Instructional Models for Physical Education

Michael Metzler, Gavin T. Colquitt, Gavin Colquitt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000381641
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

No single instructional method can meet all of the student learning needs expressed in the SHAPE America National Standards for Physical Education. This new edition provides pedagogical knowledge and resources that support physical education teachers' selection and use of instructional models and gives physical educators a plan for incorporating these models into their teaching.

Presented in two sections, Instructional Models for Physical Education 4E first presents the rationale, pedagogical knowledge, and selection processes for Model-Based Instruction (MBI). MBI is the commitment to use one instructional plan throughout a unit of instruction. The second section provides pedagogical knowledge for the selection, implementation and assessment of instructional models used in P–12 physical education.

This edition has been updated to be in alignment with the SHAPE America National Standards for Physical Education. It includes new sections on differentiated instruction and practical applications. A companion website contains additional examples and information for each model.

The book includes everything the reader needs for planning, implementing, and assessing when teaching with instructional models. It helps readers incorporate research-based practices in their lessons, adapt activities, and teach to standards. This text can be used as the stand-alone text for courses on physical education teaching methods at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

PART I

Foundations for Model-Based Instruction in Physical Education

This book is based on two important assumptions about teaching physical education. First, instruction is most effective when it occurs within a coherent framework known to the teacher and communicated to students. Such frameworks will be called instructional models in this book, with eight models for physical education presented in Part II. That part of the book will provide you with detailed plans for designing, implementing, and assessing each model. The second assumption is that teachers must understand the foundations for model-based instruction in order to select the best model to meet the stated learning goals in a unit, match student developmental readiness, and manage the learning environment. Helping teachers gain that understanding is the purpose of Part I.

It would be tempting for some readers to bypass Part I and search through Part II for one or two “favorite” models selected from personal experience as a student or from one’s teaching background. Although the descriptions of each model would give a teacher enough information to begin to use a model, eventually the teacher will be left with important questions: “Why am I teaching this way?” “How do I know my students are really learning according to the model’s design?” and “How do I make modifications for my students and this teaching situation?” Part I will help teachers answer those questions and many others so they can make informed decisions about using model-based instruction in their school programs.

Instructional models are planning “blueprints” that physical education teachers can use to help their students achieve stated learning goals. Part I will help you understand where those blueprints came from, how they can help you build a coherent instructional plan, how to select the right plan for your purpose, and how to know when that plan has given you the results you wanted. Equipped with that knowledge, you will be much better informed and ready to implement model-based instruction as a physical education teacher.

Chapter 1

Aligning Standards, Curriculum, and Instruction with Model-Based Instruction

Physical education programs can be viewed as a combination of personnel, learning goals, facilities, content and activities, and the ways teachers instruct. Throughout the history of school-based physical education in the United States, these programs have tended to reflect larger patterns in American culture, people’s needs and choices regarding physical activity, and trends in our educational system. Even today, the goals, content, and instruction in physical education continue to evolve in ways that call for new approaches in school program design and in how the teaching–learning process is carried out.

Standards for Physical Education

In 2013 SHAPE America released its National Standards & Grade-Level Outcomes for K–12 Physical Education. These standards define what a student should know and be able to do as result of a highly effective physical education program. States and local school districts across the country use the National Standards to develop or revise existing standards, frameworks and curricula (SHAPE America, 2013). These new standards shown in Exhibit 1.1 are based on the concept of physical literacy, which is defined as, “The ability to move with competence and confidence in a wide variety of physical activities in multiple environments that benefit the healthy development of the whole person” (Mandigo, Francis, Lodewyk & Lopez, 2009, p. 28).

EXHIBIT 1.1 SHAPE America (2013) National Standards for Physical Education.

Standard 1:	The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.
Standard 2:	The physically literate individual applies knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies and tactics related to movement and performance.
Standard 3:	The physically literate individual demonstrates the knowledge and skills to achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness.
Standard 4:	The physically literate individual exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others.
Standard 5:	The physically literate individual recognizes the value of physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social interaction.

Program Alignment to Achieve the National Standards

Having widely accepted national standards for physical education is not enough to ensure that students actually achieve those broad learning outcomes. There are many other parts of a physical education program that must be properly aligned with these standards. These occur at three major levels:

1. Program goals and design;
2. Curriculum models;
3. Instructional models.

Having a proper alignment means that all of these factors are working together in a way that allows the intended learning outcomes to be achieved by students in a physical education program. When one or more of these factors are not in the proper alignment, student learning is reduced or does not occur at all.

Program Goals and Design

All physical education programs have learning goals—what the teacher or teachers in that school would like students to learn from their physical education instruction. In some schools, those goals are stated clearly for all to see and understand. In other schools, those goals may be stated less clearly or are not formally communicated by the teachers. In order for those goals to be aligned with the national standards, teachers must formally state them and show how each goal relates to one or more of the national standards. The design of each program includes a unique combination of teacher experience and expertise, scheduling plan, instructional space, student characteristics, class size, and available equipment. The design of the program—how it is put together—allows students to learn what is intended by the teachers. Some designs can lead to student learning of all the national standards, while other designs promote only some of the standards.

Curriculum Models

Presently, there is no national curriculum plan for physical education—only the widely accepted SHAPE America standards. That means programs across the country are trying to achieve the same standards even with no common structure or content for these programs. Teachers in the same district or even in the same school will identify one or more of the national or state standards for their students to learn, selecting what they consider to be an appropriate curriculum plan to provide an overall organizational structure for the content units offered in their own program. Sometimes this curriculum plan is simply a list of content units required for students during the school year, having little or no direct relationship to each other or the national standards. Those will be referred to as activity- based curriculum plans, in which the program is little more than a collection of content units with no central theme to bind them together.

The best curriculum plans will:

1. clearly specify which of the national standards they are attempting to promote;
2. show an intentional process for deciding which content units should be offered in the program;
3. determine which resources are needed to help students achieve the major learning outcomes; and
4. regularly assess the major outcomes as well as the curriculum plan itself.

Those will be referred to as standards-based curriculum...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Exhibits
• Part I Foundations for Model-Based Instruction in Physical Education
• Part II Eight Instructional Models for Physical Education
• References
• Index