Students' Help Seeking during Physical Education

Seeking help with academic tasks has been regarded as an important strategy to enhance student learning (Newman, 1994; Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986). Seeking help is conceptualized as student-initiated efforts to secure task information or solicit advice when...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of teaching in physical education Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 368 - 384
Main Author Nye, Susan B
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Human Kinetics, Inc 01.07.2008
Subjects
Case Studies
Comparative Analysis
Gender Differences
Grounded Theory
Help Seeking
Interviews
Middle Schools
Physical Education
Qualitative Research
Research Design
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Summary:Seeking help with academic tasks has been regarded as an important strategy to enhance student learning (Newman, 1994; Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986). Seeking help is conceptualized as student-initiated efforts to secure task information or solicit advice when a deficiency in their understanding of the content exists (Newman & Schwager, 1995; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1986). An interpretive qualitative research design utilizing a case study approach was used to explore middle school students' help-seeking instances during their physical education classes. Ten students (6 females and 4 males) were selected from two middle schools. The students participated in two semistructured interviews regarding their help-seeking behaviors. Constant comparative analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Results indicated students would seek help to clarify or enhance understanding of an activity or to get a good grade and cited reluctance to seek help owing to their desire for independent mastery or the perceived risk of embarrassment in front of their peers.
ISSN:0273-5024
DOI:10.1123/jtpe.27.3.368