Formation Of Students Personal Physical Culture In Preparation For Physical Fitness Tests

Abstract

This article presents the experience in forming the students’ personal physical culture through implementation of new types of physical training and sporting activities. In that context, the implementation of the “Ready for Labour and Defence (GTO)” physical evaluation programme seems to be a new promising and pertinent activity of higher education institutions. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the training system in question for the proper formation of physical culture of students on the basis of the contents and requirements of the “Ready for Labour and Defence” programme qualifying standards, questionnaire surveys among the students of four higher education institutions were carried out before and after our pedagogical experiment. As a part of the study, an academic programme in “Physical Education” (64 hours) was created for 32 training sessions based of the content of the “Ready for Labour and Defence” programme and focused on the formation of “Personal physical culture” of the students involved. The programme was implemented in cooperation with the second- and third-year students. The implementation of the training technology provided an increase in the formation level of some components of personal physical culture in the second- and third-year students. After the completion of the research, it was found that most students (59%) had a high level of their personal physical culture formation (increase by 21%); the rest of the students (41%) having a medium level thereof (increase by 18%), which demonstrated the effectiveness of implementation of the above-mentioned Physical Education Experimental Programme.

Keywords: Students of institutions of higher education (university students)personal physical cultureGTO physical evaluation programmephysical fitness

Introduction

The analysis of the latest scientific research enables us to observe that the challenge of formation of the personal physical culture of the younger generation, including college and university students, is also one of the chief concerns of academicians and practitioners (Vilensky et al., 1979; Gontar, 2008; Kishinsky, 2013; Kuramshin and Gadelshin, 2014). At the present time, however, one can see the ambivalent attitude of some university students towards physical activities and sports. A lot of young adults are unwilling to attend training in the Physical Education programmes within the curriculum framework at their educational institutions. The training sessions at institutions of higher education are mostly carried out under a conventional scheme and with the use of a classical set of basic physical education equipment, which does not contribute to the physical fitness of the students, and the goal of the formation of students’ personal physical culture cannot be achieved altogether. The inclusion of physical education electives into the curriculum by taking into account the specific interests and priorities of the students willing to engage in their favourite forms of physical activity is now facing a number of problems caused both by the optional attendance of the electives and higher education institutions’ impossibility of ensuring the proper conditions for carrying out training sessions in accordance with their students’ individual requirements.

Problem Statement

A systemic solution with respect to the issues of formation of students’ personal physical culture can be found through restructuring the existent system of sporting and physical training and health improvement activities of university students by introducing changes to the content of the academic course of Physical Education. This should happen with due regard to the up-to-date requirements of the Development strategy of physical education and sports in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2020 and the requirements of the All-Russian “Ready for Labour and Defence” physical evaluation programme (GTO).

In the national pedagogical science, the issue of formation of students’ personal physical culture is not new and remains controversial in some respects. The basic foundations of the nature and the content of personal physical culture have been studied by М.Y. Vilensky, Y.A. Kuramshin, L.I. Lubysheva and others (Pravdov et al., 2012; Pravdov et al., 2015; Lubysheva et al., 2014). However, there has been no scientific research related to the basic theory and methodology of implementation of the models of personal physical culture formation in the system of physical education of university students with due regard for the implementation of the GTO physical evaluation programme. They particularly include: the content and methods of support of students’ physical training and health improvement activities and sporting activities; the indicators of the level of personal physical culture; the structuring and selection of appropriate learning materials in the academic discipline “Physical Education”

Research Questions

The analysis of the contents of existing university programmes in physical education shows that they do not fully comply with the requirements of the Federal Law “On Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation”, the Executive Order of the RF President “On the All-Russian physical evaluation programme “Ready for Labour and Defence” (Order №575 of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, 2014). During the transition period, the modernization of educational programmes in physical culture is characterized by inclusion of the requirements for university students to pass the relevant fitness tests of the GTO physical evaluation programme into the educational programmes as well as by development of theoretical foundation thereof. However, some programmes do not contain the main line of the development of physical education of young people presented as a process of formation of their personal physical culture (Karpov, 2007).

As one may see from the analysis of the theory and methods of physical education and sports at the institutions of higher education, there are some contradictions. First of all, there are contradictions between the state requirements regarding the targeting of the system of physical education of university students with due account for the requirements of the GTO physical evaluation programme and the still insufficient degree of development of forms, means and methods of physical training and health improvement activities as well as sporting activities in the institutions of higher education. Second, contradictions are between the potential of the means of training in preparation of students for the physical fitness tests of the GTO physical evaluation programme in the process of physical education and the lack of a proper model of methodological support for formation of students’ personal physical culture.

