Evaluation of teaching games to understand how to improve the motivation levels of children with special needs

Abstract

Research into the use of the teaching games for understanding model (TGfU) in education has mainly focussed on mainstream settings and with children who have not been formally diagnosed with having an additional or specific educational need (SEN). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the TGfU model through the introduction of a new physical activity into an SEN secondary school curriculum called Kin-Ball. Kin-ball was used as the medium in which the students with special needs were guided through the stages of the TGfU model and then each student reviewed their learning by completing a questionnaire after each lesson. The research problem was whether the TGfU model and its principles could have an impact on the motivation, engagement, and activity levels of the students with special needs. After a comprehensive literature review there have been very few research papers which have looked at this specific area with only one specific article on this subject coming from Malaysia (Ibrahim, 2021). The findings of this paper show that there was a positive change in the levels of motivation, engagement, and activity levels in a significant number of students who took part in the study. However, it is acknowledged this might have come about because of the introduction of Kin-Ball and not just as a result of introducing the TGfU model. It was also noted that this was a small-scale study and future research would focus on a larger number of students and across a range of curriculum activity areas. However, the paper advocates that physical education teachers who teach children with special needs should consider implementing a models-based approach at a suitable point during the academic year even as a pilot activity.