The Influence of High School Physical Education Curriculum Design Based on Self‐Determination Theory on Students' Intrinsic Motivation

TL;DR

A 12-week physical education program based on self-determination theory significantly boosted students' intrinsic motivation and exercise behavior, especially for girls and those with lower fitness levels.

Contribution

This study introduces a need-supported curriculum grounded in self-determination theory, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing motivation and exercise behavior in high school students.

Findings

The experimental group showed a 1.28 standard deviation increase in intrinsic motivation compared to the control group.

The program significantly increased extracurricular exercise time by 1.3 hours per week and reduced sports injuries by 62%.

Female students and those with lower exercise foundations experienced greater motivation improvements.

Abstract

High school physical education courses commonly face problems such as low student participation and insufficient intrinsic motivation. To address these issues, this study focuses on exploring the impact mechanism and cross‐group applicability of support strategies for autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs on students' motivation, and thus designs and implements a need‐supported curriculum intervention program based on Self‐Determination Theory (SDT). The research also aims to provide a solution combining theoretical depth and practical feasibility for addressing students' physical health issues, as well as empirical evidence for the implementation of the “integration of sports and education” policy.

A quasi‐experimental research design was adopted, with 180 high school students divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received a 12‐week modular physical education course, which included three core components: self‐directed course selection, stratified task arrangement, and collaborative activity participation. In contrast, the control group continued to receive traditional physical education teaching methods throughout the same period. The study focused on measuring and comparing indicators such as students' intrinsic motivation levels, the satisfaction degree of three core needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness), extracurricular exercise behavior, sports injury rate, and academic performance between the two groups.

‐ Intrinsic motivation improvement: The experimental group showed a significant increase in intrinsic motivation levels, with an effect size of 1.28 standard deviations (d = 1.28), which was significantly higher than that of the control group.

‐ Core needs satisfaction: There were graded differences in the enhancement of the three core needs among the experimental group: autonomy needs (d = 1.12), competence needs (d = 0.95), and relatedness needs (d = 0.83). These three factors drove the internalization of students' intrinsic motivation through a full mediating effect, accounting for 87% of the total variation in motivation improvement.

‐ Cross‐group difference (moderation effect): From the perspective of gender difference, girls in the experimental group had a more significant increase in relatedness needs satisfaction (mean difference = 0.22, p 〈 0.05); in terms of exercise foundation, the motivation improvement of students with low exercise foundation was twice that of those with high exercise foundation (B = 0.45 vs. 0.22).

‐ Spillover effects and academic impact: The curriculum intervention produced significant positive spillover effects: the weekly extracurricular exercise time of the experimental group increased from 2.1 hours to 3.4 hours (p 〈 0.001), and the sports injury rate decreased by 62% (odds ratio OR = 0.38). Meanwhile, the intervention had no significant interference with students' academic performance (η² 〈 0.01).

A 12‐week curriculum grounded in self‐determination theory enhanced high school students’ intrinsic motivation by fulfilling autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. The intervention showed stronger effects for female and low‐skilled students and fostered extracurricular exercise gains without academic interference, confirming the applicability of needs‐support strategies in collectivist contexts. *:P<0.05.

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