Problem Based Learning in Physical Education

Implementing a Problem-baed-learning can bring a different dimension to the Physical Education setting. This teaching method should serve and an end-of-the year   project. Everything that the students have learned throughout the year, should progressed smoothly into this final activity. I will outline the following components in three stages: Stage 1: The problem to be solved. Stage 2: Students implement solutions in their own way. Stage 3: Implementation of task.

Thought the year, students have learned about the importance of physical activity. At this point, students should have a clear idea through experience, that each task does not always have to be implemented at the highest level of intensity. In many ways, the most important thing about the early stages is to be able to complete the task at a level of intensity where you are comfortable. As the year progresses, suing this concept, students will build their level of fitness and they will be able to increase their own level of intensity. By the end of year, students will be able to solve the following problem: Design a 30 minute exercise routine that will help help you reach 10 thousand steps. In stage 1, the teacher proposes the question and he clarifies the parameters under which the problem can be solved. The parameters are: the students can use any of the equipment available; the students can use music; the activity must be 30 minutes; the students must use pedometers to track steps.(provided).
The following parameters will help students achieve the following National Physical Education Content Standards National Standard 1: Student achieves and maintains a physical level of fitness. State Standard 3: Student assess and maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance.

Stage 2: Students will be given three to four days to design their exercise routine and to implement it. Students will then be able to perform their exercise routine and decide whether or not it meets the requirements. The beauty about this activity is that students can be creative in how they meet the requirements. The teacher should expect students to create exercise routines that require a lot of movement. For example, we may see some students playing different small sided games. Others may create stations that require each task to be performed quickly and to travel from one to the other continuously. 

In stage 3, students will perform their lesson. Due to the duration of the entire class, students will only be required to perform 15 minutes of their lesson. However, students will need to provide numerical data that their lesson meets the requirements. Students can achieve this by taking images of pedometer readings, video recording, etc. 

The purpose of this activity, is to encourage student creativity in in order to meet a physical education goal. The complexity of this activity can be increased by limiting the types of activities that students can use. The teacher can also increase the level of complexity by selected a small number of activities. In retrospect, each group will implement their own style to meet their needs. Most importantly, thought the planning process, students will maintain a certain level of activity while working on a solution to the problem. 

Problem-based-learning is rarely used in the physical education setting. When the teacher implements this methodology, the teacher differentiates to meet educational goals. The teacher implements grouping patterns heterogeneously so that students have the opportunity to share differences and create their very own unique lesson. 

Cooperative Learning

During the planning process of a Physical Education lesson, grouping patterns are important teaching strategies to consider. The teacher must consider homogenous and heterogenous grouping methods. These both provide positive effects in many important components of a lesson Students can trigger self-interest due to being grouped with others who share similar skills, learning styles or interest. The same can be said of heterogenous grouping. Students can trigger interest due to the different ways of thinking and/or interests. It is important that the grouping pattern is directly linked with the type of students that are in the class. When dealing with younger students, smaller groups should be strongly considered as it will maximize student participation and student interest. When dealing with older students, such as high school students, the groups can, accordingly, be bigger. We can begin to implement group leaders to lead the group and trigger cooperation among the entire group. 

Throughout the year, it is important to create a balance with the use of grouping patterns. For example, grouping patterns should line up with the content and student reaction to the teaching strategies and their progress. It is important that prior to grouping, the teacher should have an idea of who the students are; what their strengths are and their weaknesses. Then, the teacher can decide on a grouping patter accordingly. When grouping homogeneously in the Physical Education setting, it is important that students have already had experience with working with students of similar abilities and interests, as well as differences. Homogeneous grouping can use used during actives that require students working together to ensure student success. This kind of activities are often implemented towards the end of the school year. By this time, students have had unique experiences in learning and the students are ready to apply what they have learned in different ways. 

