EXAMINATION OF THE ATTITUDES OF THE STUDENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS TOWARDS THE EDUTAINMENT APPROACH

The aim of this study is to determine School of Physical Education and Sports students’ attitudes background about edutainment approach. A total of 338 students participated in the study; 118 female and 220 male. The study used Attitude Towards Edutainment Scale for data collection purposes. The data obtained were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Explanatory Factor Analysis, Correlation Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis by using SPSS 18 software. According to the findings the relationship among attitude factors regarding edutainment, correlations among factors range between ,51 and ,63. The lowest correlation value (0.51) was calculated for “perceived learning effect” and “drama” and “practice” factor while the highest correlation (0.63) for “expression and material and drama and practice” factors. Pearson correlation coefficients imply a medium level correlation among all factors. According to standardized beta (β) values in regression model, which shows the correlation among variables, “perceived learning effect” factor has the strongest effect on all recommendation and satisfactionwhich are the dependent variables. In conclusion, the study found a meaningful relationship between edutainment approach and “recommendation” and edutainment approach and “satisfaction” It was also found that “satisfaction” has a strong effect on recommendation variable.


Introduction
Education is considered a lifelong process during which individuals are equipped with various skills, knowledge, attitudes and values. These learning experiences result in observable changes in individuals' behaviors (Erden and Fidan, 1998). Education has been defined in different ways according to people's expectations and perceptions about life. As the literature (Tezcan, 1997;Öztürk, 1998;Yamaner and Kartal, 1999;Selçuk, 1999;Sönmez, 2003) states, the common points mentioned in these definitions are as follows: causing deliberate changes (depending on

educational goals) in individuals' lives; providing certain improvements in human behaviors in terms of knowledge, skill, mentality, interest and other personality traits; providing opportunities for social interactions and acquisition of various skills; helping personality development; and preparing individuals for adults' life.
Modern education approach deals with individuals as a whole with their physical, mental, emotional and social dimensions. In this respect, education is expected to discover individuals' potential strengths and talents and improve them as effectively possible. Thus, it is possible to train mentally, emotionally productive and efficient individuals for the welfare of the society (Öztürk, 1998).
Physical education as well as mental education is necessary in order to reach overall goals of education. Physical education and sports are indispensable components of general education, and these two education fields complement each other since their objectives are parallel with each other. Educational goals can be achieved by selecting suitable methods; therefore, many different methods are used rather than a single method (Demirel,2006).
As for teaching methods in education, we can say that selecting a suitable teaching method is essential to equip students with new behaviors and achieve instructional goals. If educators are careful about choosing the most suitable method, this will help students experience and use various methods (Tüzün, 2006). In this respect, it is believed that if students' needs, their attitudes towards instructional method, their background knowledge and experiences, physical conditions, time restrictions, cost, course content and personality traits in focus are taken into consideration while choosing the best instructional method, instructional goals will be achieved more effectively. In addition, it is thought that knowledge and course content will be more enjoyable to ensure better progress, and learning will be facilitated.
Entertainment and experience have often been discussed in the field of education just like in other fields. It is suggested that integration of entertainment attracts consumers' attention and results in higher retention rates of these experiences. One of the fields where entertainment is believed to be effective is education (Argan et.al, 2009). The fact that some changes in educational practices will make learning enjoyable is based on an obsessive claim, and this brings about a new concept (Okan, 2003).
"Edutainment" is a blending of the words "education" and "entertainment", which implies a mixture of these two concepts; figuratively speaking, it is a marriage between education and entertainment (Colace et.al, 2006). The aim of this blending is to support education though entertainment. Edutainment, in theory and practice, is defined as helping students to respect values in life, to use available resources and methods, to spend enjoyable time through creativity and to gain experience (Wang et.al, 2007).
The main purpose of this blending is to support educational practices through entertainment. Edutainment has been used since 1970s as a classical formula in the production of educational computer games on the basis of learning theories. It is believed that the first person to use the term is Robert Heyman from American National Geography Academic Union. He named the process of using game-based educational movies as "Education through Entertainment". British mass education expert David Buckhingam defines edutainment, which requires the use of visual materials, as a type of learning blended with game, or a teaching style blended with "teaching with the least number of words" (Wang et.al 2007).
Edutainment is used in order to help students to put what they learn into practice, analyze what they learn, to bring together what they perceive or evaluate what they learn (Charsky, 2010). Edutainment, in theory and practice, is defined as helping students to respect values in life, to use available resources and methods, to spend enjoyable time through creativity and to gain experience (Wang et.al, 2007).
If the ultimate aim is to teach something to the next generations and achieve high retention rates, it is necessary to examine whether it is possible to improve already existing teaching methods according to their needs and goals. In edutainment approach, the aim is to attract students' attention, to facilitate learning process and increase retention rate by helping students focus on and teaching materials throughout learning. In addition, edutainment is used to realize students' selfdevelopment through increasing learning awareness, discovering, interaction, trial-and-error and communication and to encourage them to learn in a way to provide opportunities for both learning and having fun. Accordingly, the aim of his study is to examine attitudes of School of Physical Education and Sports students about edutainment.

