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ATTITUDES OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARD THEIR
OBJECTIVE
PHYSICAL EDUCATION CLASSES IN TURKEY
Physical education (PE) includes a variety of objectives that promote social,
mental, spiritual and physical development of students and the achievement of these
objectives provides students with having desire to participate in physical education and
developing positive attitudes toward PE. It also plays a vital role in providing
opportunities to be active and providing educational experiences to choose active
lifestyles as adults for children (1). Therefore, information about students’ attitudes is
significantly necessary in order to perceive students’ feelings and their achievement
results in PE (2). These kinds of information are also helpful to determine the factors
making PE enjoyable for students and those factors affecting negatively upon their
attitudes (3).
Student’s attitudes toward physical education are clearly influenced by a variety
factors. These factors have been documented in a number of investigations (2, 4, 5, 6)
Major factors associated with positive and negative attitudes of students can be
categorized as curriculum designs, teaching methods, teacher behaviour, school
environment, students’ gender and family. With respect to gender, studies find many
similarities and differences in attitudes of students. For example, Stewart, Green and
Huelskamp (1991) found that boys liked physical education more than girls (7). Corbin
(2002) also found that girls were not interested in the same activities as boys (8). Social
and cultural differences also impact on students’ attitudes toward PE. Chung and Phillips
(2002) revealed that high school students from Taiwan had more positive attitudes toward