Investigation of Prospective Teachers' Attitudes towards Game and Physical Activities Course

The purpose of this research is to determine the attitudes of prospective teachers towards game and physical activities subject. In the first part of the study, it is aimed to describe the attitudes of prospective teachers towards game and physical activities course. In the second part of the study, it was analyzed whether the variables of gender and department studied significantly differed on the attitudes of prospective teachers towards game and physical activities course. Screening method was used in this research. Candidates studying in the physical education and sports teaching, classroom teaching and preschool teaching departments of Kırşehir Ahi Evran University participated in the study on a voluntary basis. "Personal Information Form" and "Attitude Scale for Game and Physical Activities Course" were used in the data collection process. When testing the research data, 0.05 significance level was taken. In the analysis of the data, ANOVA technique was used. The prospective teachers' attitudes towards the course of game and physical activities course are generally high (X̅ = 4.01). The attitudes of teacher candidates towards the course of game and physical activities course differ significantly according to their genders (p <.05) and departments (F = 8,278, p <.05). Research results show that prospective teachers' attitudes towards the course of game and physical activities course are generally at a high level. However, the mean of male candidates is higher than the mean of female candidates. The attitudes of prospective teachers towards physical education and sports teaching are positive and at high level.


Introduction
Teaching profession is the primary of professions that require sacrifice. Teachers do not only teach their students knowledge, but also contribute to the development of their students physically through a number of activities. The primary activities that teachers do for students are the activities in physical education and physical activity courses. Movement is important in every child's life (Gallahue & Donnelly, 2003;Demirci & Demirci, 2006). Physical education courses in the secondary education curriculum provide the student with a movement environment. Before secondary education, activities in physical activity classes in nursery class education and primary schools give students the opportunity to move and exercise. This movement education is all part of the integrity of general education (MEB., 1998;Özmen, 1999;Pehlivan, 1999.) In today's education system, the individual grows by getting some experiences through physical education courses (Darst & Pangrazi, 2009;Dalaman, 2010). From the nursery class, which is the beginning of school life to the last grade of high school which is the end of compulsory education, students are taught to exercises that are important for the habit of moving and the healthy life through physical education (Memiş & Yıldıran, 2006). Prospective teachers who graduate from school of physical education and sports receive education that will make students gain this habit. In addition, while the prospective teachers studying in the Preschool Teaching and Classroom Teaching departments of the Faculties of Education practice their profession, they gain students the habit of moving with the trainings they received on educational games, physical activity etc. (Dalaman, 2010). One of the prerequisites for prospective teachers to fulfill the requirement of their professions is their attitudes towards the teaching profession and the courses they receive education (Semerci & Semerci, 2004). Attitude is the tendency under the behaviors that the individual develops towards himself, his environment and events while it is an internal state that includes feelings and thoughts (İnceoğlu, 2004;Başkonuş, 2020).The attitudes of prospective teachers towards physical education or physical activity courses are important. This is because prospective teachers will be able to teach physical education courses more effectively and will help the individuals, they have trained to participate in physical activities voluntarily during their lives, thanks to the positive attitudes they will develop (Silverman & Scrabis, 2004).Based on the results of the study, it will be tried to put forward solution suggestions so that the attitudes that prospective teachers will develop towards game and physical activity courses will be positive. Because the positive attitudes that prospective teacher will develop towards physical education and physical activity courses will affect all individuals they will train in their professional life. This effect can be positively and in favour of students by increasing the positive attitude awareness of prospective teachers towards the courses. With the study, it is considered that awareness of prospective teachers towards physical education and physical activity course attitudes will contribute to the levels of students in the positive way.

Research Design
Relational screening method was used in this research. Screening model studies are a research approach that aims to describe a situation that existed in the past or still exists (Karasar, 2005). Relational screening model, on the other hand, provides to see the effects of independent variables that are considered to be factors on the described variables. Within this scope, in the first part of this study, it is aimed to describe the attitudes of prospective teachers towards games and physical activities course. In the second part of the research, the effects of the variables of gender and the departments, which are considered to could be effective on the attitudes of prospective teachers towards the game and physical activities course, were examined.