Purpose of the Study

The implementation of a model, new forms, methods and means of physical education on the basis of standard requirements of the GTO physical evaluation programme seems to be very promising and important from several points of view. First of all, this results from the fact that the GTO programme embraces all age groups of the country’s population (aged from 6 to 70 and older) and creates the unique conditions for young people to become motivated to participate in physical training and sports as well as to be interested in participation in All-Russian sports activities and competitions (Mazyrina et al., 2014; Makeeva et al., 2015; Karpov, 2013). It also promotes a sense of responsibility of the students for their health not only to themselves but to other people, the desire to be with the best, to be informed of a healthy lifestyle and to lead healthy lives, to train for passing and pass the fitness tests of the GTO physical evaluation programme. That is why, the development of a model of students’ personal physical culture formation in the system of training sessions in the academic discipline “Physical Education” offered by higher education institutions and developed on the basis of the GTO programme including the preparation for passing the physical fitness tests seems to be an urgent and socially important task. The accomplishment of this task will help the students to improve their personal physical culture level.

Research objective is development and experimental validation of a model of students’ personal physical culture formation on the basis of a system of physical training aimed at preparation for passing the relevant fitness tests of the GTO physical evaluation programme.

Research Methods

In order to achieve the goals and objectives that were the targets for this research, a preliminary questionnaire survey was carried out among the students of four universities: Russian State Social University (Moscow), Ivanovo State University, Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology (Ivanovo), and Armavir State Pedagogical University (Armavir). 358 first- through fourth-year students were surveyed.

In the course of the research, a model of formation of students’ personal physical culture was developed. The destination block determines the main benchmarks of personal physical culture development. The content is based on the social mandate of the state and society, the relevant requirements of the Federal State Educational Standards for higher education, and the GTO physical evaluation programme. The model determines both the main objective, i.e. formation of personal physical culture, and the tasks to be solved to achieve it.

Organization and Content: this part describes the stages of the process of personal physical culture formation: determination of motivation and objectives, determination of content and methods, determination of assessment criteria and analysis of results.

The Motivation and Objectives block denotes the tasks to be solved to improve motivation, support the need for physical activity, and encourage physical activity necessary to maintain good health.

The Content and Methods block contains a 32-hour physical training programme aimed at preparing students for the tests of the GTO programme during 3 semesters.

The Result Analysis and Assessment Criteria block is applicable for carrying out sporting events, including the competitions held within the framework of GTO physical evaluation programme, as well as monitoring the levels of personal physical culture development of the students involved. Furthermore, this block contains the description of forms, methods and means of physical education.

The model also includes a Result Assessment block in which the components of formation of students’ personal physical culture are defined. They are: the development of students’ knowledge in the field of personal physical culture and characteristics of the means, forms and methods of preparation for the fitness tests within the framework of the GTO programme.

Physical perfectness as a component of personal physical culture is presented as one of orienting points to which people aspire in their physical, spiritual and moral development.

The motivation and value orientation include people’s interest in sports, health improvement, result orientation, self-esteem need, conviction of the necessity of physical activity. The social and spiritual orienting points include formation of aesthetics of sports and physical activities, the sense of beauty of the body, students’ commitment towards achieving objectives; sports and physical activities include promotion of a healthy life style and sport, field judge training and practical training in organizational work.

To implement the model, a special 64-hour sub-programme in formation of personal physical culture was developed and tested with second- and third-year students. This programme provides general description of the academic course of Physical Education and its content according to the Federal State Educational Standards across all aspects of theoretical and practical training consistent with the requirements of the GTO physical evaluation programme. The offered programme content is aimed at formation of students’ personal physical culture and its basic components appearing as an integrated indicator and the result of the implementation of the system of training sessions in institutions of higher education

Findings

The analysis of questionnaire responses shows that most students (95%) have no clear understanding of the term “personal physical culture”. Many respondents correlate it exclusively with their physical fitness levels (86%) and only 14% of the students interpret it in a broader sense, but along with this they cannot explain the meaning of the term more precisely. Moreover, according to their self-assessment, 42% of students assess their personal physical culture as inmate, 5% of the students believe their personal physical culture formation to be complete, and 53% of the respondents consider it to be insufficiently developed.

