Original article

A Methodological Alternative to Task Life in Physical Education Based on Sports for All

0000-0001-7305-1077Amelia Domínguez Ventura^{1  *}  , 0000-0002-4984-6395Urbano Blas Rodríguez Martínez²  , 0000-0002-0745-713XYusnier Rodríguez Ramírez² 

¹Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas. Villa Clara, Cuba.

²Escuela Nacional Urbana "Rolando Morales Sanabria". Villa Clara, Cuba.

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Educational work in Physical Education was dealt with having a Sports for All perspective, as part of Task Life. This is a critical aspect for the education of new generations in the short, mid, and long terms, which makes it very suitable. The contradictions between the real and desired states led to the following question: How to optimize education in Physical Education as part of Task Life, with a Sports for All perspective in the second cycle of Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school in the municipality of Cifuentes?

Aim:

To design a methodological alternative for the adjustment of Physical Education as part of Task Life with a Sports for All perspective.

Materials and Methods:

Theoretical, empirical, and statistical-mathematical methods and techniques were used to meet the goals set.

Results:

The design of a methodological alternative based on certain needs expressed in the diagnostic contributes to the optimization of educational work, increasing the participation and knowledge of Task Life, as well as the commitment and appropriate performance modes by students, teachers, and the community.

Conclusions:

The theoretical rationales of educational work in Physical Education as part of Task Life with a Sports for All perspective defined the current performance shortcomings and ways to eradicate them. This methodology can produce results that support their efficacy in their use.

Key words: Educational work; Physical Education; Sports for All; Task Life

INTRODUCTION

UNESCO has set a new goal: making the environment a key component of school curricula in every country until 2025. "Climate change" is known as one of the most complex environmental problems posing the greatest challenges to society, the scientific and technical communities, and the political authorities" ^{(Hernández et al., 2022)}.

Until a few decades ago, man, in their efforts to dominate and exploit natural resources, had not paid sufficient attention to the fact that together with scientific and technological progress, the fast growth of world population was creating serious problems for the environment.

This ever-increasing problem is conditioned by the irrational behavior of people toward their surroundings. Hence, modifying the behavior ruling the historic developments and forming new patterns of behaviors based on the conception of sustainable development, being conceived as:

A process of creation of material, cultural, and spiritual conditions that favor higher life quality in society, with an equity character and constant social justice based on a harmonious relationship between social and natural processes, embracing the present and future generations. (CITMA, 2018, p.5)

Cuban schools can and should become an essential center to reach the difficult goal of a true environmental understanding looking to achieve sustainable development so that schools become a true component of the comprehensive education of every citizen.

In that sense, several results have been published, such as ^{Castillo (2021)}, who revealed the possibilities offered by Physical Education to encourage responsible behavior for the protection of the environment ^{(Posso et al., 2022)}, with a student mitigation strategy for the causes and effects of climate change through Physical Education, considering the objectives of sustainable development, environmental protection, and their goals.

Others, like León (2020), have conducted further studies in terms of professional assessment and communicative strategies in Sports Facilities with their implementation in physical recreation. Research done on Task Life ^{(Valladares-Fuente, 2022)} refers to the proposal of environmental education indicators for sports professionals, while ^{Rodríguez et al. (2022)} did a trend study on environmental education in the integration of the sociocultural context in primary education.

According to the previous comments and guidance expressed, efforts in primary education as part of the comprehensive education of new generations and the awareness of the existence of climate change, Sports for All with a Physical Education perspective, particularly, does not include every possibility for the development of the activity, creating a clear difference between the expected and the desired.

Considering the previous knowledge, this research reveals a problematic situation related to the shortcomings of the Task Life with a Sports for All perspective conducted in the second cycle, at the Rolando Morales Sanabria school in the municipality of Cifuentes, leading to the following scientific problem: How to optimize educational work in Physical Education as part of Task Life based on Sports for All in the second cycle of Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school in the municipality of Cifuentes?

Aim: To design a methodological alternative for the adjustment of education in Physical Education as part of Task Life based on Sports for All in the second cycle of Rolando Morales Sanabria Primary School in the municipality of Cifuentes.

The concept of Physical Education, besides referring to knowledge and control of the body, improvements in physical capacities, the development of motor skills, the teaching of technical and tactical fundamentals, the care of body health, expressive activities, the transmission of knowledge, and the acquisition of habits, also involves an educative action associated with other people and the world around them ^{(Miñana and Monfort 2020)}.

