Technology and Its Impact On Physical Education
Technology and Its Impact On Physical Education
Technology and Its Impact On Physical Education
.
1
Koriene Gallagher
Northwestern College
Table of Contents
Abstract….....................................................................................................................................3
Introduction….............................................................................................................................. 4
Review of Literature.....................................................................................................................6
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................14
References....................................................................................................................................15
Abstract
This literature review discusses the necessity of technology in physical education classrooms.
The review first looks at the history of technology in education and the theoretical framework of
technology in physical education. Then the review will discuss the impacts of implementing
technology into the physical education classroom including the positive and the negative
impacts. Today there are teachers who believe technology should be in physical education and
there are others who believe it should not be implemented in physical education. The review will
also discuss the teacher’s role in technology in physical education. Technology in physical
education classrooms can help keep students engaged in the lesson which will increase
Technology is ubiquitous. According to a 2017 survey from the Consortium for School
Networking, 40 percent of districts in the U.S. were one-to-one, which is nearly twice as many as
in 2014 (Medlin, 2019). Technology is changing things in schools, including physical education
experience change their sedentary lifestyles into physically active and fit lifestyles. Technology
is certainly positively impacting students’ learning and their health. A handful of researchers still
question whether or not technology has a place in physical education classrooms. Gard (2015)
stated that he was concerned about the use of digital technology in physical education and how it
could marginalize physical education teachers’ roles. Wyant (2018) expressed how he could see
that arguments against technology in physical education are logical, but they sometimes fail to
point out how technology can help and support these teachers. There is certainly a fine line of
Integrating technology can be more difficult in some school classrooms than others.
Physical education class is an example of such classroom. Mikat and Anderson (2005) state that
the most difficult parts about integrating technology into physical education classrooms are the
features and the cost of the technology. Another point that Mohnsen (2012) brings up in her book
is that studies specific to technology in physical education have been limited and more research
is much needed in this area. This research is needed in order for more physical education
teachers to be able to integrate technology into their physical education classrooms and feel
confident in the fact that technology is positively impacting their classrooms. A handful of
technologies could be integrated into physical education classes, but teachers struggle with
finding a great piece of technology that helps their students learn and at the same time does not
distract from the lesson. According to Baek (2018), the reasons physical education teachers
struggle to implement technology are access to technology, lack of training and time to learn,
and perceived value of technology integration. Some schools lack the funds to give their
physical education teachers access to technology and the time off to receive proper technology
training. Junhyung Baek completed a study in 2018 on physical education teachers and their
survey and engaged in individual interviews. The results indicated that teachers perceived there
is an absence of technology in K-12 physical education, and that any technology integrated into a
physical education classroom needs to be dynamic, authentic, and tailored for physical education
classes. Technology can become a distraction in the classroom and the physical education
technology, and it does impact the classroom. This study will focus on the implementation of
technology into physical education and the impact it has on the students and their behaviors.
classrooms. Does the use of technology in physical education classes increase student
engagement and participation and decrease the amount of undesired behaviors from students?
Based on this literature review, I hypothesize that the use of technology in physical education
classes may increase student engagement and participation and decrease the amount of undesired
behaviors. The purpose of this literature review is to show how technology impacts physical
education classes. This literature review will address how technology impacts physical education
classes, including the benefits and the negatives to having technology in physical education
classes. This literature review will look at historical evidence and theoretical framework, the
themes throughout the literature, and areas where further research needs to be conducted.
Review of the Literature
Technology has been around for a while, but it is always new in education because it is
continually changing. For example, according to Avedisian (2019), there were four emerging
technologies that were new to education in 2019 and still reshaping technology. Those
technologies were 5G, Mobile AR, Voice and Future Inferences, and Artificial Intelligence.
constantly learning. Physical Education teachers struggle to implement technology for multiple
reasons. According to Hyndman (2019), the reasons teacher struggle to implement technology
are the following: technology becomes a distraction for students, teachers need more
professional development, and technology can affect lesson time and flow. Using the right
technology, being trained correctly, and planning out your lessons can help avoid these struggles
and allow teachers to implement technology into the classroom. It is important to have
technology in physical education classes because it motivates and energizes students and allows
students to connect physical education classes with the outside world even more, according to
McVicker (2018). This literature review will cover the history of technology in education,
education, and the teacher’s role in implementing technology into physical education classes.
