Effect of a didactic unit based on competitive games in the motivation, basic psychological needs and enjoyment in Primary Education students

The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of a didactic unit of competitive games based on athletics on self-determined motivation, basic psychological needs and enjoyment in primary and secondary school students within physical education classes. A quasi-experimental pre-post test design was used with a control group. The participants were 98 schoolchildren (10.40 +/- .50 years old) from Lugo (Spain). The control and experimental groups consisted of 46 and 52 students, respectively. To measure motivation, basic psychological needs and enjoyment, an ad hoc questionnaire used in other researches was used. The results show significant differences in the control and experimental groups related to the variables intrinsic motivation (p = .032); perceived competence (p = .001) and relation with others (p = .011). Therefore, we can conclude that the didactic unit based on the competitive games in the EF classes caused significant improvements in the different dimensions, compared to those who did not participate, obtaining higher scores both boys and girls.