Abstract
The goal of this study is to examine the effect of personalized system of instruction on learning free-style swimming and track start skills in university students. In this research, which adopts the use of pre-test post-test control group model, the participants were 24 students (12 in experimental group, 12 in control group) who were studying in the Preparatory Class of Turkish Naval Academy, National Defence University and were receiving swimming courses. While the lessons in the experimental group were taught by the utilization of the Personalized System of Instruction, they were taught via the use of Direct Instruction in the control group. While the course content in the experimental group was provided with the workbook, it was formed by the lesson plans which were prepared by the instructor in the control group. Application of the procedure took 6 weeks in total. Observation forms, which were developed by one of the researchers, were used as data collection tools. For the analysis of the data, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used for in-group comparisons, whereas Mann-Whitney U Test was used for inter-group comparisons. As the result of the study, when the pre-test and post-test scores of the students in the experimental and control groups for freestyle swimming, track start and total skills were compared, statistically significant differences were found in favor of the post-tests. When the achievement scores of the students in the experimental and control groups for free style swimming, track start and total skills were compared, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups. In conclusion, it has been observed that both Personalized System of Instruction and Direct Instruction have positive effects on learning free style and track start technique in university students. It is safe to assume that the Personalized System of Instruction and Direct Instruction have similar effects in learning swimming skills and that the Personalized System of Instruction is an alternative teaching model to the Direct Instruction.