Presentation and evaluation of the stress lab - A tool to prepare physical education students to handle stressful teaching situations

Introduction and study purpose: Research indicate that prospective physical education teachers experience stress. To address this, the stress lab was developed to prepare physical education students to handle stressful teaching situations. The tool comprises an e-learning unit for acquiring knowledge on stress-related topics and a practical unit for hands-on experience in handling stressful teaching situations demonstrated through videos. This paper aims to introduce the stress lab as an interactive tool for physical education students and outlines three evaluation studies. Method: The initial study sought to confirm whether, upon completing the e-learning unit, participating physical education students accepted the tool and experienced positive outcomes, as demonstrated through knowledge about stress. The second study aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of the videos used in the practical unit. The third study aimed to verify whether, upon completing the practical unit, the participating physical education students accepted the unit and experienced positive outcomes, presented in the form of stress-related practical competences. Results: The results of the first study showed high levels of acceptance and stress-related knowledge after physical education students participated in the e-learning unit. Following an assessment of the appropriateness of the videos in the second study, six videos were selected for the practical unit. In the third study, physical education students reported a high level of acceptance and a high level of competence after participating in the practical unit. Conclusion: From this, various implications in terms of content and didactics can be deduced for the stress lab. In the future, the stress lab will be integrated into university training of prospective physical education teachers.