Provides practical strategies to help physical educators handle too many students, too few instructional minutes, and too little planning time as they try to comply with the continued focus on student assessment. The article discusses assessment design and implementation, offers tips for getting started, and includes samples of assessment tools.…

With the teaching for understanding approach, physical education teachers can modify standard game skills to help low-skilled secondary school students focus on the important concepts and strategies shared by all net games. The paper explains how to use the teaching for understanding approach in physical education. (SM)

Educational gymnastics uses a problem-solving approach to accommodate multiple correct solutions to open-ended movement problems in gymnastics. A four-stage framework is outlined to help teachers systematically increase and decrease task difficulty in educational gymnastics. Answers to common questions about educational gymnastics are provided.…

This paper describes two practical assessment procedures that enable teachers to use time more efficiently in physical education class. One approach is for teachers who want to use validated or invalidated skills tests, and the other approach takes advantage of instructional progression steps. (SM)

This study videotaped 58 university students in coeducational volleyball classes to determine what happens in physical education classes to improve student achievement. Results show that physical education teachers must increase the number and quality of learning trials to enhance motor skill proficiency.(SM)

The backward chaining instructional method, based on behavioral learning principles, offers swimming instructors an alternative to traditional methods of teaching swimming skills by breaking down the skill into a number of tasks or steps and teaching them in reverse sequence. (CB)

Paper describes two assessment projects that provide examples of how preservice physical educators design, implement, and understand assessment, focusing on formative assessment. A volleyball project occurred in a middle school where students had physical education twice weekly. A gymnastics project occurred in an elementary school where teachers…

A variety of educational gymnastics, games, and sports tasks geared toward young children are described. They focus on jumping, taking weight on various body parts, large apparatus movement, ball skills, striking skills, throwing and catching skills, and travelling with a ball. Suggestions are also presented regarding the preschool handicapped…

Physical educators compared the effectiveness of peer, teacher, and video feedback during elementary students' skill development units. Groups of students received one of the types of feedback. Pretesting and posttesting indicated that teacher-directed feedback was best for younger students and video feedback with teacher cueing was best for older…

Competitive activities have always existed in physical education. However, according to this literature review, their value is not confirmed. When student learning is the goal, relying on competitively structured activities is contradictory and harmful. More important is the effective teaching of motor skills. (SM)

Sport education is a curriculum and instruction model that provides authentic sport experiences for physical education students. Its key features derive from how sport is conducted in community and interschool contexts. Ideally, it combines direct instruction, cooperative small-group work, and peer teaching. Its goals are to help students become…

Physical education teachers must include verbal prompts in their verbal feedback. The article distinguishes between prompts and feedback, making a linkage between them. It outlines a prompt/feedback package, identifies a rationale for its use in physical education, and presents components of a fifth grade basketball lesson with prompts and…

This article proposes teaching strategies and an instructional format to make traditional secondary physical education classes more fitness oriented. Suggestions address the preclass activity, fitness lectures, skill development, integration game activities, playing of traditional games, fitness activities, and closure activities. Sample week…

When coaches establish an effective working relationship with parents, the quality of the athlete's, coach's, and parent's experience improves. This article outlines techniques for coaches to gain the confidence and support of parents, to help parents formulate wholesome expectations, and to enlist parents' aid in developing skill and…

Provides examples of three pedagogical approaches for using play structures in elementary school physical education. The examples focus on objectives relating to health-related fitness and skill development. (GLR)