Integration of yoga elements into physical education of higher education students

Abstract

Topicality. The article presents the results of a pedagogical study aimed at substantiating the feasibility of integrating yoga elements into the content of physical education classes for higher education students and determining their potential for increasing class attendance regularity, students’ satisfaction with the organization of the educational process, and subsequent engagement in extracurricular physical activity. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to modernize the content of physical education for student youth, the search for accessible and attractive forms of physical activity that meet the current needs of students, as well as the creation of conditions for forming a sustained need for regular physical education classes.

The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness of integrating yoga elements into physical education classes for students and to assess its relationship with class attendance, students’ level of satisfaction, and their subsequent involvement in extracurricular activities. The study was conducted at the National University of Food Technologies. Four academic groups of students took part in the pedagogical experiment. The experimental group consisted of two academic groups with a total of 40 students (17 and 23 individuals), whose classes systematically incorporated yoga elements. The control group consisted of two academic groups whose classes were conducted according to the traditional content of physical education. Material and methods of the research.The study employed methods of analysis of scientific and methodological literature, pedagogical observation, pedagogical experiment, questionnaire survey, and comparative analysis of the obtained indicators. The main evaluation criteria were the regularity of class attendance, students’ level of satisfaction with the content and form of class organization, as well as voluntary participation in extracurricular yoga classes after the completion of the academic period.

Results of the research. It was established that the average class attendance in the second semester in the experimental group was 88.3 %, compared to 69.0 % in the control group. The difference between the indicators amounted to 19.3 percentage points in favor of the experimental group. According to the results of the final survey, a high level of satisfaction with the content and form of class organization was demonstrated by 86 % of students in the experimental group and 47 % of students in the control group, corresponding to a difference of 39 percentage points. An important result was also the voluntary engagement of some students from the experimental group in extracurricular yoga classes after the completion of the academic semester. This tendency was less pronounced in the control group.

Conclusions. The scientific novelty of the study lies in determining the relationship between the systematic use of yoga elements in the content of compulsory physical education classes and indicators of attendance regularity, student satisfaction, and their subsequent engagement in extracurricular physical activity. The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of using the proposed approach by physical education instructors at higher education institutions to diversify the content of educational classes, increase their attractiveness for student youth, and create conditions for the transition from compulsory to voluntary systematic physical culture and health-improving activity. A promising direction for further research is the study of the influence of systematic yoga classes on students’ physical fitness, psycho-emotional state, sleep quality, and motivation for regular physical activity.