Optimizing college sports dance education through situational teaching

Abstract

This study explores the effectiveness of optimizing physical education dance instruction in colleges and universities through contextual pedagogy, with the aim of enhancing students' participation and skill mastery. As physical education dance teaching continues to evolve, improving students' learning interest and competitive level has become an increasingly important research concern, particularly given the limitations of traditional, technique-focused approaches that often overlook students' emotional engagement and creativity. To address this gap, the study adopted a mixed qualitative and quantitative research design, collecting data through questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations, and comparing the effects of traditional teaching methods with those of the contextual (situational) teaching method. The results showed that the contextual teaching method significantly enhanced students' motivation, participation, and dance skill level, while also improving their expressiveness and deeper understanding of dance culture. At the same time, the findings revealed challenges related to teamwork and the adequacy of teaching facilities, pointing to areas requiring further attention in future implementation. These findings contribute to filling a gap in the current literature on the application of contextual teaching within the field of physical education and dance, and provide a foundation for future research in this area.