The aim of physical education is lifelong participation.
Skill development and participation will foster the development of positive attitudes toward a lifetime commitment to physical activity.
Goals of the physical education program are:
The physical education program must empower the learner to take advantage of participation in future physical activities even though such opportunities may not be evident or known at present. The conceptual approach will enable learners to participate successfully in a physical activity even though it may not have been specifically included in the program.
In physical education, the conceptual approach is based on the how and, as importantly, the why of movement. Instead of looking at each activity as a separate entity, concepts are introduced which stress the commonalities among them. This serves to enhance the students' understanding of movement and its underlying principles. Students come to understand the workings of their bodies in all three domains (affective, cognitive, psychomotor).
Educators know that students learn at different rates and in different ways. A vast majority of learners are of two types: those who want to see the big picture first and then break down and assimilate the smaller parts, and those who want to access the smaller parts first and then work up to the big picture.
The conceptual approach recognizes learning as an evolutionary process. This means that, from birth, human beings have the ability to process information, beginning with rudimentary skills and progressing to higher, more complex levels of thinking. Infants, children and adults all have the ability to select and use higher ordered thinking skills.
In order to accommodate various learning styles and levels of thinking, educators must possess a wide repertoire of teaching methods. By having a firm foundation in teaching methods and a willingness to use more than one, teachers can be more confident that students' needs are being met. It is critical that teachers fit instructional approaches to the students' learning styles and not the other way around.
Use of a conceptual approach allows teachers to plan for the learning outcomes of students. It is possible to prepare lessons in such a way that one learning outcome is planned to lead into the next. Many educators assume this to be an automatic occurrence. For example, a teacher may assume that once the students understand the benefits of fitness, they will choose lifestyles that display their knowledge in this area. Yet, all we have to do is look at the number of knowledgeable but unfit and unhealthy adults in our society to see this is not so. Such outcomes do not simply happen. They must be planned and then practised.
This is not to say that there is no room in a physical educator's teaching repertoire for the explanation/demonstration/practice or traditional method. Such a teaching method is a definite asset when presenting students with a knowledge base from which to begin learning. Used in isolation, however, the traditional approach (where the teacher explains and demonstrates and the students attempt to mimic the teacher) encourages passive activity on the part of the students, which means activity with little purpose or ownership.
A teacher working in the conceptual realm is a facilitator, focusing on the students and their needs while preparing objectives stated in terms of behaviourial outcomes. Students who are working at a beginner's level may do so without fear of keeping more able students from pursuing higher skill levels. The converse is also true. Fortunately, with the conceptual approach, students may work and achieve success at various levels during any class period, regardless of the teacher's skill level.
The conceptual approach gives students the freedom to explore and discover action/consequence relationships independently.
They discover that winning and losing are not the only consequences of physical activity. They reach the conclusion, by themselves, that there is much to be learned about one's ability to control and predict certain aspects of the environment.
It is an obvious statement that, in a physical education class, the psychomotor domain is of primary importance; however, we want our students to grow into adults who react quickly and decisively (cognitive domain) and display such traits as sportsmanship and teamwork (affective domain). The use of a variety of teaching methods attends to all three domains and shows promise of producing skilled performers who move with meaning and understanding.
Inclusion of alternate teaching methods in order to accommodate students' varied learning styles in no way challenges the fact that the study of human movement is largely through an activity program; nor does it deny that physical education is more concerned with the motor domain than is any other subject area. Instead, it recognizes that attention to the individual learner's emotions, feelings and inherent personality will produce the best result: a meaningfully physically educated individual.
Physical education programs in Saskatchewan strive to achieve the mission of developing active, autonomous learners; they also complement physical education's aim of lifelong participation through the incorporation of the following perspectives:
The foundational perspective includes development in the area of basic movement patterns, performance cues (motor skill development), and physical fitness. The activity perspective includes aquatics, developmental games and sports, educational gymnastics, fitness, outdoor pursuits and rhythmics and/or dance. The personal-cultural perspective refers to knowledge and understanding, appreciations and attitudes, social skills and cultural awareness.
These perspectives are not taught as entities unto themselves; rather, they are the common ground from which lessons and units are planned. They become a part of the activities in which the students engage. For example, as students are working on a racquets unit (foundational and activity perspectives), they are also participating in peer coaching (personal-cultural perspective). Different emphases can be placed on each of the perspectives at any given time, depending on the purpose of the activity and the desired outcome. Each perspective is explained in more detail in Overview of Course.