"Εύαθλον": Αναπτύσσοντας την ηθικότητα των μαθητών μέσω της Φυσικής Αγωγής στην Α/θμια και Β/θμια Εκπαίδευση, με εργαλεία μικτής μάθησης.

Abstract

Students' moral education appears increasingly necessary in our days, as the cultural and moral frame of modern life has compressed moral values like respect, personal and social responsibility, fairness, solidarity, tolerance, acceptance of diversity. The development of moral-active citizen is considered as main objective in policies of European Union and United Nations Organization, so that intense moral decline phenomena of our days could be faced. Socrates argued that “Virtue is teachable”, since parameters of moral character such as empathy, collaboration culture, problem solving skills are being developed throughout all our lifespam. Sport engagement often emphasizes in cognitive and kinetic skills overlooking social, sentimental and psychological skills. Thus, just participating in sport does not necessarily promote moral development. Consequently, sport programs have to incorporate strategies directed at the development of moral values and moral reasoning. Social scientists argue that, it is not possible to develop personal and social responsibility in students, just by oral instructions. Only “learn-by-doing” methods could help students transfer the developed skills, in different contexts of their lives. Physical Education has been an outstanding setting for applying moral development strategies, due to the opportunities it provides for reflection, role playing, responsibility building, solidarity and collaboration culture. For this reason, over the past two decades, moral development programs were applied in Physical Education, such as the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model (T.P.S.R.) and the Sport Education Model (S.E.M.). Solidarity, honesty, fairness, responsibility, collaboration, respect of self and others, are moral values that should be strengthened during a school PE session.

“Evathlon” could be described as an educational program aiming in developing those moral values, in the context of school Physical Education and specifically through K5 to K9 grades. By triggering students’ critical thinking and critical judgment on earlier experiences, as well as by engaging them in specifically planned sport experiences, morality development is sought. Program’s main objective is to have a positive impact on students’ social behavior during sport events, as well as in other contexts of their social life. Educative interventions in the setting of school football events have been planned to gradually develop K7 to K9 students’ morality.

Being based on social cognitive theory and on structural learning theory, the interventions combine above-mentioned theories to provide better social interaction and develop moral reasoning in an optimal way. Students are being inspired and motivated by their “sport role models" using interactive tools (e.g. videos, word clouds, quizzes, comics) in asynchronous e-learning environment (LMS Edmodo) and then during school football events they experience in practice respect in rules, interact, develop social skills, confront moral dilemma situations and cultivate their moral reasoning. Finally, aiming for K5 and K6 students’ moral preparation, so that they are prompted in the adoption of legitimate behaviors in school sport activities but also in other contexts of their social life, experiential workshops run along with students’ attendance and active participation in school sport events.

The experiential workshops focus in the educative spirit any school sport event has to fulfill, following the circle of “learn-by-doing” process that develops according to Kolb’s four stages model. Initially by use of brainstorming techniques, students focus in experiences derived from previous sport events. Resulting ideas will be used to build moral dilemma stories around the two central meanings of “Nike” (victory) and “Agonas” (competition). Students grab the opportunity to form - between a number of choices - the end of each story through interactive storytelling cards. Combined team building activities foster fair play values, transforming students’ attitudes in a positive way. Physical Education and school sport events constitute ideal environments for experiential and moral dilemma situations, under conditions of safe and moderate competition. Moreover, football is a sport of moderate bodily contact, offering lots of occasions for social interactions that increase the potential of positive, as well as antisocial and illegitimate behaviors. The fact that football has been associated with low morality levels, was also taken into consideration.

The present program innovates, as by using blended learning techniques, it gives students a central role in the educational process, developing their experiences and facilitating their team-based approach to knowledge. Sport role models and specially designed “learn-by-doing” experiences promote the adoption of desirable fair play behaviors. Decisive for fulfilling the aim of present program, is the carefully designed educational process, which actively involves students in all stages, strengthening their engagement in it. Starting from questioning fair play rules in the asynchronous elearning environment of LMS Edmodo, learning process is completed through experiences based on the educational profit that results from critical reflection, role playing, solving problems via error-correcting and occasions for adoption of “desirable behaviors”. At the same time, program planning permits its feasible adjustment in the context of any individual or team sport. Its positive effect in the improvement of student social behavior is expected to be significant, confirming the effectiveness of the intervention and prompting its extensive adaptation in other teaching areas that have been outlined for school Physical Education.