Purpose: The present study has focused on the effects of learning strategies (cognitive and metacognitive skills) in improving students' Cognitive flexibility and its components in physical education.
Methods: This study is semi-experimental. The statistical population of this research was 1656 people and the sample was 62 female students of the first secondary level of Al-Shatar city (Lorestan province) with an average age of 14.24 ± 0.76, who were randomly selected and divided into two experimental and control groups, and then divided became The pre-test-post-test plan was implemented. Subjects of both groups performed the online Stroop test for adolescents in the pre-test phase. The subjects of both groups performed the online Stroop test in the pre-test phase. Then the experimental group used a variety of cognitive, metacognitive learning strategies during 8 90-minute practice sessions. And both groups performed the same online Stroop test in the post-test phase. The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance test.
Result: The findings of the present study showed that the learning strategies has an effect on improving students' cognitive flexibility based on the number of correct answers of the Stroop test, P < 0.001 and F = 11.197, the number of wrong answers of the Stroop test, P < 0.001 and F = 128.269, interference of the Stroop test, P < 0.043 and 4.275 F=, there is no unanswered number of Stroop test, P<0.025 and F=1.347(, in physical education lessons.) In fact, in the experimental group, by using various learning strategies, the cognitive flexibility of the students has increased significantly compared to the control group .Therefore the promotion of cognitive flexibility is closely related to the content and effective instructions taught by teachers in the physical education classroom. It is recommended for teachers to use appropriate strategies for effective teaching and learning in order to increase the quality of teaching and the content of classroom education.