Relationship Between Game Structure And Children Behavior In Sport-ludic Activities

Introduction
The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship game-player. This relationship is very significant for educators
because while working with children the teacher needs to anticipate the behavior that can be incited to children by
the games that are proposed to them. This study is based on three main principles:
- The structure of the game produces an influence in the action and reaction of the participants (P. Parlebás, 1988)[1]
- In the game children give responses as a function of their personal characteristics.
- Many of the answers given by pupils during the games are intended for preserving and increasing self-confidence
generating a good self-assurance.
This study intends to appreciate the possible interrelationship among these three concepts above in the practice of
games with students.

Methods
The data provided in this report comes from a four year project working with pupils of ages between 8 to 10 years old.
This investigation obeys an interpretative perspective that follows the study methodology of cases. The sessions are
filmed on video and four different observers make registrations of the different aspects of the exercise (actions by the
educator and reactions by the children). The next step is to establish a three way comparison of the data to be able to
identify some of the reoccurring themes. Starting from situations considered significant (based on the number of times
that they occurred), it was decided, parallel to the experience with the children, to make a study of the video images to
verify those first deductions and to establish new relationships.

Results
Some of the relationships that have been found up to date are summarized in the following table. Each column refers to
the different behaviors observed on the pupils: Desc. (haste and out of control); Emoc. (emotionality, anxiety and
tension); Autorreg. (possibility to auto-regulate the rate of intervention or participation); Ac. Comp. (shared actions);
Oport. (opportunities to participate for people that are insecure, less skilled or have slower perception-reaction times).

Discussion/Conclusions
The reactions provoked by the structure elements affect the necessity of the boy and girl for making their own
tempo, being the central character and influence affective symbols that originate emotions of tension, fear,
anxiety... The educator must learn how to handle those structure elements to obtain positive learning opportunities
for everyone.

References
[1]. Parlebas P. (1988): Elementos de sociología del deporte. Unisport, Málaga

NOTA: O texto com a iconografia está no anexo.

Arquivo