Participants
The accessible population of the research is candidates studying in the departments of physical education and sports teaching, classroom teaching and preschool teaching of Kırşehir Ahi Evran University. 162 prospective teachers selected randomly from this population constitute the study sample. 9 of the measurement tools sent to prospective teachers were not evaluated due to reasons incorrect coding, empty etc., and the data obtained from a total of 153 prospective teachers were evaluated. Volunteering was sought in filling the measurement tools.
The demographic information of the prospective teacher, who was included in its latest form in the study sample, is given in Table 1. In Table 1, it is seen that 64'7% (n=99) of the study sample consists of male candidates and 35'3% (n=54) of the female candidates. 32% (n=49) of prospective teachers receive education in physical education and sports teaching, 39.2% (n=60) in classroom teaching and 28.8% (n=44) in preschool teaching.

Data Collection Tools
In the research, two measurement tools were used in the data collection process. In the first stage, the personal information form (PIF) developed by the researcher was used to determine the personal information of prospective teachers, whereas in the second stage, the "Attitude Scale towards the Game and Physical Activities Course" developed by Hazar and Demir (2017) was used to determine the attitudes of prospective teachers towards the course of game and physical activities.
Personal Information Form (PIF). In the form prepared by the researcher, there are some independent variables that are thought to be effective on the attitudes of prospective teacher towards the course of game and physical activities. These variables dealt with the demographic information (their genders and departments) about prospective teachers in general term and the data were included in the PIF as classification questions.
The Attitude Scale towards Game and Physical Activities Course. The scale was developed by Hazar and Demir (2017) and consists of 19 items and 3 dimensions. The cognitive attitude dimension related to the benefits of the course (Cronbach Alpha: 0.88) consists of items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, the behavioural attitude dimension (Cronbach Alpha: 0.79) consists of items 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 and the emotional attitude dimension towards the course (Cronbach Alpha: 0.89) consists of items 12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19. The Cronbach Alpha value for the overall scale is 0.78.

Statistical Analysis
The data obtained was uploaded to the SPSS 20.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) package program for analysis. When testing the research data, 0.05 significance level was taken. Frequency (f), percentage (%), weighted average (X ̅ ) and standard deviation (SD) values were used in the analysis of the descriptive data obtained. Before performing relational statistics methods, the homogeneity of the data was examined and it was examined whether it had a normal distribution or not. The findings regarding the normal distribution of the data are given in Table 2. Table 2. Findings related to normal distribution That the attitude scale towards the game and physical activities course is in the range of skewness (-, 536) and kurtosis (-, 286) and that the mode-median-arithmetic mean is close together can be interpreted as the data show normal distribution (George & Mallery, 2010: 409;Büyüköztürk, 2014: 40).
In line with these results, parametric hypothesis tests were used in the analysis of the research data. In this context, independent t-test were used to examine the attitudes of prospective teachers towards games and physical activities course according to binary porous variables, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques were used to examine according to three and more porous variables. However, the source of the significant difference was determined with the Tukey test. Another statistic in the interpretation of the test results is the effect size. The two most commonly used effect size statistics are eta-square (η 2 ) and Cohen d statistics.
The values of .01, .06 and .14 for eta-square and .2, .5 and .8 for Cohen d are interpreted as small, medium and wide effect sizes, respectively (Büyüköztürk, 2014: 44). The Cohen'd was used to calculate the effect size of the significant difference in the independent t-test results, and the eta-square correlation coefficient was used to calculate the effect size of the significant difference in the ANOVA results.
The responses given by the prospective teachers for the items in the scale are of the five-point Likert type and the formula "a = Range/Number of Groups to be Performed" was used to determine the group value range of the evaluation scale (Taşdemir, 2003). Accordingly, the evaluation scale is as follows:   Table 4 is analyzed, it is observed that the prospective teachers' attitudes towards game and physical activities course are generally high (agree) (X ̅ = 4.01). When the sub-dimensions are analyzed, they are at the level of "strongly agree" in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course (X ̅ = 4.20) and emotional attitude towards the course (X ̅ = 4.28), whereas they are at the level of "agree" in the behavioral attitude dimension towards the course (X ̅ = 3.45). This shows that prospective teachers have a positive attitude towards game and physical activities course. When Table 5 is analyzed, it is observed that the mean of male candidates in general (X 4,0 = 4.06) is higher than the mean of female candidates (X ̅ =3.90). When the sub-dimensions are analyzed, it is seen that the means of the male candidates (X ̅ = 4.06) higher than the means of female candidates (X ̅ =3.90) in the dimension of cognitive attitude and emotional attitude towards the course, whereas it is seen that the means of female candidates is higher than the means of male candidates in the behavioral attitude dimension towards the course.

