.001), but statistically lower than that for adventure education (p = 0.028). In fact, the intention for participation for adventure education was statistically higher than all other four units reported (p < 0.05). All units were reported to have higher intention as compared to drumfit overall (p < 0.001). No significant findings were identified between the other units.

The second phase of the analysis (RQ3) was intended to test the theoretical underpinnings of CVTAE, which focused on the relationships between control-value beliefs and emotions on the intention to participate. Within each unit, a separate hierarchical regression was conducted to explore the factors related to explaining reports of intention. All regression results can be found in

Table 2. Summary of hierarchical regression models for intention to participate for each PE unit.

Predictor	b (SE)	β	t	p-Value	Sr2	R2	ΔR2	F
INT1 (Volleyball)
Step 1						0.584	n/a	38.959 **
CON	0.468 (0.368)	0.098	1.272	0.208	0.009
IV	1.855 (0.196)	0.748	9.451	<0.001	0.559
EV	0.100 (0.186)	0.041	0.538	0.592	0.001
Step 2						0.634	0.070 *	21.547 **
CON	0.280 (0.369)	0.059	0.760	0.450	0.003
IV	1.382 (0.278)	0.558	4.972	<0.001	0.312
EV	−0.116 (0.186)	−0.048	−0.625	0.534	−0.002
ENJ	0.776 (0.291)	0.344	2.668	0.010	0.119
BOR	−0.006 (0.307)	−0.003	−0.032	0.975	−0.000
SHA	−0.520 (0.334)	−0.223	−1.557	<0.001	−0.050
ANX	−0.617 (0.307)	−0.275	−2.010	0.124	−0.076
INT2 (Spikeball)
Step 1						0.281	n/a	8.863 **
CON	1.053 (0.504)	0.218	2.090	0.040	0.071
IV	0.656 (0.180)	0.387	3.650	0.001	0.150
EV	0.314 (0.216)	0.155	1.454	0.151	0.026
Step 2						0.347	0.066	4.869 **
CON	0.959 (0.602)	0.199	1.594	0.116	0.040
IV	0.232 (0.266)	0.137	0.871	0.387	0.019
EV	0.106 (0.257)	0.052	0.411	0.683	0.003
ENJ	0.487 (0.373)	0.249	1.306	0.196	0.063
BOR	−0.136 (0.247)	−0.081	−0.549	0.585	−0.007
SHA	−0.093 (0.351)	−0.049	−0.263	0.793	−0.003
ANX	−0.161 (0.332)	−0.091	−0.485	0.629	0.009
INT3 (Adv. Ed.)
Step 1						0.612	n/a	35.722 **
CON	0.183 (0.400)	0.037	0.452	0.649	0.002
IV	1.088 (0.134)	0.648	8.093	<0.001	0.425
EV	0.730 (0.208)	0.281	3.515	0.001	0.180
Step 2						0.703	0.091 *	21.663 **
CON	0.231 (0.388)	0.046	0.591	0.555	0.003
IV	0.451 (0.251)	0.269	1.799	0.047	0.136
EV	0.659 (0.199)	0.254	3.319	0.001	0.124
ENJ	0.170 (0.301)	0.096	0.565	0.574	0.009
BOR	−0.497 (0.303)	−0.332	−1.642	0.105	0.152
SHA	−0.575 (0.272)	−0.288	−2.109	0.039	−0.148
ANX	−0.464 (0.325)	−0.192	−1.430	0.158	−0.083
INT4 (Yoga)
Step 1						0.584	n/a	31.796 **
CON	0.437 (0.391)	0.108	1.117	0.268	0.012
IV	1.409 (0.168)	0.765	8.366	<0.001	0.558
EV	0.502 (0.192)	0.218	2.618	0.011	0.048
Step 2						0.631	0.047	15.623 **
CON	0.522 (0.392)	0.129	1.331	0.188	0.017
IV	0.826 (0.322)	0.448	2.568	0.006	0.221
EV	0.543 (0.192)	0.236	2.826	0.006	0.065
ENJ	0.777 (0.429)	0.445	1.812	0.049	0.199
BOR	−0.085 (0.333)	0.054	−0.254	0.800	0.003
SHA	−0.283 (0.337)	−0.167	−0.839	0.405	0.037
ANX	−0.457 (0.337)	−0.237	−1.375	0.396	0.069
INT5 (Drumfit)
Step 1						0.685	n/a	49.197 **
CON	−0.1878 (0.488)	−0.279	−3.847	<0.001	0.072
IV	1.884 (0.157)	0.851	12.013	<0.001	0.534
EV	0.626 (0.150)	0.307	4.163	<0.001	0.076
Step 2						0.795	0.111 **	35.499 **
CON	−2.680 (0.472)	−0.398	−5.683	<0.001	0.118
IV	1.079 (0.256)	0.487	4.211	<0.001	0.201
EV	0.403 (0.142)	0.197	2.829	0.006	0.037
ENJ	1.267 (0.334)	0.643	3.796	<0.001	0.283
BOR	−0.621 (0.325)	0.332	−1.909	0.061	0.110
SHA	−0.281 (0.198)	−0.185	−1.425	0.159	0.031
ANX	−0.196 (0.178)	−0.099	−1.103	0.274	0.008