Therefore, as part of the teaching-learning process, students have a relevant role to play, along with teachers, who encourage creativity in children. But teachers must be creative in the transmission of personal experiences through student-teacher interaction ^{(Miñana and Monfort 2020)}.

Task Life, the plan of the state to fight climate change, was endorsed by the Council of Ministers of Cuba.

The work of Task Life as part of the educational efforts in Physical Education is significant, considering their possibilities in Sports for All, though it is important to know its conceptions to ensure efficient use and interrelations based on various guidelines.

In the 80s, the term Sports for All was called Massive Sport, according to resolution 1/89, which regulated the number of weekly times for massive sports practice. ^{Deler (2012)} noted that Sports for All is a pedagogic process looking to improve life quality that contributes to comprehensive education of student personality, having an educational purpose, in which the process components encourage students to learn to work on teams and commit to activities, trying to meet group goals and assume shared responsibilities to achieve autonomy and critical awareness. Likewise, the important thing is to engage in sports, rather than seeking accomplishments.

Similarly, ^{Afre-Socorro et al. (2016)} and ^{Cáceres et al. (2018)} said that the most important aspect of Sports for All is to ensure rendering a qualified service in educational facilities to help complete programs and projects, increasing the options of physical-recreational-sports activities.

^{Rodríguez et al. (2021)} confirmed the above and noted that the objectives and goals of sports initiation in Cuba have been hindered by a competitive tendency shown by the different actors engaged, including parents, the community, and the sports teachers.

According to ^{Cáceres et al. (2018)}; Cañizares et al. (2019), and ^{Eduarte et al. (2020)} mentioned the school as the first massive approach to the teaching-learning process in sports initiation through Sports for All, by Physical Education teachers.

Naturally, the authors coincided on the importance of Sports for All as part of school efforts to develop these first moments in sports, since the inclusion through the satisfaction of motives, wanting to take part as a premise (not the result but their participation), and especially as the center of the community for the education of man for life.

Besides, this participatory and inclusive vision is complemented by the educational efforts of Physical Education and the recreational conceptions of education during leisure time, where the premise of education for life enables learning, especially when it has been encouraged by teachers, without the classroom pressure and the everyday teaching-learning process. Hence, this paper aims to design a methodological alternative to optimize the educational actions of Physical Education as part of Task Life with a Sports for All perspective in this context.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The population of the study comprised directors (two), teachers (three), and students in the second cycle (85) at Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school, in the municipality of Cifuentes, in the 2021 academic year. The study consisted of three main stages. The first one was a diagnostic to learn the situation of the subjects of the study. The second stage was based on the results of the previous stage to address the issues found and design a methodological alternative thought of as the proposal for a solution. The third stage consisted of an assessment of such alternatives by a group of specialists selected.

The research methods used included the theoretical and empirical ones.

The analytical synthetic method was useful to study the essence of the phenomenon studied and systematize the information needed to design the methodological alternative.

The inductive-deductive method was useful for studying the particular elements to establish the general conclusions, and the other way around, while structuring and checking the methodological alternative.

The empirical methods included a documentary review to achieve a proper understanding of guidelines and measures issued by the Ministry of Education at different levels in general, and particularly, the primary level, the focus of this research. Other regulations established by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment, regarding programs, resolutions, and national laws, were reviewed as well. Observation helped check Physical Education teacher performance in practice, associated with the Task Life, with a Sports for All perspective in the second cycle of primary education, at the Rolando Morales Sanabria, in the municipality of Cifuentes. The interview method helped learn the teacher and director's criteria and opinions about the educational efforts made at school in favor of Task Life with a Sports for All perspective, in the current conditions of the school. The survey technique helped check student knowledge about Task Life and its influence in the educational facility, particularly in Sports for All.

The method specialist opinions was conducted to assess the quality and pertinence of the methodological alternative suggested for implementation; the positive, negative, and interesting technique (PNI) concerning the knowledge about student satisfaction linked to the implementation of the proposal; and triangulation by source and content, to determine the regularities of the process at different stages.

Besides, statistical-mathematical methods in descriptive statistics were used (frequency tables) showing frequency distribution empirically.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results in observations and the rest of the research instruments used were evaluated. Hence, the development of Task Life in the activities of Sports for All showed serious problems (Figure 1).

