Don’t stress out! The stress lab: A learning tool for prospective physical education teachers in the context of studying at university: practice report

Physical education teachers face high demands while teaching (e.g., loud noise, inadequate facilities, low status of physical education teachers in the body of teachers). These demands result in stressful teaching situations and subsequent psychological and physiological stress responses. As a consequence, prospective teachers need to start dealing with stressful teaching situations early in their stu-dies and the stress lab gives prospective teachers this opportunity. In the stress lab, interactive videos of stressful physical education teaching situations serve as stressors and prospective teachers are instructed to generate and apply different co-ping options. They prepare themselves for acting appropriately in upcoming stressful teaching situations. The theory-based and practice-oriented approach of the stress lab is characterized by physiological and psychological measuring methods (e.g., heart rate monitoring, questionnaires) in order to sensitize prospective teachers for symptoms of stress. Future studies are planned to evaluate the effectiveness of the stress lab.