Note. INT 1–5 = Intention for each of the five units in this order: (1) modified volleyball, (2) spikeball, (3) adventure education, (4) yoga, and (5) drumfit. CON = control beliefs; ENJ = enjoyment; BOR = boredom; SHA = shame; ANX = anxiety; b (SE) = unstandardized regression coefficient and standard error; β = standardized regression coefficient; t = t-score; R² = variance accounted for; ΔR² = change in variance accounted for. ** p < 0.001; * p < 0.01.

. Of note, all regression models showed statistical significance for both steps 1 and 2 of each model, as identified by the significant F-score.

Going from unit to unit, the results for modified volleyball showed that in steps 1 and 2, intrinsic value (β = 0.748; β = 0.558) was maintained as a significant factor as well as enjoyment (β = 0.334), with a positive association, and anxiety (β = −0.223) was maintained with a negative association in step 2. Overall, this final model accounted for just over 70% of the associated variance. For spikeball, step 1 of the model showed significant positive associations with control (β = 0.218) and intrinsic value (β = 0.387) for intention to participate; however, these were not maintained into step 2, and no emotional predictors were found. Overall, this model accounted for approximately 35% of the variance. For model three, regarding the adventure education unit, it was found that both intrinsic (β = 0.648; β = 0.269) and extrinsic (β = 0.281; β = 0.254) values were maintained as significant relationships in steps 1 and 2 of the model for intention to participate. Also, in step 2, a negative association with shame (β = −0.288) was identified. Overall, this model accounted for approximately 70% of the variance. Next, for model four regarding the yoga PE unit, both the intrinsic (β = 0.765; β = 0.448) and extrinsic (β = 0.218; β = 0.236) values were maintained as significant relationships in steps 1 and 2. In step 2 of this model, it was also found that enjoyment had a positive significant relationship with intention. Overall, this model accounted for approximately 63% of the variance. Lastly, the fifth and final model regarding the intention to participate in drumfit showed that control (β = −0.279; β = −0.398) had a significant negative relationship with intention, and intrinsic (β = 0.851; β = 0.487) and extrinsic (β = 0.307; β = 0.197) values were significantly positively related to intention in steps 1 and 2 of the model. Within step 2, enjoyment was found to have a positive and significant relationship with intention (β = 0.643), and boredom was on the cusp of significance (p = 0.061). Overall, this model accounted for nearly 80% of the variance.

7. Discussion

Grounded in the CVTAE, the purpose of this study was to investigate student responses for their motivational beliefs (perceived control and value), emotions, and intentions for future activity as it pertained to specific PE content areas. Given the wide scope of content offered in PE, it was important to evaluate student beliefs by content area within the PE curriculum. Thus, all constructs were compared across each unit, as well as relationships within each unit, to gain a better understanding of the content differences and motivational factors toward intention within each unit. Overall, the five PE units experienced by students were not all perceived as equal in terms of their motivational and emotional experiences. Results showed that beliefs, emotions, and future intentions for participation differed based on PE content. These results highlight both the potential positive and negative impact that content choices that PE teachers make can have on students’ emotions and intentions.

First, looking across the PE units explored in this study, it is fair to say that not all PE unit areas are perceived the same by students. What might be considered as the more traditional content unit, modified volleyball, was generally viewed positively as compared to the other units when considered the control-value beliefs and emotions reported. There are likely a few explanations for this. First, students in high school have been conditioned in previous years as to ‘what PE is’, and this content area likely affirms and embodies these beliefs and students feel more comfortable with this content [26,38]. In addition, the unit did include many modifications as compared to what the parent version [39] of volleyball might be, which could include games attempting to follow the full and exact rules of volleyball, or other common techniques like large group play (i.e., eight versus eight per side during game play). Modifying an activity or game concept to improve student success, participation levels, and boost perceived enjoyment and value does appear to have a significant positive association for the in-class PE experience [25,40]. In addition, the activity of spikeball (which is considered to be within the same game category type as volleyball) [39], also maintained relatively high scores in terms of enjoyment and value, and lower on the negative emotional experience scale, overall. This activity type aligns well with recent calls in research for more activities that are less traditional, more contemporary in terms of their popularity, and in the scope of activities that can be easily played and enjoyed outside of school [9,26,40]. In previous research, net-wall games like volleyball and spikeball were identified as the top non-team sport games category taught by a sample of U.S. PE teachers [40].

