Blended learning in physical education: Examining the effectiveness of the “did you know?” model in gymnastics

This study evaluates the "Did You Know?" (DYK) blended learning model, a pedagogical approach combining interactive Facebook posts with traditional in-person teaching to enhance gymnastics teaching in secondary school Physical Education (PE). Forty-four secondary school students (17.20 ± 0.40 years) from a public school in Tunisia were quasi-randomly assigned to either a DYK group (n = 21) or a traditional approach (TA) group (n = 23). Over a six-week intervention, the DYK group received hybrid instruction (asynchronous online content via DYK images + in-person classes), while the TA group followed a fully in-person teaching approach. Pre- and post-tests assessed motor learning (gymnastics routine performance), knowledge retention (written test), and situational motivation (Situational Motivation Scale - SIMS). The results demonstrated that the DYK group significantly outperformed the TA group in both motor learning (p < 0.001) and knowledge retention (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the DYK group exhibited a significant increase in autonomous motivation (p < 0.001) and a decrease in controlled motivation (p < 0.05), whereas the TA group displayed opposite trends. These findings highlight the efficacy of the DYK model in improving motor, cognitive, and affective learning outcomes in gymnastics. The study advocates for the integration of structured, theory-driven blended learning strategies into PE curricula to optimize student engagement and performance.