The purpose of this study was to examine students' attitude toward physical education in
relation to the transition from elementary to middle school. The subjects consisted of total 1,225
students(male: 659, female: 566) including 663(male: 344, female: 319) students in the 6th grade
from 4 elementary schools and 562 students(male: 315, female: 247) in the 7th grade from 2
middle schools located in D city. The survey instruments were based on 15 questions including
2 on personal characteristics, 11 on attitude towards physical education, and 2 on transition. For
the collection of data, full explanation about the purpose of the study was given to the
sampling targets after obtaining the consent of the teacher in charge of physical education. For
the collected data, the content analysis was conducted using open questionnaire and frequency
and percentage analysis, two-way ANOVA, and correlation analysis were conducted with SPSS
20.0. The results were as follows. First, students appeared to develop negative attitude toward
physical education while undergoing transition based on the feeling towards physical
education, beliefs about ability, favourite parts of physical education, ideal changes to physical
education, beliefs about outcomes, beliefs about transition, and actual changes following the
transition that middle school students perceive. Second, male students appeared to have more
favorable feeling towards physical education than female students considering the effect of
school level and sex on the attitude toward physical education and elementary school students
appeared to feel more favorable toward physical education than middle school students
considering the school level. Based on these results, the curriculum and teaching methods
enhancing physical education participation need to be developed for students during the
transition period.