Similarly, Banville and colleagues [26] pointed out that teacher decisions for PE content choices and student choices in free time activities did not align with PE teachers’ selection of traditional team sports and fitness/physical activity promotion activities. Students preferred small-sided games, dual activities, and even some fitness, but also more individual and contemporary types of activities. In fact, over 60% of high school students reported not participating in team games outside of school, but did report biking/cycling (51%), dance (36%), swimming (31%), and even skateboarding (19%) as the most frequent activities in their community. Beyond reports of high perceived control and value for modified volleyball and spikeball, students reported the adventure education unit as high in perceived intrinsic value, enjoyment, and intention as well. This particular unit included activities that were not identified by a single sport topic, but an overarching theme of cooperation, teamwork, and self-challenge. These activities include hiking, geocaching, and team building challenges, to name a few. In most circumstances, these activities were completed outdoors, outside of the normal gym and classroom setting, and included the opportunity for students to participate in small groups at a self-guided pace.

The positive results of this particular ‘non-traditional’ PE unit seem to align and be well-supported by the previous literature [41]. First, this unit represents an opposition to the traditional sport and instructional approach of previous decades, which has been shown to turn students off from PE and contribute to negative trends in PE/PA attitudes and behaviors [6,11,38]. Secondly, the evidence suggests the content may lend itself to autonomy-supportive instruction which welcomes greater engagement from students, a greater sense of relevance and ownership, as well as a more well-rounded approach that can allow individuals of varying abilities, interests, and gender to get involved [20,33,41]. Thirdly, and interestingly enough, it appears that a connection might exist between content type and instructional type. While this relationship was not tested in this study, it appears that potentially promoting non-traditional activities like outdoor pursuits and those with less identified specific physical skill competencies may assist teachers in using more student-centered and autonomy-supportive practices [38,41]. In fact, Hodges and colleagues [40] confirmed that team sports were the most reported content by teachers, and direct instruction and/or no planned instructional models were the highest reported strategies. These assumptions align with previous research on PE teachers’ use of the Spectrum of Teaching Styles. For example, despite being trained in a series of teacher- and student-centered instructional strategies and direct/indirect styles, teachers overwhelmingly stick with command and practice teaching styles when teaching their students [42]. Thus, there is reason to believe that traditional content choices may paralyze instructors into sticking to a traditional teaching approach, but in opposition, non-traditional activities may expand instruction and model use [22,26,40].

Of note, the control beliefs reported across the unit were not statistically different, and for the most part, were reported relatively similarly across unit types in terms of mean scores. In addition, within each unit regression model, control was not significantly associated with intention. In fact, within the drumfit regression model, the perceived control beliefs were a significant negative predictor of intention. This is an important finding that aligns with some recent research [9,12] that suggests that while having some perceived control or competence is likely foundational for engagement in an activity, it is not the sole significant contributor that has been reported historically [3,4,17]. In other words, being highly skilled and competent may not be as important to students’ actions and enjoyment, especially when considering the wide array of activities they experience during their PE curriculum. For example, despite students reporting nearly identical control abilities for the modified volleyball and drumfit units, for example, the emotional and value beliefs for these activities were significantly different. These differences appeared to either boost or negate the positive learning experience in PE and intention outside of PE. This work aligns with the questioning of physical literacy achievement and lifetime activity behavior [1]. For example, if PE teachers design a PE curriculum that would ultimately lead to physical literacy (i.e., specific skills, knowledge, and abilities for certain content areas), yet these content areas do not align with student interest and relevance, then achieving the outcomes (mainly competence) for physical literacy may be meaningless in the long run. That is not to say fundamental skills are not essential for youth to learn, but practitioners need to identify and strongly consider student value for and of learning in PE, and the emotional experience of students which is critical to out-of-school activity behaviors [12,13,21].

