The subject of Psychology of Physical Activity and Sport in the Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences focuses on the study of people and their behavior in the social context of sport and physical activity. An essential aspect of students’ education in physical activity and sports is to give them a prominent role in the educational process and help them to build their own learning and develop competencies for their future professional activity in the field. In addition, this bachelor is characterized by including subjects where physical activity and sport are constantly present. Students may therefore not be stimulated by subjects, such as this subject related to Psychology, where physical exercise is absent from classes. To address this issue, the teaching process, especially the theoretical part, must shift away from a traditional methodology toward a more dynamic, motivating and participatory approach. To this end, traditional lectures should be accompanied by additional teaching methodologies that actively motivate student learning, thereby encouraging their curiosity, creativity, and interest. We refer to gamification (i.e., the use of game dynamics or mechanisms in the educational process) and game-based learning (i.e., the use of games as tools to support learning, assimilation or evaluation). Accordingly, an educational innovation project was designed for implementation in the subject of Psychology of Physical Activity and Sports, which is taught in the first year (second semester) of the Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences. In this subject, students analyze the behavior of individuals and groups in all sporting contexts, as well as the specific psychosocial factors that condition sports practice and the psychosocial effects that derive from it. Among the objectives of this project is the stimulation of student attendance and participation in theory classes, using individual competition as a gamification strategy. Participants in the project were 50 undergraduate students. Initial results indicated that an optimal level of student attendance and participation could be achieved by incorporating different active activities (e.g., clue games, quiz games, physical tests). Furthermore, competition encouraged the study of the subject (basic psychological processes and psychosocial processes related to human behavior in physical-sport contexts). These results highlight that the use of active and participatory methodologies throughout the course is effective in developing students' competencies in this field. The implications of the results for education and the university teaching-learning process, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.

Keywords: Psychology of physical activity and sports, competition, gamification activities, competencies development.