Fig. 1.  - Results of the diagnostic 

Legend:

1. Use of contextual conditions to encourage Task Life work based on Sports for All.

2. Intentional teacher drive to perform Task Life, based on Sports for All.

3. Activities related to Sports for All that explain the relationship between the physical-sports-recreational needs and the educational efforts to Task Life.

4. Examples given by teachers of their performance in Sports for All, as part of Task Life.

5. Performance modes correspond to the assumption of Task Life by the participants in Sports for All.

This study embraces the alternative as a structure of knowledge used when the existing theory normally functions in a particular object of study, though for some reasons, and in very particular conditions, it cannot be utilized to meet the goals set. Its presentation must be explained.

Which object of study was it created for? What is its objective? What scientific variants are benefited from a new choice? What individual features of the object of study and what particularities does it have? What are the quantitative and qualitative differences resulting from the already existing choices? What is the novelty of it? How can it be implemented in practice? Why is it better as a choice for the conditions it was created?

The objectives of the methodological alternative are to enable the development of active and reflexive thinking of students through adjustments of educational efforts with a Sports for All perspective, to address issues related to Task Life in the community, and to optimize the education of people capable of planning, thinking, feeling, and acting reflectively, comprehensively, and based on experience, according to the needs of society in general, and within the particular frame of the community it takes part.

It also has a theoretical-cognitive apparatus, as well as an instrumental methodological apparatus. The former is made up of categories linking theoretical rationales for Physical Education, Task Life, and Sports for All to the main work directions, according to ^{Pastor et al. (2016)}, and a legal body supported by the principles stated by Hernández (2005), who referred to the integration of activities, systematic pedagogic work in environmental education, interdisciplinarity, flexibility, engagement and inclusion of community work. The latter describes the stages comprised in the diagnostic, the design of the methodological alternative, and the implementation of the methodology with the corresponding evaluation of the results, and the characteristics of each stage.

Following the assessment of results and the interaction of every category and legal body, there is feedback on the objective, thus permitting constant adjustment and the systemic character of the methodology.

The author puts into practice new considerations in the very same program Sports for All, derived from transformations in primary education. Therefore, this alternative is more suitable to the present conditions and follows the theoretical base that has supported the contents so far.

These transformations and changes have a previous planning stage (knowledge of potentialities and possibilities of the objective reality in context) that leads to the human search for a relationship with the world, where students, based on their active actions can reflect according to their experiences, about the situation of the world, such as the causes of depleted natural resources, including animals and their habitats, as well as the consequences, so they can play their roles based on Sports for All with actions that create awareness and address issues through sustainable perspectives.

Below is a graph of the methodological alternative design to observe how its implementation is linked to all the previous concepts presented in this Figure 2.

Fig. 2.  - A graphic representation of the methodological alternative 

The methodology is based on practical activities designed to such effects, whose objective is to help with the optimization of Physical Education as part of Task Life with a Sports for All perspective in the second cycle at the Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school in the municipality of Cifuentes.

Two activities have been placed as examples.

Name: In search of the lost treasure

Objective: To integrate the search effort into community sustainability.

Team organization.

Materials: sketch, compass, marker signals, and the necessary material depending on the possibilities for the treasure and tasks.

Development:

Two teams will receive a sketch containing various marks on it. Each team will choose the order they will follow the markers, signaling the route thet they will be obliged to follow. Each task will be solved upon reaching each marker (Task Life), to the point where the treasure is. Then the teams will respond to it and when they get to the finish line, their execution time will be measured, and the responses will be assessed.

Rules:

1. The marker order set is compulsory; if the treasure is found before the route is finished, players will rush to the finish line.

2. The team that finishes first and has provided all the correct responses at each marker will win.

When the alternative was designed, it was evaluated by a group of specialists, due to their experience and results in physical education and environmental education, so that they could express the quality and suitability of the methodology. The agreement index percentages were measured as totally agree and agree, in keeping with the indicators consulted, according to Figure 3.

Fig. 3.  - Specialist opinions about the methodology 

Legend

1. It optimizes Task Life through Sports for All with a structure that leads to objective fulfillment.

2. The proposal adjusts to the needs expressed in the diagnostic.

3. There is correspondence for implementation in Sports for All.

4. the proposal can be used in other schools and types of education.

