Analyzing Physical Activities in the Natural Environment and Their Influence on the Motivational Climate of Classes

IntroductionSome experiences in educational and social contexts have brought to light the exponential decline over the past decade in the practice of physical activities in the natural environment among school children (Frerichs, 2016). Although some years ago, a street, a backyard, a park and the green zones around towns were ideal areas for practicing sports in an independent and enjoyable way, today it may be seen how the activities and the places where adolescents enjoy their leisure time have changed (Doolittle, 2016). In short, free, creative and relational play, in the first stages of education, has been interrupted by more sedentary communicative models (with the exception of participation in federation-based and/or extra-curricular sports). In addition, this situation becomes a vicious circle, as the less we do for students to enjoy the natural environment that surrounds them, the less initiative they will have when experimenting and learning through different motor stimuli in varied contexts (Ferreira & Venter, 2016).Faced with this reality, and rather than seeking to console ourselves by thinking that this is an irreversible situation, we have to value and to understand PE, as teachers of Physical Education (PE), as an ideal material to establish links with the natural environment, because the possibilities are limitless (Layne, 2014). In fact, it is not only a matter of establishing specific proposals in contexts where access is difficult such as the snow, the seaside, and woodland, but of thinking that a large part of the work that we normally apply in our classrooms can happen outdoors, in the open air. In brief, the main idea is to exploit the existing resources in the immediate surroundings of educational centres, which in the majority of cases are under used (Miguel-Aguado, 2015). Thinking of this type of transference to "outdoors" should be associated with a methodological task that involves students in decision-making, evaluation, the regulation of work and in reflections on the useful and real application of what has been learnt (Hortiguela, Perez-Pueyo & Moncada, 2015; Hortiguela, Fernandez-Rio & Perez-Pueyo, 2016; Hortiguela, Perez-Pueyo & Fernandez-Rio, 2016). Therefore, the reduced curricular weight that physical activities in the natural environment have in the school curriculum, and the lack of training on the topics that PE teachers express, cannot serve as an excuse to limit the range of possible motor skills of our students (Sallis, Johnson , Calfas , Caparosa & Nichols, 2013). If we wish PE to be associated with enjoyment, experimentation of the practice of physical activity in other contexts and for the student to be aware of the possibilities that the environment offers, we should generate positive experiences outside the classroom. This desire, in addition, is intrinsically associated with the student respecting the environment, understanding it as the most suitable common area for practice, knowing the risks that might arise from it, and in consequence adapting the necessary safety measures and showing responsibility (Diedrich, 2014). What appears evident is that the more experiences the student has from the start of changing environments, the more capable the student will be of relating physical activities in the natural environment with both health and quality of life (Ridgers, 2012).In this sense, and despite the diversity of didactic experiences in the natural environment for the PE student, there is little literature that shows scientific evidence of experimental designs to investigate student perceptions of their personal experiences. Therefore, the contribution of this investigation centres on obtaining results relating to student perceptions through the completion of a practical exercise with applications: knot tying (knotting). Hence, the objectives of the investigation are: a) to contrast the effects of the motivational climate and the situational motivation of students in the course of completing this didactic content in the natural environment with regard to their practice in the sports centre (inside); b) to confirm the impact of the variables of extra-curricular sporting practice, the practice of activities in the natural environment, and to grade satisfaction with the experience in each of the groups in the PE classes. …