Affective Growth

Through the concept of, "learning through the physical," children can develop cognitively and experience affective growth through effective physical education.  Affective growth is learning that increases the ability of children to act, interact, and react effectively with other people as well as with themselves.  Many things can impact a child's affective growth both in and out of school.  Parents, culture, and the school itself are major contributors in whether a child develops well or not.  Affective growth also has a lot to do with self-esteem, and the ability in the child to say "I can" vs "I can't."  If the physical education setting is set up so the child can progress in skills and develop confidence in the activity, they are likely to carry this confidence and use it as motivation in other aspects of their life.  Self-esteem is a huge part of children's lives and development with positive social interaction with other students raise their self esteem, again allowing confidence to pour over in different aspects of the child's life.  Affective growth through physical education and physical activity allows the student to have a positive self concept about themselves, where as some might not get it anywhere else.  Being on a team or doing something productive allows the student to feel worthiness and gives them a sense of belonging.  Positive socialization is also an important part in affective growth in that participation in physical education and/or sports implement a sense of pride and responsibility in oneself and the team.  Sports and physical education also provide the valuable lesson of character education in respecting rules, teammates, officials and themselves.