Furthermore, the analysis of questionnaire survey data found that, while they were studying, the students participated in various forms of athletic and recreational activities. A part of students participated in personal health improvement programmes (23%) and did at-home workouts (2%), participated in sporting events (28%), engaged in educational (21%) and outreach (7%) activities as well as instructorship (2%) in the field of physical culture and sports, organized sporting events (11%) or acted as on-field judges at competitive sporting events (6%).

Most students (82%) believe that their physical fitness levels are medium and 18% of the students have low physical fitness levels. In the opinion of 71% of the respondents, their athletic skills have been developed at a medium level, 17% of the students assess their athletic skills development as poor and only 12% of the students consider their athletic skills development to be high. In broad terms, 48% of the respondents declare that their physical fitness levels are low, 46% consider their fitness levels to be medium and 6 % believe such levels to be high. Almost half of the students consider their motivation and value orientation to carrying out physical activities to be medium (48%) and high (44%). At that, the results of self-assessment of motivation for regular physical exercises show that 24% of the students are highly motivated, 71% are moderately motivated and 5% are poorly motivated.

29% of the students demonstrate a high level of interest in physical activity but the majority of the students (71%) demonstrate a moderate level of interest. The degree of influence of the respondents’ own attitude towards carrying out physical activity is assessed as moderate by 86% and as high only by 8% of the students. A low level of conviction regarding the need and importance of carrying out physical activities is demonstrated by 17 % of the students, the most students (77%) have a medium level of such conviction. 32% of the respondents declare that they have a strong need for physical activity, 59% have a medium level thereof and 9% have little or no need for physical activity.

According to the replies to the list of issues related to the level of formation of social and spiritual values in the field of physical culture, 45% of university students declare that they attach a high importance to social and spiritual values, they are of a moderate importance for 41% and of low importance - for 14% of the respondents. The degree of influence of physical activities on formation of the moral component of personality is estimated high by 12% of the students; the majority (80%) estimate it as medium. According to 26% of the students, physical activities can contribute to aesthetic education to a high degree, 63% consider its influence to be medium and 11% of the respondents do not associate physical fitness with the aesthetic component of personal physical culture.

The development of diligence during the physical training session was assessed highly by 25% students, 20% of the respondents consider it to be low, and the majority (55%) consider it to be at a medium level. The level of importance of the process of shaping their world view as a component of personal physical culture during training sessions was assessed highly only by 6% of the students, 26% of the respondents consider it to be low, and the majority (68%) consider it to be medium. At that, 69% of the students believe that the content of physical training sessions at universities corresponds to a medium level with respect to the tasks related to education and promotion of the foundations for healthy lifestyles, and 31% of the respondents consider it to correspond to a high level.

As the survey results indicate, the majority of university students (over 70%) have reached a medium level of formation of the components of personal physical culture. A low assessment of their own physical fitness was discovered in 48% of the respondents. The students believe that physical activity has not much influence on developing diligence and shaping worldview, which can be explained by insufficiency of explanation of theoretical issues included in physical culture sessions.

Conclusion

The analysis of the results of implementation of the above-mentioned model of students’ personal physical culture shows that, while they were studying, most students gained a clear understanding of the term “Personal physical culture”. 89% of the students answered fully and comprehensively, i.e. by 45% more than the number of those who did in the first survey and only 11% of the respondents defined the essence of the concept incomprehensively. The implementation of the technology resulted in an increase in the level of formation of personal physical culture. The Physical Perfectness component was assessed at 64.3 points at the beginning of the experiment and at 85.4 after the experiment had been completed, which suggested the effectiveness of this model and the programme of personal physical culture formation.

The survey data show that most students (52%) consider their physical fitness to be at a medium level and 48% of the students assess their physical perfectness highly, which is by 14% higher than at the beginning of the research. The authors see evidence of that in a 13% increase in the number of students participating in various forms of athletic and recreational activities. The results include a 13% increase in the number of the students having positive motivation and value orientations towards physical activities and a 12% increase in the number of those with a high level of formation of social and spiritual values in the field of physical culture.

Upon completion of the research, it was found that most students (58%) corresponded to a high level of formation of personal physical culture (increase by 19%). Those who reached a medium level constituted 42% (increase by 12%). At the beginning of the pedagogical experiment, the level of formation of personal physical culture was assessed at 56.5 points. As a rule, it was due to high figures of motivation and value orientations and a low score given to physical perfectness. In the conclusion of the experiment, the level of formation of personal physical culture was assessed at 83.7 points due to a certain increase in the scores of physical perfectness and importance of social and spiritual values, which reflected the effectiveness of implementation of the model and the programme of personal physical culture formation.

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