According to Jones (2019), technology has been married to education for decades, and it
is vital to education. Technology started in the 1800s as chalkboards and slide rules then moved
into pencils, paper, and film projectors in the 1900s (Gray, 2019). In 1963, the Vocational
Education Act funded the use of technology in schools; that would be the time where technology
really started to be seen in education. (Christensen, 2019) After 1963, PCs were in classrooms,
and programming was beginning to be taught to students. By the mid-1980s, Apple computers
started to be a more common sight in classrooms. A decade later the Internet connected
computers across the globe. In the early 2000s, STEM (science, technology, engineering and
mathematics) became the main focus of schools. Now today the focus is more on the ISTE
standards. (Christensen, 2019) Technology and the use of technology has changed a lot through
the years as shown above. Bernstein stated more than 50 percent of teachers have one-to-one
student-to-device ratio in 2017. According to EdTech (2019), that number has now risen to 75
percent. The number increased by 25 percentage points in two years, and it is interesting to
Eberline and Richards (2019) wrote an article about their study of technology in physical
education and how technology was first introduced into physical education classes as
pedometers and using projectors to explain games. They also discussed in their article about how
physical education teachers started implementing these technologies to try to keep students
engaged and also to maximize their efficiency in the short time allowed for physical education.
In Eberline and Richards’ article, they also interviewed and studied other physical education
teachers and how they use technology in their classrooms. One of these teachers was Rick
Schupbach. He has used a variety of heart rate monitors, pocket PCs, and activity watches to
When he first started teaching, he used a projector to present key concepts, skill cues, and videos
to his students to teach his lessons in a different way. His theory was that by using technology it
would increase student engagement because it was a different way of learning and that might
appeal more to some students. In turn, they would become more engaged.
One other physical education teacher they talked about was Brian Carr. He uses heart-rate
monitors and iPads for his physical education classes. The motivation behind his use of
technology in his classroom is that the students can use the iPads, record themselves, and then
receive immediate feedback on their skill development. The other part of his motivation is then
he also has documentation of their learning. Carr’s school is one-to-one with iPads to students,
which makes it very easy for him to have his students use the iPads in his physical education
classroom to do things such as video record skills and receive immediate feedback. With the
immediate feedback, he spends less time instructing the same thing, students learn at a faster
rate, and students are more engaged in what is going on. He also has a projector system, which
Klara Gubacs wrote an article in 2004 about integrating technology into physical
education. In this article Gubacs defined student engagement as students meaningfully partaking
in learning activities and are cooperating and actively learning. She goes on to talk about in her
article how if teachers were to implement technology with a student-centered approach and with
instructional strategies that increase student engagement, teachers would be able to notice a
difference in student behavior and student engagement. Gubacs goes on to talk about a study
done at Montclair State University, where students were assigned a project that required the use
of technology and also included different sports. The students were required to record a segment
of a class and focus their footage on the main aspects of the tactical lessons. Then the students
had to edit the footage and create videos of the learning segment with the main aspects
highlighted. The professor of this class conducted this project for several reasons. Those reasons
included the students learned how to effectively use technology, the professor could assess the
students’ mastery of the content knowledge involved, and the teacher assess the effectiveness of
the teaching strategy that was being used in the video. Gubacs also explained how the use of
project-based learning and technology together could really benefit both the student and the
teacher.
