Orienteering sport prioritizing physical education model for geology students

ˑ: 

PhD, Associate Professor S.P. Mikhailovsky1
M.M. Gromov1
A.I. Kovalenko1
1Saint-Petersburg Mining University, Saint-Petersburg

Keywords: orienteering sport, applied professional physical education service, geology students, geologic survey, professional terms of reference.

Background. Orienteering sport is increasingly ranked among the core special sport disciplines applied in physical education service by military academies and geological universities [3, 5] although the valid academic physical education curricula are still in need of the orienteering sport customization and application methods to facilitate formation of the job-specific competencies in geology students. We assumed that the applied orienteering sport methods and tools complementing the traditional academic physical education service at geologic universities could improve the physical education service with special benefits for special knowledgebase and skill sets of high importance for future professional service.

Objective of the study was to test and analyze benefits of an orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education model complementary to the standard academic physical education service and the elective physical education and sport disciplines for progress in the future professional careers.

Methods and structure of the study. The four-stage study was run at St. Petersburg State University in 2017-2019. Stage 1 included a questioning survey of the St. Petersburg Mining University (SPMU) Geological Prospecting Department students (n=100) to profile and analyze their motivations for the academic physical education and sports. Stage 2 was designed to analyze the job responsibilities of the national geologists, with the actual services profiled by expert teams to produce “professiograms”, i.e. professional terms of reference for the academic specialty Geological Prospecting, Survey and Analysis of Mineral Reserves. The resultant professional terms of reference were used to group and test the job-specific knowledge and skills of highest professional importance for the students. And Stage 3 included an experiment to test benefits of the orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education model complementary to the standard academic physical education service and the elective physical education and sport disciplines. The experiment was run at St. Petersburg Mining University on a student sample split up into Experimental and Control Groups (EG, CG) of 20 people each.

Results and discussion. Based on the professional terms of reference requirements to the Geological Prospecting, Survey and Analysis of Mineral Reserves specialty, we designed an orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education model complementary to the standard academic physical education service and the elective physical education and sport disciplines to cultivate the job-specific competencies in the EG. The model included programmatic, training and progress test modules. The programmatic module included the future-job-specific orienteering-sport-prioritizing training curriculum [4, 7]; the training module included the orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education methods and practical tools; and the progress test module was designed to test the EG progress on an individual basis, with a special priority to the core job-specific knowledge and skills. The progress tests were the following: map reading skills rating test; 12-min race test; 3km cross-country race test; attention control (Mixed Lines) skills test; legend (conventional signs) reading skills test; mapped terrain reading/ topographical skills test; distance mapping test; and the visual segments matching test: see Table 1 hereunder.

The EG and CG were trained twice a week in the regular physical education and optional physical education and sport classes, with the EG elective physical education and sport trainings complemented by the orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education model; and the RG trained as required by the valid academic physical education service curriculum.

Table 1. EG versus RG post-experimental test data

 

Tests

CG

Mm

EG

M2±m

Difference

M1- M2

р

points

%

1

Map reading skills, s

39,5±1,22

35,9±0,93

-3,6

9,1

<0,05

2

12-min race, m

2252,6±62,22

2424,3±56,31

171,7

7,1

<0,05

3

3km cross-country race, min

14,7±0,16

14,1±0,12

-0,6

4,1

<0,05

4

Attention control, s

52,1±1,23

48,3±1,17

-3,8

7,3

<0,05

5

Visual memory, points

7,5±0,34

8,6±0,32

1,1

12,8

<0,05

6

Mapped terrain reading skills, points

10,5±0,69

14,7±0,93

4,2

28,6

<0,01

7

Mapped distance reading, points

2,6±0,24

3,4±0,27

0,8

23,5

<0,05

8

Visual segments matching, points

3,6±0,23

4,3±0,21

0,7

16,3

<0,05

The post-experimental tests showed the EG making a significant progress in every test versus the CG (p <0.05); whilst the CG made significant progress only in the 3km race (p <0.05) and twelve-minute race tests (p <0.05). Having analyzed the EG progresses in motivations for the physical education and sport practices, we found progress in motivations for the orienteering-sport-specific knowledge and skills including the sports/ topographic maps reading skills (28.2% growth); orienteering skills (30.2% growth); mapped terrain reading skills (32.1%); and the natural/ artificial obstacle race tests (15.7% growth).

The geologic service specific responsibilities profiling studies found a high professional demand for the difficult terrain crossing skills irrespective of the weather conditions, particularly in the inaccessible areas of the Arctic areas, Siberia and the Far East. Job responsibilities of the professional geologists require perfect compassing, orienteering, terrain crossing, map reading and mapping skills and experiences. The PPT analysis found the following most important job-specific skills: map reading (34.3%); compassing (25.4%); locating/ positioning (29.5%); terrain reading (18.9%); and the distance mapping skills (16.8%).

Conclusion. The orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education model complementary to the standard academic physical education service and the elective physical education and sport service was tested beneficial for the geology students’ training quality and progress in the future professional careers.

References

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Corresponding author: Mikhaylovskiy_SP2@pers.spmi.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to test and analyze benefits of an orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education model complementary to the standard academic physical education service and the elective physical education and sport disciplines for progress in the future professional careers.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was conducted on the basis of St. Petersburg State University from 2017 through 2019 and consisted of four stages.

Results and conclusions. As a result of the research, a program was developed that provided for the formation of professionally significant competencies of geology students using sport orienteering tools. The program included three sections: program, training and evaluation ones.

The developed program formed the basis of the experiment, during which the students of the EG studied the elements of sport orienteering as a chosen sport within the framework of the discipline "Elective Physical Education and Sport Disciplines".

The orienteering-sport-driven applied professional physical education model complementary to the standard academic physical education service and the elective physical education and sport service was tested beneficial for the geology students’ training quality and progress in the future professional careers.