Within the regression analysis, it was consistently identified that, regardless of the unit type, the promotion of intrinsic and extrinsic value was essential for enforcing intention beliefs in that respective content area. As described within CVTAE [18], intrinsic value is considered the belief related to genuine interest regardless of outcome or reward. Similarly, extrinsic value is considered the belief related to seeking achievement, finding utility in the tasks, and/or meeting externally regulated expectations such as grades [13,43]. Two important considerations can be garnered from these findings; the first is that promoting value of content in the field of PE is critical, and the second, that the central message delivered to students about the value of PE cannot simply be that getting active makes a student healthy. Previous research shows that greater personal relevance in PE content, and PE teacher promotion, can lead to more engagement and learning [21], and is quite necessary for emotional engagement with the subject [19]. When exploring college students’ retrospective beliefs about the value of their high school PE experience, intrinsic value (not extrinsic value) for PE was significantly related to increasing young adults’ positive PA attitudes, reducing negative PA attitudes, and positively improving both physical self-concept and leisure time PA [12]. Additionally, intrinsic value is highly related to the enjoyment of the activity and negatively associated with boredom and shame in the activity. In other words, developing intrinsic value can combat commonly reported negative emotions towards PE. In this study, shame and anxiety are linked to limited intrinsic value as well. Overall, the previous literature shows that instructional strategies like clarity of instruction, content development, and an array of instructional strategies will impact control beliefs; however, value beliefs seem to be more directly related to content choice (relevance) and the motivational climate [12,20,23]. In sum, our study aligns with the previous literature that suggests intention may be more anchored in value and emotion than previously identified.

8. Practical Implications

The results of this study suggest that teachers need to have more consideration in the content they select to teach in high school PE, as it can meaningfully impact student intentions. In alignment with the previous literature, teachers tend to select content they find interesting and meaningful with little regard to the interests and values of their students [40]. Similarly, despite reports of national samples [9,11,26], student interest and the actualized PE curriculum do not align. Students report wanting to see activities like biking, swimming, individual fitness (i.e., spinning and jogging), and leisure time activities such as dancing, skateboarding, and hiking. Additionally, it appears that students want and will achieve greater value for content if provided autonomy-supportive instruction and small group learning embedded in the more relevant tasks. Teachers should consider surveying student interests that are both within reason and that are culturally and community-relevant to students. Lastly, while developing competence is important, teachers need to spend more time promoting value, relevance, and positive emotional experiences if they intend to impact student intentions and activity choices after school and/or into adulthood. It is recommended that teachers take ‘emotional check-ins’ with students about how they are feeling and what they are finding to be meaningful [13]. In combination, teachers should gather students’ voice and choice in the curriculum [41] and pursue content areas outside the traditional norms of PE. This will require teachers to refine the purpose of PE and the strategies they embody about how to teach and what is worth teaching.

9. Limitations & Future Research

This study is not without limitations. First, the instructional strategies and lesson progressions were not captured in the current study; thus, less empirical evidence can be drawn from how the instruction of each content unit was delivered and if the impact was solely due to the content, the teaching strategies, or a combination of the two. The evidence provided in this study does not suggest that all PE content is taught well or poorly, but it may suggest that quality teaching of irrelevant content may be a short-sighted approach in PE, meaning that teachers may not be considering the negative impact of content choices despite their use of effective teaching practices. Thus, it is as important to teach content well as it is to select content that students value and connect with in PE. This may be derived from providing more choice of content, but more work is needed. Likewise, the testing of instructional models and other models-based practices on their ability to deliver content and impact students’ control-value beliefs and emotions is needed. Additionally, this study was done with one set of 9th grade students in one geographical area in the U.S. Studies that consider more contextual and demographic backgrounds are needed to further generalize these findings. Similarly, this study was conducted over one semester in PE, and thus is limited by the content selected by the teacher. In this study, the general intention for engaging in PA outside of school was adapted and used to evaluate intentions for specific activities related to the content units in PE. However, the evaluation of content-specific activity intentions may need further investigation for wording, frequency, and psychometric structure. Future research needs to consider more long-term evaluation of students’ experiences, within many PE content units that span one or more years of secondary PE. Lastly, more research questioning and testing the idea of achieving physical literacy goals is needed, as learning skills and achieving grades may align with attaining physical literacy, but it is unclear if attainment truly leads to behavior and motivation for the activity outside of PE.

10. Conclusions

Students’ emotional connection to PE content areas appears to be vital to their motivation, engagement, and intentions to engage in the activity outside of PE. Emotions are developed by the beliefs of control and value within and about the content, and these beliefs may directly align with learning and reaching achievement in PE. Despite these important personal and emotional outcomes needed in PE, teachers continue to teach PE content that may or may not be relevant to PE. Although research has traditionally explored PE as a subject area, the nuanced experience of students within the plethora of PE content areas within a single curricular experience needs more consideration. The findings of this work support the notion that content choice has a great influence on the perceived value, relevance, and emotional experiences. Considerations for content and students’ emotional beliefs need more support to improve compulsory PE for secondary students.