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Does physical education affect character development in

students?
By: Solomon, Gloria

Publication: JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance

Date: Saturday, November 1 1997

Throughout the evolution of public school physical education programs, long debates have

ensued regarding whether physical educators teach "of" or "through" the physical. Physical

education enthusiasts have often made claims of teaching the "whole" child, creating

opportunities to enhance development in

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the physical, cognitive, and affective domains. One aspect of the affective domain includes
moral reasoning or character development. In this article, research on character
development among students within the context of physical education is examined. Also,
methods for enhancing children's character development in the physical education setting
are presented.

The concept of affective development as an educational objective in physical education was

introduced more than 160 years ago. In 1831, early physical educators made a plea for the

inclusion of character development as one aspect of a sound physical education curriculum.

In fact, many believed that the educational merit of physical education was based on the

ability of educators to promote affective development. Specifically, a statement was issued

in the American Annals of Education and Instruction journal which endorsed the inclusion of

moral education into existing physical education curricula. Almost 100 years later, in 1930,

a formal statement was rendered in the first issue of the Research Quarterly promoting a

need to target and teach specific affective outcomes. More recently, in 1983, the American

Academy of Physical Education issued a position statement that listed moral development as

a critical issue facing the profession of physical education. Specifically, it stated that

Because of the opportunities to teach ethical values and to influence moral behavior of

students through sports and games, it is thought that physical educators might well place

an increased emphasis on the problems of ethical judgments and morally responsible

behavior in sports. (Park, 1983, p. 53)

From this brief historical account, it is evident that many notable educators firmly believed

that one purpose of education, particularly physical education, was to address affective

outcomes in the curriculum. However, despite the long heritage of support for affective

education aims in the context of physical education, limited research exists which

documents the prevalence and utility of moral education curricula in physical education.

Definition of Key Terms

Broadly speaking, the affective domain represents one of three content areas in physical

education, the other two being the psychomotor and cognitive domains. The affective
domain contains many facets of development including, but not limited to, moral

development (Gibbons & Bressan, 1991). Character development can be viewed as a

component of moral development which excludes any religious connotations (Weinberg &

Gould, 1995). In this article, character development and moral development will be used

interchangeably and they refer to the cognitive processes individuals experience as they

develop the capacity to reason about moral issues. In physical education, moral issues that

arise typically include situations where students are challenged to balance, simultaneously,

their rights and responsibilities with the rights and responsibilities of others. Students

demonstrate mature moral development by showing a willingness and capacity to strive for

a balance between needs of the self and other's needs (Solomon, Watson, Battistich,

Schaps, & Delucchi, 1990). Clearly, physical education settings elicit numerous situations

whereby students must make decisions about their individual needs, rights, and

responsibilities, and those of other students. Because these occurrences arise often, the

teacher determines the most adequate strategy for addressing moral issues, and hence, the

character development of students.

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