Students ’ opinions on motor activities in early school education

The aim of physical education in early school teaching is among others to stimulate students’ physical development, develop hygienic habits and arouse interest in various forms of motor activity [1], and the measure of effectiveness of this process should be the durability of health improving habits in further life [2]. Physical Education lessons, at this stage of education called motor activities, are the basic means to meet the above objectives. Despite the fact that motor activities in early grades have a fundamental significance for the comprehensive child development [3], they still strongly rely on the biotechnical version of physical education, as many early school education teachers do not understand fully the essence of contemporary physical education [4, 5]. For many pupils at this educational stage their attendance in Physical Education lessons is the only form of participation in organized physical activity. Therefore, motor activities should provide children with the opportunity for experiences of different kind [6]. It is also important to remember that lower grades pupils attend Physical Education classes mainly for pleasure, as well as for emotional and utilitarian reasons. In consideration of the above, designing motor activities one should plan such solutions as to provide children with joyful experiences and generate positive emotions. Considering the health aspect, Physical Education classes in this age group should as frequently as possible be run outdoors, which is clearly emphasised in core curriculum1. The aim of the research was to check the opinions of early school education pupils on motor activities. The research was to provide answers to the following more specific questions: 1. How do early school education pupils perceive the motor activities in which they participate? 2. What content of motor activities is preferred by pupils? 3. Does the age of the respondents differentiate their opinions on motor activities? Students’ opinions on motor activities in early school education


Introduction
The aim of physical education in early school teaching is among others to stimulate students' physical development, develop hygienic habits and arouse interest in various forms of motor activity [1], and the measure of effectiveness of this process should be the durability of health improving habits in further life [2].
Physical Education lessons, at this stage of education called motor activities, are the basic means to meet the above objectives.Despite the fact that motor activities in early grades have a fundamental significance for the comprehensive child development [3], they still strongly rely on the biotechnical version of physical education, as many early school education teachers do not understand fully the essence of contemporary physical education [4,5].For many pupils at this educational stage their attendance in Physical Education lessons is the only form of participation in organized physical activity.Therefore, motor activities should provide children with the opportunity for experi-ences of different kind [6].It is also important to remember that lower grades pupils attend Physical Education classes mainly for pleasure, as well as for emotional and utilitarian reasons.In consideration of the above, designing motor activities one should plan such solutions as to provide children with joyful experiences and generate positive emotions.Considering the health aspect, Physical Education classes in this age group should as frequently as possible be run outdoors, which is clearly emphasised in core curriculum 1 .
The aim of the research was to check the opinions of early school education pupils on motor activities.The research was to provide answers to the following more specific questions: 1. How do early school education pupils perceive the motor activities in which they participate?2. What content of motor activities is preferred by pupils? 3. Does the age of the respondents differentiate their opinions on motor activities?

Material and methods
The research covered 256 pupils from grades 1-3 in 64 randomly selected Cracow primary schools (among them 128 girls and 128 boys).During the research the total of 64 Physical Education lessons were run (21 in grade 1, 23 in grade 2 and 20 in grade 3).
In the studied grades, motor activities were carried out in gymnasiums, and were conducted only by teachers of early school education.The basic criterion of participants selection was the level of their motor skills and fitness.On consultation with the teacher two pairs were selected from each examined gradea girl and a boy, who represented different types of Physical Education lessons participants [7].One pair stood out among other pupils due to above average skills and fitness, and the other pair included pupils with a low level of fitness.Such a scenario of respondent selection resulted from the fact that good and weak students usually present different opinions on Physical Education lessons [8]."As the qualitative research resigns from sample representativeness (which allows for wide generalisations) as well as from reliability (which allows to repeat the research with the use of the same instrument), the selection is based only on grounds of merit" [9].What it means is that researchers usually decide to use target sample selection instead of random sample selection, characteristic of the quantitative research."However, it is always done after a thorough identification of the persons qualified for research" [10].
The empirical material was collected with the use of an open categorised interview as children at this age could find it difficult to freely report their own experiences and reflections on Physical Education lessons.The open categorised interview consisted in "asking mainly close ended questions and always (…) in accordance with previously prepared set, i.e. with obligation to ask them in the same order as in the questionnaire text and with no possibility to ask respondents additional questions" [11].
The interviews were carried out directly after motor activities, individually with each child, following the rules obliging in standard interviews, where "individuals give answers in nearly identical conditions, as a result the said answers are comparable: they can be counted and presented in the form of frequency distribution" [12].The utterances of the interviewees were record-ed with a dictaphone, to which all the respondents gave their consent.The questions asked to the pupils were carefully formulated "so that they did not exceed their mental level, range of vocabulary and language form" [11].The questions referred both to their feelings about Physical Education classes in which they participated and their general attitude towards class activities.In order to obtain reliable data the interview was organized in such a way that the pupils who finished their conversation with the interviewer could not communicate with the participants waiting for an interview.In this way the transfer of information between the interviewees was supposed to be eliminated as well as the influence of the answers provided by previous interviewees.The interview was conducted by the researcher.At the last stage of this part of research the recording was transcribed to prepare the obtained data for analysis and interpretation.
The results of the research were statistically processed with the use of SPSS 21 software (IBM Corp., 2012).The description of the qualitative data was presented with the use of contingency and percentage tables.Whereas to analyse the relationship between variable estimates (ordinal variables -pupils' age) and quantitative variables or variable estimates Spearman nonparametric rho correlation was applied [13].Statistically significant correlations at the level p < 0.05 were marked with one asterisk, and at the level p < 0.01 with two asterisks.

