Spiritual Development through Elementary Physical Education Classes

摘要

Today, spiritual development through physical education is an unthinkable way to strengthen a harmonious society capable of contributing to the nation's character. Hence, this study aims to examine the effect of three types of physical education programs on children's religiosity and spirituality. For this study, 15 physical education teachers and 881 fourth to sixth-grade children participated in the study. The physical education programs were implemented over in the second semester of the 2015-2016 academic year. The data used was collected applying the 37 items of Religiosity and Spirituality Scale for Youth (RaSSY) (Hernandez, 2011) before and after of the program. Two- and one-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) and paired sample t-tests were used to compare the three groups. There was a significant interaction between the test and groups of mean religiosity and spirituality scores. The analysis also found a significant increase in the mean of these in the first and third groups. The planned, executed, and measured special physical education program in the first and third groups is an effective way to improve the religiosity and spirituality of the children.