How can Secondary Physical Education teachers collaborate with Elementary school teachers to improve fundamental movement skills (FMS) at a young age?
When I was told that an entire class was designated on inquiring on a topic I was interested in, it did not take long for me to figure out what my focus would be towards. My inquiry began during my introductory courses at Douglas College where there was a heavy focus on motor skills and motor development in children and adolescence. Content focused on critical periods children should learn fundamental movement skills (FMS) and the importance of providing children with many opportunities to explore all the possible locomotor and non locomotor movements. It wasn’t until my final year where the subject of fundamental movement skills arose again, specifically in during my fieldwork experience at a Surrey public high school. I was discussing with a Physical Education teacher about the lack of skill children were having in various physical activities in the class. The teacher asked me to observe a grade 8 handball class for 5 minutes and tell him what I saw. The results were evident right away: most of the students did not know how to throw a ball. He discussed with me after, how it was becoming more and more apparent that students would come into high school from elementary, with minimal to no motor skills. From that day forward, it was all I could see in physical education settings. High school students were lacking the fundamental movement skills they should have when entering high school.