Results
The research revealed that most commonly classes were run in the form of motor plays and games (78.1%).There were also classes with team sports games and gymnastics.Therefore, students' opinions on Physical Education classes refer only to the said three kinds of activities, with the great majority of motor plays and games.It is worth noting at this point that the domination of this kind of activities at the early school education stage is fully justified (Table 1).
Irrespective of the type of motor activities run, nearly all the pupils (above 97%) in each age group were satisfied with their participation in Physical Education classes.Only few respondents at the age 7-8 and 8-9 did not like the PE classes.Such opinions were not recorded in the age group 9-10 but in this group a small percentage of the respondents were not able to precisely express their opinions on the said issue (Table 2).The majority of students while answering the question What did you like most in the PE lesson?gave really precise answers (Table 3).Indecisiveness while expressing the opinion on the structure of a PE lesson was more typical of students at the age 8-9 (30.5%) than in other age groups.The obtained data show that the surveyed pupils from lower grades were most satisfied with their participation in team games.With age children's satisfaction with all kinds of activities offered by the teacher decreased, and the interest in motor plays increased.The said correlations were statistically significant at the level (p < 0.05).Older students more often preferred activities with a ball.On the other hand the youngest liked running and competing.
The question What didn't you like in the PE lesson?was much more difficult for the surveyed children to answer.Among all the respondents as many as 68% did not define their attitude (Table 4).The younger the students the more indecisive they were in answering the above question (level of statistical significance p <0.05).With age students increasingly expressed their dissat-isfaction with the lack of discipline and not observing fair play principles by their peers while performing motor tasks.The said correlation turned out to be statistically significant at the level p < 0.01.Older students also expressed their dissatisfaction with competing (statistical significance p < 0.05).It may have been connected with the fact that some participants did not observe the established rules.The respondents from the oldest group (age 9-10) did not accept the fact that the teacher left out team games while running motor activities.
While being interviewed the vast majority of pupils, what is important from each age group, confirmed that they always willingly participated in PE lessons.There were some, however, who expressed their reluctance to participation in motor activities.The most considerable percentage of those disinterested in physical education was recorded among 9-10 year olds, and the lowest in the age group 8-9.There was no statistically significant correlation between the analysed variables and students' age (Table 5).
The results obtained from the interview (Table 6) showed that in early school education during motor activities children would

Discussion
The research results constitute primarily an important source of information for PE teachers who run lessons with early school education children.It turned out that early school children are willing to participate in motor activities.Only one in ten children shows a sceptical attitude towards PE lessons.The beneficial attitude of the respondents towards physical activity results among others from ontogeny as children at this stage of development possess an inner need for movement, also called "hunger for movement".The said phenomenon facilitates teacher's work in terms of motivating students to motor activities during PE lessons.Teachers, however, are still obliged to creatively plan PE classes to meet children's needs and expectations, which was clearly confirmed in the research.Well-planned and run PE lessons enable the development of children's creativity, their social skills and positive behaviour regarding an active and healthy lifestyle and the participation in physical activity seems to be the most natural and spontaneous "relay" of learning and gaining experience in many fields of theoretical and practical knowledge [14].
The research shows a beneficial impact of physical activity on school results and achievements, such as memorizing, observation, problem solving, decision taking, and on the improvement of attitudes, discipline, behaviours and creativity [15].
It is revealed in the survey that students are mainly interested in team sports games.Some expressed their dissatisfaction with competing during motor activities.It seems likely that the teachers who ran those fragments of the lesson where competition occurred did not make the children observe the established rules, which resulted in the dissatisfaction of a group of students.Teachers should particularly pay attention to these moments in their work with children when emotions, in this case connected with competing, disturb or completely eliminate correct and honest task performance.It was also found that not all students willingly participate in PE lessons.There may be many reasons for the reluctance of this group of children, e.g.individual aversion to physical exercises, not meeting children's expectations towards their motor activity, bad lesson management, not attractive exercises, etc.What is also important is the attitude of the teacher during motor activities.It particularly regards observing discipline and fair play principles during com-petition, which was highlighted by the respondents.It requires consistency in the teacher's behaviour.It requires the teacher's consistency in action, as well as awareness of the role he plays in the early school child's life [16].As results from studies, the teacher of early school education demonstrates a lower level of preparation (both theoretical and practical) for the realisation of physical education, and this can be a serious problem in the implementation of many projects [17,18].According to teachers, the problem is also a lack of coordination in action between family and school [19].

Conclusions
In accordance with the data obtained in the interview PE lessons are very popular among pupils from grades 1-3 in primary school.
The respondents have clearly specified opinions on PE lessons and their participation in them.They are able to express critical opinions as well.Therefore, it is recommended that the teachers who run motor activities in early school education prepare for them with more devotion as early as at the planning stage.
The opinions on PE lessons expressed by the respondents were in many cases varied depending on their age.Therefore, this factor should be considered while designing motor activities.

Table 2 .
Answers the surveyed children gave to the following question: Did you like the PE lesson you participated in?

Table 3 .
Answers the surveyed children gave to the following question: What did you like most in the PE lesson?

Table 4 .
Answers the surveyed children gave to the following question: What didn't you like in the PE lesson?

Table 5 .
Answers the surveyed children gave to the following question: Do you always participate willingly in PE lessons?

Table 6 .
Answers the surveyed children gave to the following most willing to participate in all kinds of team games and motor plays and would like to perform varied activities.The expectations increased with age.It should be noted that the respondents revealed little interest in swimming activities, and no interest at all was shown in the age group 9-10.The children's age differentiated their indecisiveness in answering the question What would you be most willing to do during a PE lesson?The older the child the more rarely answered I don't know (level of statistical significance p < 0.05).
question: What would you be most willing to do in PE lessons?Health Promotion & Physical Activity, 2018, 1 (2), 15-20 be