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Evaluating the Impact of Innovative Sports Curriculum on Student Motivation and Physical Fitness
- 1 Ningxia Normal University, Ningxia, China
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This paper compares the effect of a novel sports curriculum on undergraduate student motivation and physical activity at a large university. In the mixed-methods study, both quantitative and qualitative data from pre- and post-intervention tests and questionnaires are analyzed. This showed that the new curriculum had a strong effect on intrinsic motivation: in the experimental group, students scored their motivation levels after intervention as 4.5 on a 5-point scale, as opposed to 3.2 at baseline. Fitness measurements were also up: average VO2 max grew from 32.5 to 38.7 ml/kg/min and flexibility scores from 18.2 cm to 24.6 cm. Differences in sex and major also indicated that male students did best on strength-based tasks and female students had better flexibility gains. It was also true that students in physically demanding subjects like sports science performed better than students from non-physical disciplines. These results demonstrate the efficacy of new approaches to instruction in terms of student engagement and physical health, and that it is crucial to adapt sport curricula to different student groups. The report provides information that can be useful for universities if they want to enhance physical education courses for longer-term health and fitness practices.
Keywords
innovative sports curriculum, student motivation, physical fitness, undergraduate students, curriculum evaluation
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Cite this article
Liang,X. (2025). Evaluating the Impact of Innovative Sports Curriculum on Student Motivation and Physical Fitness. Journal of Education and Educational Policy Studies,3(1),29-33.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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Journal：Journal of Education and Educational Policy Studies
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