Theoretical and applied perspectives of the kinesiology discipline in the field of physical education and sports science

Background and Study Aim. The study intends to estimate the theoretical and applied perspectives of the Kinesiology discipline in the field of Sport and Physical Education science. Material and Methods. A total number of 127 subjects (students of the Physical Education and Sport Department in the University of Pitești) participated in this research. There are 59 students in Physical Education and Sport (PES), 37 in Sport and Motor Performance (SMP) and 31 in Physical Education and Sport Conversion (PESC). The research was conducted during COVID-19 pandemic, in the academic year 2021-2022. The teaching and evaluation activity in the Kinesiology discipline was carried out online by means of Zoom program. The monitoring of the teaching activity was done with the help of the university e-learning platform. The opinions of the subjects on the discipline taught and the assessment of the teaching staff by the students were analyzed using Google Forms questionnaire. The fundamental basic knowledge in Kinesiology was evaluated using the following indicators: S1 (periodically evaluated activities) = A1 (40%) +A2 (20%), final evaluation (FE) – examination (40%), S2 – sum of the fractions of grade obtained at the periodic evaluations and those from the final verification. Results. The analysis of the subjects’ opinions regarding the topic of the discipline taught reveals 5% moderate opinions, 16% - good and 79% very good ones. The evaluation of the basic fundamental knowledge in Kinesiology highlights the following values of the indicators: A1 (40%) – an average of 8.05 points between groups (p<0.01); A2 (20%) - an average of 7.95 points (p>0.05); S1 – an average of 4.81 points (p<0.05). The final evaluation (40%) in the exam shows an average of 3.36 points (p<0.01); S2 has 8.17 points (p<0.01); the final grade between groups has an average of 8.29 points, with differences of rounding in student’s favor (p<0.05). The analysis of students’ opinions concerning the teaching activity in Kinesiology discipline shows that 76% rate it as excellent, 14% - very good, 6.7% - good, 1.9% - satisfactory and 1.4% unsatisfactory (extracurricular activity). Conclusions. There were shown the subjects’ opinions on the Kinesiology discipline topics and the weight of meeting the minimum and maximum performance standards. The preferred or practiced sports chosen in the researched study programs were presented. The results of the evaluation of the basic fundamental knowledge highlight the value of the averages between groups for the evaluated indicators. These results also reveal the opinions of the students about the didactic activity carried out by the professor in the discipline studied.