5. It contributes to improvements in the choices of Sports for All.

6. It favors the participation of children in Sports for All.

7. It promotes the work of Physical Culture professionals, with a Sports for All perspective.

8. The activities included in the methodology were designed to compensate for the age of the participants.

The methodology was endorsed by the favorable opinion from specialists, and, consequently, several workshops were performed based on the shortcomings revealed in the diagnostic. The teachers engaged in this process received the corresponding information about a group of topics, which increased their knowledge about Task Life and the ways of implementing them with a Sports for All perspective, some of these topics included:

Analysis of the results of the diagnostic performed as part of this research.

Explanation of and discussion about the principles, objectives, and activities to be conducted in the new methodology.

Analysis and projection of the meaning of Task Life for sustainable development. Examples of Task Life in extracurricular works.

The importance of environmental content about Task Life with a Sports for All perspective.

The skills and values to be inculcated in the students through Task Life about the activities included in Sports for All.

The importance and implementation of the interdisciplinary approach concerning Task Life, with a Sports for All perspective.

The contribution, through Sports for All, to the effective environmental component in students, teachers, and the community, regarding the love for nature and its resources.

Analysis of nature trips, their possibilities and relevance in teacher training, and their influence on student performance modes and other community factors.

Updating of a bibliography that encourages knowledge about Task Life and its relationship with Sports for All.

Upon proper training, the actors will use instruments to check the results, by collecting data from teachers and directors, particularly on having enough knowledge about the environment and Task Life to cope with their professional work. Workshops were acknowledged as important for further training and the acquisition of new content that permits systematic inclusion of activities linked to Task Life with a Sports for All perspective, highlighting its possibilities as an effective and efficient way for this work.

There is also a strong position regarding time optimizing in Sports for All, and the utilization of natural and contextual resources that mitigate other shortages.

Students focus on the recognition of higher quality activities of Sports for All, the drive for Task Life-related activities, and their usefulness and satisfaction upon materialization, in addition to exchanges with the community.

It provided information on how they recognize the acquisition of more knowledge about Task Life and the close relationship with physical activity, based on the participation in Sports for All activities, which became relevant throughout the school schedule.

The observation of activities helped corroborate the dynamic described, and validate the results, from performance modes and behaviors of everyone involved in the processes described in the methodology, teachers, students, and residents.

These aspects as well as the other instruments (stated in the methods) were triangulated and led to a summary of the regularities of the results achieved, as follows:

• Sports for All activity planning for Task Life in the second cycle at the Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school, in the municipality of Cifuentes, was higher.

• There is broader knowledge about Task Life and the commitment from teachers, students, and the community, along with actions as part of the activities of Sports for All.

• There is greater engagement of students in the second cycle at the Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school, in the municipality of Cifuentes in Sports for All activities (93% of students).

• The preference for the practice of Task Life-related activities was observed to be higher on the students' side. Moreover, they were satisfied with their work with the community and the recognition from the residents.

• The directors and teachers recognized the manifested acceptance of the activities suggested in the methodology, linked to Task Life in the second cycle at the Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school, in the municipality of Cifuentes, as well as the results accomplished in student and teacher training, and with the creation of awareness in the community about this topic.

CONCLUSIONS

The conceptions and guidelines set as part of the school's environmental strategy, in the municipality (Ministry of Education and INDER), in addition to the state's plan to face climate change, were recognized as theoretical rationales for Physical Education associated with Task Life, with a Sports for All perspective, in the second cycle at the Rolando Miranda Sanabria primary school in the municipality of Cifuentes.

The study of the current state of quality and the development of Physical Education as part of Task Life with a Sports for All perspective in the second cycle at the Rolando Morales Sanabria primary school in the municipality of Cifuentes is lacking, and shows quite a few shortcomings, hindering effective implementation, based on the absence of knowledge by the staff in charge of managing the process, as well as student interest in their participation and engagement.

A new methodology was designed according to a diagnostic made in this study, which integrates the participants' needs, the conditions of the context, and the possibilities of implementation effectively, which has been acknowledged by specialists (totally agreed) for implementation.

The results achieved from the implementation confirmed the efficacy of this methodological alternative, with higher quality of Sports for All activities, greater student engagement, greater knowledge, and student and teacher awareness of Task Life, as well as acceptance by the community.

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Received: September 04, 2023; Accepted: October 24, 2023

^*Autor para la correspondencia: [e-mail]

Los autores declaran no tener conflictos de intereses.

Todos los autores han participado de forma activa en la redacción del trabajo y análisis de los documentos.