Incorporating Technology into the Physical Education classroom
The rapid evolution of technology has changed the way student’s process information (Phillips, Rodenbeck, & Clegg, 2014). Today’s students have never known a life in which technological devices have been nonexistent and are therefore able to quickly learn how to use new technologies that are afforded to them. The technologies that I intend to incorporate into student’s lessons are applications that can either be purchased from the IOS or Android App stores. The reason for this decision is that the large majority of students at my practicum school have access to a mobile device, and therefore could at the very least work in pairs if the device is not available to the student.
When will the technology be incorporated into the students lessons?
To best administer this change to what students may consider a typical day in their P.E. classroom, I have decided to incorporate the app based technology during the Grade 9 minor games unit and during the Grade 10 golf unit. Instead of the traditional minor games students have become accustomed to, students will be participating in a day of Geocaching. Using the Geocache intro app, students will work in partners to navigate a school side trail using their mobile devices in an attempt to find hidden treasures. For the golf unit, the personal and peer connection is to “be a great coach”. In order to provide students with an opportunity to fully succeed, students will be utilizing the Coach’s Eye app as a video tool to help improve their partners golf swing.
Assessment of the affective domain
There is often the discussion of whether students who are skilled athletes should be given an “A” in physical education based on their motor skills alone, regardless of whether they are late for classes or verbally abuse their classmates (Gallo, 2013). At my practicum school there is a large emphasis placed on affective learning and the social responsibility of students. The model that is currently being implemented is called “The Answer Model” and is centered on personal and peer connections. For every unit there is a pre-selected connection that is designed to challenge false personal beliefs and nurture connections with healthy ones. At the beginning of every unit, students are introduced to the personal and peer connection for the unit and they are graded on this particular connection for every day of the unit. For example the personal and peer connection for the netball unit is to “perform your best and value all teammates”. The connection is reiterated throughout the unit, and at the end of every lesson, students call out their score on an 80:20 scale. 80% is deemed an acceptable score for someone that was individually involved and enthused, but did not significantly contribute to improving on the personal and peer connection. A score higher than 90% is deemed acceptable for someone that markedly improved at the personal and peer connection, and a score lower than 80% is usually due to tardiness or inappropriate behavior, or a lack of participation. Students share their self assessment with the instructor in front of their classmates at the end of every lesson. The instructor has final say on the mark as it is important to commend exemplary work as well as to question students who feel that are achieving a higher score than what it appears they deserve.
Comparison of students grades with and without the use of application based technology
Students in both the grade 9 and 10 classes will be assessed using the Answer model method throughout the duration of my long practicum. A comparison of grade scores will be utilized to determine if in fact the use of application based technology has a significant impact on students affective learning at the conclusion of the Grade 9 minor games unit and the Grade 10 Golf unit.