Materials and Methods
The participants of the study are 380 undergraduate students (118 Female and 220 male) attending four departments of Anadolu University, School of Physical Education and Sports: Physical Education and Sports Teaching, Coach Training in Sports, Recreation and Sports and Sports Management.
The data collection instruments used in this study are Attitudes towards Edutainment Scale developed by Argan and Sever (2010) and satisfaction scales to determine satisfaction and recommendation.
The data was collected between April -June 2011 from the students attending Anadolu University, School of Physical Education and Sports.

Conclusions and Recommendations
This study examined the attitudes of School of Physical Education and Sports students about edutainment.
A statistically meaningful relationship was found between edutainment approach and satisfaction. Argan et.al (2009), in their focus group research conducted to determine feelings, opinions and attitudes of students taking marketing courses about edutainment, found that learning is more fun and enjoyable when students watched a movie about course content since it increased retention. In addition, it was concluded that teaching course content in a way supported by entertainment positively affected retention, comprehension and academic achievement, which are consistent with the results of this study. The study revealed a statistically meaningful relationship between edutainment and "recommendation". According to Drane et.al (2011), teachers are an important factor in the quality of learning experience because it is essential to be creative in order to provide students with suitable environments for learning. Teachers should learn about some techniques aiming to create more fun activities and higher retention rates. Moreover, they should create a more fun environment so that students should be enthusiastic about learning. According to research, teachers' attempts to design enjoyable lessons result in enjoyable lessons, and students recommends these lessons to their friends since enjoyable lessons satisfy learners.
According to standardized beta (β) values for regression model, which reflects the relationship between variables, perceived learning effect has the strongest effect on "recommendation" and "satisfaction" -the dependent variables, which is followed by "teaching and material", "drama and application" and finally "educator and classroom atmosphere". It is also seen that "satisfaction" dependent variable has a strong effect on "recommendation" dependent variable. It is believed that if students' needs, their attitudes towards instructional method, their background knowledge and experiences, physical conditions, time restrictions, cost, course content and personality traits in focus are taken into consideration while choosing the best instructional method, instructional goals will be achieved more effectively. In addition, it is believed that learning is facilitated and will be more fun if course contents are blended with entertainment.
Edutainment approach can help students spend good time and gain experience by using available information resources and teaching methods in a creative way. Edutainment approach (a blending of the words education + entertainment) might be used to increase students' enthusiasm and excitement so that they can learn difficult course contents. Thank to edutainment, it is possible to make course content more enjoyable, attract students' attention so that learning can be facilitated and higher retention rates can be achieved. This situation later affect satisfaction and recommendation processes positively.