Lucena, Belmonte, Cabrear, Torres, and Sánchez showed many positive effects on flipped
learning including some positive academic effects. Students in the study, who were taught
through flipped learning, started showing noticeable improvements in the academic aspects of
motivation, autonomy, critical thinking, problem solving, the use of class time, interactions with
teachers and peers, content and tests. The use of flipped learning not only benefited the students
academically, but it also benefited them physically. Their findings showed that using the
technology in physical education can motivate and attract adolescents to physical education due
to the use of technology. They also found that it would decrease the sedentary lifestyle we see in
the world today. Lucena, Belmonte, Cabrear, Torres, and Sánchez investigated the two
dimensions of attitudinal and interactive and how flipped learning and the use of technology
would impact those two dimensions. Their results showed that in both of the dimensions the
group that experienced flipped learning and technology exceeded their peers, who received
instruction using a more traditional approach. The researchers stated that they saw the most
increase in these two dimensions from the students, who received flipped learning, in the
category of interactions of students with their teacher and their peers. In other words, the use of
technology and flipped learning in physical education increased the interactions between
Mohnsen (2012) remarked on another positive impact that technology brings into the
physical education classroom. She talked about how some devices and technology used in
physical education supply students with additional information and supports to help them
understand the concepts of the lesson. Mohnsen also states that technology is there to support
what we are already doing and not take over the classroom for us. In her book, she talks about
five more positive reasons why we should use technology. Those five reasons are motivation,
unique instructional capabilities, support for new instructional approaches, increased teacher
productivity, and skills for an information age. Mohnsen talks about how learners stay more
attentive and actively engaged via the use of technology. She also talks about how it increases
the abilities of teachers by allowing them to have unique instructional capabilities and by
allowing them access to all kinds of support for new instructional approaches. Teacher
productivity increases because the technology allows them to have more free time to work with
the students and teachers can find more accurate information more quickly.
Another study about the impacts of technology in physical education was completed by
O’Loughlin, Chróinín and O’Grady (2013). This study was specifically focused on the use of
digital video to complete assessments in physical education. The study was completed by
observing and interviewing nine- and ten-year old’s in physical education classes and how the
use of digital video to assess their basketball skills would impact them. The results from this
study were similar to most of the studies talked about previously in this paper. The researchers
found the students became more motivated and enthusiastic about the skills they were currently
learning. The study also showed the students became more self-aware of the skills they were
performing and what they needed to change in order to perfect their skills even more.
negative effects of technology on children. In this paper, he brought up many reasons why
explains more in detail about how technology leads children to social isolation and can bring up
some serious physical and mental diseases such as, obesity and depression. He also goes on in
his writing to explain how technology can lead to a condition called neurosis. According
symptoms such as anxiety, sadness or depression, anger, mental confusion, and low self-worth.
Alghamdi goes on to talk about how the children will also develop a very low self-worth because
they have spent all of their time socially isolating themselves and they do not really know what
they are talented in because they haven’t tried many other things. One of the last things
Alghamdi talks about is that there is a correlation between time spent by children on technology
and their body mass index. Alghamdi states that the more technology a child is using the more
likely they are to have a higher body mass index, which can lead to multiple serious health
issues.
Casey, Goodyear, and Armour (2016) wrote about how using digital technology in
physical education can have negative impacts on the students such as the body images that are
being presented to the students and the digital footprints the students are bringing into existence
by using the technology. Casey, Goodyear, and Armour go on to write about how most of the
people who are in the exercise videos or on other types of exercise technology are very fit,
muscular, and healthy looking. When teachers use these in their classrooms, some students could
take it as an ideal image that they should be striving towards. This can negatively affect the
students because then they can become obsessive and addictive and that can turn into unhealthy
behaviors. The authors go on to explain that they know it is not the teacher’s intent to make this
happen, but it is something to be aware of before fully integrating technology into your
The other negative impact Casey, Goodyear, and Armour talk about is the student’s
digital footprint. The authors talk about how there is a lot of information on the Internet and if
we bring technology into physical education and health and allow students to research
information on those topics, it could bring about a negative digital footprint that we would not
want our students to create. The authors continued on to talk about how it could be digital
images, and personal data about the body and/or a child’s health the students could come across
or the data they could give out and it is a huge risk to take. They really focus on figuring out
whether the risk is worth the reward when bringing different technologies into the physical
education classroom.
