This little phrase caught our attention while reading Wall & Murry’s article this week. Wall & Murry  discuss the educator’s role introducing ‘movement concepts’ gradually to students – first as a floor activity before moving to apparatuses (1994, pg., 401).  We wondered, what constitutes a ‘movement concept’? And how do you know which movement concepts to teach , and which ones you should approach as ‘taken for granted understanding’?

According to Robinson & Randall, a movement concept answers the four following questions  (2014, pg., 319):
1. What is the body doing?
2. Where is the movement going?
3. What is the dynamic content or quality of movement?
4. With whom or to what is the mover relating?

With these questions in mind, what do you think is the most important movement concept to teach children at the start of a Gymnastics unit?

Note: Have a peak at the ‘Movement Concept Wheel’ designed by the University of New Mexico for an overview of different movement concepts  and how they relate to our broader understanding of what it means to be a physically literate individual.
http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/curriculum/guides/physed/2100-2101/appendix_g-movement_concept_wheel.pdf

We couldn’t settle on a single word this week, so we chose four:

continuous, collaborative, comprehensive and criteria-based

These are the four ‘C’s that Robinson and Randall suggest are the “essential principals”  of physical education assessment “that must be constantly respected” (2014, pg., 102). If educators follow these four principals, Robinson and Randall suggest, students will be more likely to  achieve the outcomes of their PE program.

Which one of the four ‘C’s do you think is most important and why? Can we apply the four ‘C’s to subject areas beyond physical education?  Why?

Caitlin and I are trying out a new feature on the blog – Word of the Week Wednesdays! We’re trying to get a bit more discussion going on here on the PE blog, and this may be a great day to do it. (Or maybe not – we’ll find out!)

This week, our word (well, we snuck a phrase in for the first week) is physical literacy – in our textbook, we have Margaret Whitehead’s definition that “a physically literate individual…moves with poise, economy, and confidence in a wide variety of physically challenging situations.” (R+R, 227).

What does this mean to you in a PE context? Do you agree or disagree with the definition we have been given it? What would you add? What does physical literacy look like to you?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

Welcome to the UBC Physical Education (Elementary and Secondary) 201-15 Blog.  This is a space for us to collaborate and share our thoughts and our resources.

Please share any ideas that you would like to see on this website here so that we can add it!

Caitlin and Courtenay will be managing the site for most of the term so please provide suggestions!