Identifying the effective factors on improving the architecture of sports spaces in schools

According to the statistics, the sports and physical activity of the students is not at an appropriate level. Lack of physical activity among students is a global problem: students spend most of their time in school, which significantly reduces the amount of daily physical activity as they sit in class for long periods of time. Physical education lessons and coaches alone cannot be enough to motivate students to exercise, sports equipment and facilities are also necessary to help motivate students. This requires an environment that is conducive to their interest. In the world, there is in average of 5.2 square meters of sports space per student, but in our country, it is only 0.17 square meters. Lack of students’s physical activity endangers the physical and mental health of the society and this makes researches necessary in order to find the factors and solutions that lead to the increase of sports and physical activity of students. So these were the questions: What spaces encourage physical activity and sports from the students, principals, and teachers point of view? What features should this space have to encourage physical and sports activities? The purpose of this research was to identify spatial factors that enhance sports and physical activity from the students, principals and teachers point of view, so that schools can be actively designed and the school environment supports the students' sports activities.This research was based theoretically on behaviorism which deals with the relationship between environment and behavior and focused on the case study of the second cycle all-boys high schools in Marivan. The method of this research was to quantitatively collect the views of students, principals and teachers through a researcher-made questionnaire. The statistical population of this research was the principals, assistants, and sports teachers in one group, and the students of less and more deprived schools in terms of space and sports fields in another group. The answers were analyzed using SPSS 26 software. The reliability of the questionnaire was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The KMO test was used to check the factor loading of the questions. A significant test (t) was conducted between the group of principals and vice-presidents of schools, with the group of school sports teachers and physical education experts, as well as among less and more benefited students in terms of school sports environment.The results showed that The first priority from the students' point of view is the hardness of most school sports fields (especially the asphalt type, due to the separation of asphalt particles from the ground during sports use), the presence of obstacles near the sports fields, the lack of sufficient and suitable space for the fields. Depending on the sports field and the number of students, they have fully felt the lack of security during sports activities and have experienced the injuries and problems that have occurred. According to Maslow's Pyramid Of Needs, the need for security is one of the most basic and important basic needs of every human being. So, students need a safe and risk-free environment to increase their interest.