Relational Findings Related to the Attitudes Prospective Teachers towards Game and Physical Activities Course
As a result of the independent samples t test conducted to determine whether the attitudes of prospective teachers towards game and physical activities course differ significantly according to their gender, it is observed that the intergroup mean differences is statistically significant across the scale and in the emotional attitude dimension towards the course (p <.05). The effect size of this significant difference, which is observed across the scale (Cohen's d = 0.3) and in the emotional attitude dimension towards the course (Cohen's d = 0.4), is small. Accordingly, it can be stated that gender is a variable that affects the attitudes of prospective teachers towards the game and physical activities course. When Table 6 is analyzed, it is observed that the highest mean in general is in the candidates of preschool teaching (X ̅ =4.14), and the lowest mean is in the candidates of physical education and sports teaching (X ̅ =3.80). When considering the sub-dimensions, it is observed that the highest means are in the candidates studying in preschool teaching in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course (X ̅ =4.23) and behavioral attitude towards the course (X ̅ =3.57), whereas in the emotional attitude dimension towards the course it is observed in the candidates studying in classroom teaching (X ̅ = 4.56). It is observed that the lowest means are in the candidates studying in physical education and sports teaching in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course (X ̅ =4.18) and emotional attitude towards the course (X ̅ =3.69), whereas in the behavioral attitude dimension towards the course it is observed in the candidates studying in classroom teaching (X ̅ =3.35).
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether the difference between the attitude means of prospective teachers towards the game and physical activities course according to the departments of them was significant, and the results obtained are given in Table 7. As a result of the one-factor ANOVA performed to determine whether the difference between the attitude means of prospective teachers towards the game and physical activities course according to the departments of them was significant, it is observed that the intergroups means differed statistically significantly across the scale and in the emotional attitude dimension towards the course (F=8,278, 20,238, p<.05), whereas it was observed that they did not differ significantly in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course and behavioral attitude towards the course (F=,140, 540p>.05). The effect size of the significant difference observed across the scale is small (η 2 =.09) and explains .09% of the total variance. The effect size of the meaningful difference in emotional attitude dimension towards the course is also small (η 2 =.02).
This result shows that the department they have studied is an effective variable on the prospective teachers' http://hes.ccsenet.org Higher Vol. 10, No. 4;2020 attitudes towards game and physical activities course. ,16243 ,000 When the intergroup means are analyzed in Table 8, it is observed that the significant difference between the means is in favor of the candidates studying in classroom teaching (p <.05) between the candidates studying in classroom teaching and in the physical education and sports teaching across the scale, and it is observed that it is in favor of the candidates studying in preschool teaching (p<.05) between the candidates studying in the preschool teaching and those studying in physical education and sports teaching and classroom teaching.
In the emotional attitude dimension towards the course, it is observed that the significant difference between the means is in favor of the candidates studying in classroom teaching (p<.05) between the candidates studying in classroom teaching and those studying in physical education and sports teaching and preschool teaching, whereas it is observed that it is in favour of the candidates studying in preschool teaching (p<.05) between the candidates studying in preschool teaching and the ones studying in physical education and sports teaching.

