Modeling Physical Education as a Learning System: Regional and International Perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17309/jltm.2026.7.1.01Keywords:
physical education, learning system, learning theory, modeling, pedagogical control, adaptive learning, instructional designAbstract
Background. Contemporary learning research increasingly conceptualizes educational processes as controllable, adaptive, and feedback-driven systems. Despite this shift, physical education is often treated as conceptually separate from general learning theory and predominantly interpreted as an applied or norm-oriented activity. Such a reduction limits opportunities for systemic analysis, instructional design, and the integration of formative assessment mechanisms.
Objectives. The purpose of this article is to reconceptualize physical education as a learning system from the perspective of learning theory and to analyze regional and international approaches to modeling learning processes and pedagogical regulation of learning outcomes.
Materials and Methods. The study was conducted as a narrative review. Its methodological basis is a conceptual analysis of monographic works and publications in peer-reviewed journals addressing learning process modeling, pedagogical control, adaptive learning, and instructional design in physical education. Source selection followed a conceptually oriented strategy aimed at identifying theoretically and empirically grounded models of learning systems.
Results. The analysis demonstrates that physical education can be interpreted as a structured learning system comprising learning goals, operationalized outcomes, feedback mechanisms, and regulatory pedagogical decisions. Learning outcomes are conceptualized as dynamic states of learning that change in response to instructional organization. Regional models illustrate how pedagogical control and the classification of learning states can be used to adapt instructional influences under conditions of learner heterogeneity.
Conclusions. Physical education can be regarded as a legitimate domain of learning theory capable of providing conceptually coherent and empirically grounded examples of controllable and adaptive learning systems. Integrating motor learning within the learning sciences expands opportunities for interdisciplinary analysis of learning processes and contributes to bridging cognitive, procedural, and physical domains of learning.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Olha Ivashchenko, Oleg Khudolii, Mykola Khudolii
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