Relationships between social interactions and acquisitions: do mixed methods provide added value in physical education contexts?

ABSTRACT

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.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In reference to Aronson’s historical account (Aronson and Patnoe 2011), Jigsaw is a CL environment in which students are arranged into heterogeneous teams, but are homogeneous between themselves according to gender, race and personal academic performance considerations to reach a common goal. To begin with, the instructor divides the material to be learned, asking team members to endorse their individual accountability to learn one piece of the puzzle on a specific station (Expert Group). Then, expert group members are invited to return to their team to teach partners in jigsaw groups the knowledge and skills they learned, and prepare for a test on all the material.