Cooperative versus competitive methodologies: Effects on motivation in PE students

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this research is to identify how competitive and cooperative games affect students’ motivation in Physical Education classes, at the stage of compulsory secondary education. Method: The necessary scientific information has been collected in databases such as Pubmed, Google Scholar, Dialnet, Scopus, and Web of Science. In order to obtain the data, the motivation questionnaire in Physical Education classes (CMEF) was applied in a compulsory secondary school in the city of Alicante. Results: Intrinsic motivation improvements were observed in all work groups. Significant differences were also observed in the increase of students’ intrinsic motivation who performed games with competition. Conclusions: Games are a good tool to improve student’s motivation, and competitive games significantly enhance intrinsic motivation in students.