Research
The research that support’s this inquiry project can be found in Ben Dyson’s article which states there is concern that teacher content knowledge on physical education is limited and incomplete (2014). As content teachers, if we do not have a deeper understanding of the content, we are not able to teach meaningful outcomes in the physical education classroom (Dyson, 2014). Elementary school teachers have a valuable opportunity to help develop a positive relationship between their students and physical education early on. If a student does not form early connections to the subject content it reduces the learning students actually take on (Dyson, 2014).
Physical education teachers are now starting to be held accountable for their student’s learning through nationally set standards (Dyson, 2014). These standards should really only be a minimum requirement, but physical education teachers need to teach above and beyond the minimum standards (Dyson, 2014). We should get students excited about physical education in their schools as much as they get excited about a new computer game!
Having said this idealistic perspective, realistically, physical education teachers are maybe only attaining two of the five standards (Dyson, 2014). While teaching above and beyond the minimum requirements is a valuable ideal, teachers should first be teaching all of the required standards (Dyson, 2014).
I believe that if elementary school and secondary school teachers in the same district form meaningful collaborative relationships, we can better prepare ourselves to meet the standards in physical education. This puts us in a promising position to further go above and beyond the minimum requirements in providing quality physical education for all our learners.
Below is a chart of some other literature and research this inquiry project will review:
| Title | Author(s) | Purpose | Participants | Findings | |
| 1 | Accomplished Teachers Implementation of Quality Teaching Practices |
Weiyun Chen, Austin Hammond-Bennett,
Ashley Upton, & Steve Mason
(2014)
|
To describe how accomplished teachers implement daily quality teaching practices in their lessons. | Four elementary PE teachers (1 male and 2 female) | Teachers provided students quality teaching by using 4 essential dimensions of teaching practices: i) task design, ii) task presentation, iii) class management, iv) instructional responses. The study confirmed that teachers should provide students with authentic and meaningful learning tasks. Lack of any of these dimensions would be harmful to quality of teaching & learning. |
| 2 | Quality Physical Education: A Commentary on Effective Physical Education Teaching | Ben Dyson(2014) | Focuses on 3 areas: (a) content knowledge, (b) a holistic approach to physical education, and (c) policy impact. | N/A | Teacher content knowledge is limited in physical education and failing to foster a connection to the content lessens the learning gains of students.”Physical education is much broader than just physical activity, and we harm the future potential of our field if we adopt a narrow agenda” (Dyson) |
| 3 | Tweet me, message me, like me: using social media to facilitate pedagogical change within an emerging community of practice | Victoria A. Goodyear, Ashley Casey, & David Kirk(2014) | To explore how social media can operate as a communicative space that supports teachers’ professional learning for long term to change practice. | 2125 interactions via Facebook and Twitter – between five physical education teachers and a facilitator over 2 years | “Social media is presented here as a ‘new’ method for professional learning that supports pedagogical change and overcomes some of the financial and time implications of facilitators and teachers working together.” |
| 4 | Making a Case for Having a Physical Education Specialist | Amanda Kaldor & Joe Deutsch(2013) | Advocates for the role of a physical education specialist and quality physical education practices. | N/A | All teachers need to be held accountable to provide quality physical education programs & a physical education specialist can help produce those programs on a district level. |
| 5 | Teacher Collaboration for Professional Learning: FacilitatingStudy, Research, and Inquiry Communities | Susan Israel(2009) | A resource for educators looking for support to understand how to effectively implement and sustain a collaborative learning community. | N/A | Book organization:i) Why support collaborative reseach?ii) Building a Professional Learning Communityiii) Collaborate Effectivelyiv)Model Learning Communities |
| 6 | Elementary Physical Education Teachers’ Content Knowledge of Physical Activity and Health-Related Fitness | Jose A. Santiago, James G. Disch, & Julio Morales(2012) | To examine elementary PE teachers’ content knowledge of physical activity and health-related fitness. | 64 female24 male | -After completing the physical activity & health-related fitness test mean score percentage = 57.6%.-Gender & level of education was unrelated to content knowledge-Recommendations: ongoing professional development activities should be provided in order to improve the teaching of PE in schools. |