Effects of an 8-Week Cooperative Learning Intervention on Physical Education Students’ Task and Self-Approach Goals, and Emotional Intelligence

Previous research highlighted the effectiveness of cooperative learning in the four learning domains: physical, cognitive, social and affective. However, recent reviews have called for more empirical research on social and emotional learning based on contemporary theories, frameworks and assessment tools. Little is known about the links between cooperative learning and two strong contemporary frameworks: the achievement goal theory and the four-branch model of emotional intelligence. The goal of this study was to assess the connections between cooperative learning, task and self-approach goals, and emotional intelligence in physical education classes. Forty primary education students (21 girls, 19 boys), 10–12 years (M(age) = 10.87; SD = 0.85), enrolled in two different classes in only one school, participated. None of them had experienced cooperative learning as a pedagogical model before. The study followed a one group, pre-test-post-test, pre-experimental design. Both classes experienced the same cooperative learning intervention programme conducted in physical education, which included two consecutive learning units for a total of 16 sessions (2 per week/50 min each). The same physical education teacher, an expert in cooperative learning, conducted all sessions. Results showed that the cooperative learning framework helped increase students’ self-approach goals and their emotional control and regulation, and empathy. In conclusion, the present study reinforced the use of cooperative learning in physical education, because it can guide students to more adaptive motivational patterns and to develop their emotional intelligence. Furthermore, it contributes to the students’ social and emotional learning building quality relationships, learning to manage stressors, and evolve individually and in groups.