A teacher’s attitude toward the use of technology greatly influences the amount of
technology being used in the classroom (Gibbone, Rukavina, and Silverman, 2010). A study was
done by these three to determine the relationship between the teachers’ attitudes and roles when
it comes to technology in the physical education classroom. The results of the study showed that
the teachers who had a learning attitude toward technology used technology to supplement what
they were teaching in their classes. The other result of the study showed that teachers, who do
not want to put much effort into the technology in their classrooms, ended up in a role where
technology was not adding to their lesson, but was becoming a distraction and was taking away
from what the students were supposed to be learning. Gibbone, Rukavina, and Silverman stated
that it is important for teachers to see technology as an asset to them and it is there only to
supplement their lessons and not be a distraction or be the whole lesson itself. Physical
education
teachers do not want their jobs to become marginalized by the technology that they are using in
their classrooms, and they also do not want them to become a distraction. The advice the authors
give to physical education teachers about their role and attitude when it comes to technology in
their classrooms is to research technology and pick which piece of technology fits their
classroom the best and continue to have an open mind about what other technologies could come
Casey, Goodyear, and Armour (2016) wrote about how any technology a teacher picks to
use in their physical education classroom must have a focus on the role of the teachers because
teachers have the greatest impact on students and students’ learning. The authors go on to discuss
much of the same things that Gibbone, Rukavina, and Silverman discussed in the fact that the
teacher’s role is to determine what technology to use in their classroom, but at the same time
continue to be the teacher and not let technology overrule them. The authors are not saying that
teachers cannot use a video instruction once in a while, but for a majority of the time the teacher
should be the one teaching and using the technology as something that supplements their lessons.
Enright and Gard (2015) state that physical education teachers do not want to let their jobs
become marginalized by technology. Their discussion goes along with Casey, Goodyear, and
Armour’s point about how teachers have the greatest impact on the students and their learning so
Another role for physical education teachers that has not been mentioned yet was
discussed in an article by Yaman (2008) and that was that if a physical education teacher is going
to bring technology into their classroom then they need to be in a role that they know a lot about
this piece of technology. This role is a little bit different than the previous two roles mentioned,
but it is still important according to Yaman because a physical education teacher cannot find a
piece of technology and implement it into their classroom without looking into it and filling the
role of knowing quite a bit about it. The teacher needs to know what problems could come about
with using this technology and they especially need to know how it is used and what their role is
Conclusion
From the evidence provided, there are a lot of positive impacts and outcomes of
integrating technology into the physical education classroom. Technology is ubiquitous in our
world today. Using the right technology in physical education can motivate students, get them
engaged in what they are learning, and can help them understand what they are learning even
better. When students are engaged and motivated, teachers will see a decrease in the amount of
undesired behaviors and an increase in participation. Physical education with the help of
technology can change students’ lives from being sedentary to having the students become more
Physical education is necessary for children to have in schools. With the help of
technology students can become more motivated and engaged in physical education and physical
activity. In turn, technology in physical education will make them healthier individuals and that
is the main goal of physical education. Like most things, technology has some positive impacts
and some negative impacts. It is very important to be cautious about the negative impacts
technology could have on students. It is also important to remember that technology has multiple
positive impacts in physical education classrooms and physical education teachers need to start
advocating to implement and integrate technology into their physical education classrooms, so
they can see the long-lasting benefits that it would bring to them and their students.