Discussion
The attitudes of prospective teachers towards game and physical activities course are generally high (agree). In the sub-dimensions, it is at the level of "strongly agree" in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course and emotional attitude towards the course, whereas it is at the level of "agree" in the behavioral attitude dimension towards the course. When the studies on teacher and prospective teachers in the literature are analyzed, the opinions of the participants are generally positive and high (Tortop & Ocak, 2010;Çavuş, Kulak, Berk & Öztuna-Kaplan, 2011;Alat, Akgümüş & Cavalı, 2012;Çetingöz, 2012 ;Öncü & Cihan, 2012;Topçu, Küçük & Göktaş, 2014;Dalaman, 2015;Dağdelen & Kösterelioğlu 2015;Tant & Watelain, 2016;An & Cao, 2017;Atay, 2018;;Güvendi & Serin, 2019;Romar &Ferry, 2019). In the literature, different from the study results, there are studies that find that the attitudes of classroom teachers towards physical education are negative (Pehlivan, Dönmez & Yaşat, 2005;Tsangaridou, 2008;Alemdağ, Öncü & Sakallıoğlu, 2014).
Gender is a variable that affects prospective teachers' attitudes towards game and physical activities course. There was a significant difference across the scale and in the emotional attitude dimension towards the course, but the effect size was small. The means of male candidates is higher than the means of female candidates across the scale. Among the sub-dimensions, the means of male candidates is higher than the means of female candidates in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course and emotional attitude towards the course, whereas the means of female candidates is higher than the means of male candidates in the behavioral attitude dimension towards the course. Both male and female candidates' attitudes are at high level in a positive way and the study has shown that male and female attitudes have different ways. Tortop and Ocak (2010) found that male teachers have a higher attitude than female teachers in their studies on classroom teachers (Tortop & Ocak, 2010;Alemdağ, Öncü & Sakallıoğlu, 2014). In his study, Çetingöz (2012) found that female prospective teachers have more positive attitudes than male prospective teachers for educational games course. Another study on prospective teachers of physical education, Öztürk (2016) found that gender was not effective in the attitudes of prospective teachers towards physical education course. Güvendi and Serin (2019) found that gender was not effective on the attitudes of the candidates towards the game and physical activity course in their study on the prospective teachers.
The department they have studied is an effective variable on the prospective teachers' attitudes towards the game and physical activities course. There was a significant difference across the scale and in emotional attitude dimension towards the course. The effect size of the meaningful difference is small across the scale and in emotional attitude dimension towards the course.
The candidates studying in the department of preschool teaching have the highest mean across the scale, whereas the candidates studying in the department of physical education and sports teaching have the lowest mean. Among the sub-dimensions, the highest mean is in the candidates studying in preschool teaching in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course and behavioral attitude towards the course, whereas it is in the candidates studying in classroom teaching in the emotional attitude dimension towards the course. The lowest mean is in those who study in physical education and sports teaching in the dimensions of cognitive attitude towards the benefits of the course and emotional attitude towards the course, whereas it is in those who study in classroom teaching in the behavioral attitude dimension towards the course. The results have shown that the candidates studying in classroom teaching focused on the lesson itself rather than the emotional attitude towards the course.
However, the significant difference between the means was in favor of the candidates studying in classroom teaching between the candidates studying in classroom teaching and those studying in physical education and sports teaching across the scale when the intergroup means were analyzed, whereas it is observed that it is in favor of the candidates studying in preschool teaching between the candidates studying in preschool teaching and the candidates studying in physical education and sports teaching and classroom teaching. In the emotional attitude dimension towards the course among the sub-dimensions of the scale, the significant difference between the means is in favor of the candidates studying in the classroom teaching between the candidates studying in the classroom teaching and the candidates studying in the physical education and sports teaching and preschool teaching, whereas it is in favor of the candidates studying in the preschool teaching between the candidates studying in the preschool teaching and physical education and sports teaching. Unlike the study results, Dalaman (2015) found that the positive attitude towards physical education course was in favor of classroom teachers. This difference is thought to have stemmed from the different group dynamics. In their study on prospective teachers, Qi and Ha (2012) found that prospective teachers who took physical education course had a high attitude towards the game. When the literature is examined, Öztürk (2016) found that the variable of the department they have studied in their attitudes towards physical education course was not effective, in his study on prospective teachers of physical education. Activities and training can be designed to positively increase the attitudes of female prospective teachers towards games and physical activities. In order to increase the attitudes of prospective teachers of departments of Classroom Teaching and Physical Education Teaching, applied courses towards games and physical activities can be increased. The study can also be done on prospective teachers on department basis rather than a larger sample.