Abstract: This present paper collected through EBSCO electronic retrieval platform of sports academic data articles on physical education motivation, which were published on the 4 physical education magazines of "Journal of Teaching in Physical Education", "Review of Educational Research", "Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport"and"Journal of Educational Psychology", and analyzed and summed up the achievements of American school physical education motivation research of three research stages under the influence of the 4 motivation theories in the past 20 years. Based on the SEM structure equation, the author analyzed the reasons for the mismatch of motivation variables and ability variables. The enlightenment on Chinese school physical education:learning the achievements and research methods of American school physical education motivation research; starting from experimental exploration and ability motivation research, fully exploring curriculum motivation; improving physical education'function of carrying forward culture heritage, and exploring the long-termmechanism.

Key words: America, physical education, School physical education, motivation, teaching goal