References
Alghamdi, Y. (2016). Negative effects of technology on children today. Retrieved March 15,
2020, from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yasser_Alghamdi/publication/318851694_Negative
_Effects_of_Technology_on_Children_of_Today/links/59819654a6fdccb310051071/Neg
ative-Effects-of-Technology-on-Children-of-Today.pdf
Avedisian, A. (2019, January 4). 3 Emerging technologies that will reshape education in 2019
12-29-3-emerging-technologies-that-will-reshape-education-in-2019
Baek, J.-H., Keath, A., & Elliot, E. (2018). Physical education teachers' technology practices and
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327772190_Physical_Education_Teachers'_Tec
hnology_Practices_and_Challenges
Bernstein, L. (2019, June 5). New global survey offers snapshot of technology in the classroom
https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2019/02/new-global-survey-offers-snapshot-
technology-classroom-2019
Cain, D. E. (2010). Beliefs and practices about implementing technology in physical education.
com.ezproxy.nwciowa.edu/docview/501675911?pq-origsite=gscholar
Casey, A., Goodyear, V. A., & Armour, K. M. (2016). Rethinking the relationship between
pedagogy, technology and learning in health and physical education. Retrieved March 26,
2020, from Sport, Education and Society, 22(2), 288–304. doi:
10.1080/13573322.2016.1226792
Casey, A., & Jones, B. (2011). Using digital technology to enhance student engagement in
physical education. Retrieved January 17, 2020, from Journal of Health, Sport,
Christensen, D. (2019, August 13). The history of the emergence of technology in education.
of-the-emergence-of-technology-in-education/
Eberline, A. D., & Richards, A. R. (2013). Teaching with technology in physical education. A
Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, 26(6), 38–39. Retrieved February 26, 2020,
from https://www-tandfonline-
com.ezproxy.nwciowa.edu/doi/citedby/10.1080/08924562.2013.839522?scroll=top&nee
dAccess=true
Enright, E., & Gard, M. (2015). Media, digital technology and learning in sport: A critical
10.1080/17408989.2015.1043258
Gibbone, A., Rukavina, P., & Silverman, S. (2010). Technology integration in secondary
physical education: Teachers’ attitudes and practice. Retrieved March 23, 2020, from
10.18785/jetde.0301.03
Gray, L. (2019). History of technology in the classroom. Retrieved January 25, 2020, from
https://study.com/academy/lesson/history-of-technology-in-the-classroom.html
Gubacs, K. (2004, September). Project-based learning: A student-centered approach to
accountid=28306
Hanski, M. (2016, July 14). Gym classes go digital: How tech changes physical education.
tech-changes-physical-education/
Hinojo Lucena, F. J., López Belmonte, J., Fuentes Cabrera, A., Trujillo Torres, J. M., & Pozo
Sánchez, S. (2019, December 31). Academic effects of the use of flipped learning in
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6981672/
Hyndman, B. (2018, August 13). Ten reasons teachers can struggle to use technology in the
teachers-can-struggle-to-use-technology-in-the-classroom-101114
Jones, J. (2019, January 10). History of technology in education. Retrieved January 15, 2020,
from https://www.theclassroom.com/history-technology-education-6518584.html
McVicker, D. (2018, November 1). How technology changes physical education classes.
Medlin, P. (2019, March 25). The rapid growth of '1:1' technology and how it's changing the
https://www.northernpublicradio.org/post/rapid-growth-11-technology-and-how-its-
changing-classroom
Mikat, R. P., & Anderson, M. (2005). Choosing the best digital camera for your program.
Mohnsen, B. S. (2012). Retrieved March 15, 2020, from Using Technology in Physical
Education (4th ed.). Big Bear Lake, Ca.: BonnieS Fitware, Inc.
O’Loughlin, J. N., Chróinín, D. N., & O’Grady, D. N. (2013). Digital video: The impact on
children’s learning experiences in primary physical education. Retrieved March 15, 2020,
10.1177/1356336x13486050
Staff, E. T. (2019, June 5). More than 50 percent of teachers report 1:1 computing. Retrieved
percent-teachers-report-11-computing
Technology is always changing, so you need to be always learning. (2018, January 12).
always-learning
Wyant, J., & Baek, J.-H. (2018). Re-thinking technology adoption in physical education.
Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education. Retrieved January 11, 2020, from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25742981.2018.1514983
Yaman, Ç. (2008). The abilities of physical education teachers in educational technologies and