The effects of integrating geometry into physical education

Abstract

This study investigated the effects integrating geometry into physical education had on learning geometry concepts. Two fifth grade classes (N = 45) from an elementary school in La Crosse. Wisconsin were subjects in the study. Both classes received concurrent geometry instruction from their classroom teachers and gymnastics instruction from their physical education specialist. The physical education teacher taught a gymnastics unit integrated with geometry concepts to one class (n = 21) and a gymnastics only unit to the other class (n = 24). Each student took a 32- item geometry pretest before receiving instruction and a 32- item geometry posttest following instruction. The integrated groups' pretest mean score was 12.38 and posttest mean score was 25.29. The control groups' pretest mean score was 13.50 and posttest mean score was 20.96. An independent t-test for equality of means was used to determine if the groups' pretest scores differed. This test indicated no significant difference between the groups in the pretest (p > .05). An ANCOVA adjusted for the insignificant differences in pretest means and was used to determine if the groups' posttest scores were significantly different. It indicated that the groups' posttest scores were significantly different (p < .05). The results of this study indicate that integrating geometry into physical education increases geometry test scores