Prior to the end of the year, I believe it is important to group students heterogeneously. This is important because in the early stages of the year, students are just beginning to learn from the teacher, the students around them and how everyone interacts together. In these group pattern, students are grouped based on different skills, interests, and/or points of view. This grouping method is very power well during the early stages of the school year. In the Physical Education setting, it is important to build a positive environment where students are safe and they are not afraid of failure or to look silly because they cannot do a task. Building this environment sets the tone for the remainder of the year. Most importantly, students build perceived competence. They are the self belief that they can be successful. This environment can be built by using cooperatives and team building activities. It is a powerful opportunity for students to learn from each other, to make mistakes together, to have fun, and to build strong relationships. 

In the Physical Education setting, I believe that grouping can be effectively organized to maximize learning of all students. I have chosen visual-spatial, kinesthetic, and musical. It is important to keep in mind that in order to successfully group students accordingly, it is important to have an understanding of the student learning abilities. This can be done by implementing informal assessments, as well as through observation during a physical education activity. 

When working with the entire group in the physical education setting, the lesson can incorporate grouping based on many of Gardner's intelligences. For a given lesson, I prefer to use visual-spatial, kinesthetic, and music. These three intelligences are fundamentally influential in maximizing student learning and student success. For example, students are provided with visual demonstration, visual cues to understand and be able to perform the task. Students also have the opportunity to physically try it out this is the most important one as each student can try it out, with many repetitions.  Students are encouraged to continuously try as the more exposure and repetitions the student has, the more comfortable he will become within the task. Lastly, music plays an important part in the physical education setting that is often overlooked. Physical Education has a lot of movement involved. Music is very enjoyable and it brings a different dimension to the experience. The teacher can use music as a stop-start signal. Students can be encouraged to change intensity of movement based on the rhythm of the song. In retrospect, all three intelligences are incorporated in one lesson. A variation of this, is having students who can demonstrate, be grouped with those who need visual cues to learn to perform a task. This can take place in groups of 2 or 4. i prefer not to go beyond these numbers in order to maximize student participation. 

In the beginning of the lesson, I would introduce the tasks by verbally explaining them while demonstrating. Students have the opportunity to see and ask questions about each station. A supplementation for this, will be pictures, that will show the same task. (additional aid) . Then, students are formed in groups of 2 or 4. The first part, to randomly select groups. Then, though observation, to change the grouping heterogeneously. This method would perfectly group students who can be team leaders, and serve as facilitators who can demonstrate and aid those who are not able to perform the task yet. For the last part of the lesson, it is important to change the groups homogeneously. The purpose for doing so, is to group students thatch perform each task at the same level of intensity. For example, one group still needs more time to get comfortable with the exercises and routine. While others, might need to do each task at a higher tempo. Inside of the entire whole group, we have smaller groups that work within their own level of success. This maximizes each individual's success.

Each grouping pattern lays the foundation for success. Within each grouping pattern, lies guidelines that will help students be successful. The first grouping pattern, (whole), serves as the introduction. Within this interaction, the teacher asks students if they know how to do it. Some students may already be able to perform a task and by volunteering to demonstrate, other students might been willing to participate in this way. In the second grouping pattern, (groups of 2-4), students are heterogeneously grouped. This grouping will pose some challenges for the teacher and for the students. First, some students may be ahead of others. It is important to recognize this and be able to have one of these students serve as group leaders. They help their own group perform each task, they demonstrate and can also encourage the rest of the group. In the last group, students are grouped homogeneously. the last part will group students depending on how comfortable they are in each task. The purpose of the last part, will be to maintain a higher level of intensity. Students will have the option to increase or decrease the intensity; depending on how they feel feel comfortable. These grouping patters will help students meet their content area standards. Students will maintain a certain level of intensity while working in small groups. Inside this, students will also cooperate to maintain and achieve each task. Lastly, students will have an idea of the different exercises students can perform to improve their health related fitness.

Cooperative learning helps students engage in higher order thinking while maximizing participation. Within each station, students have the opportunity to work with students of different abilities and different ways of thinking. Students will work with students of the same level of ability; being able to perform a skill at certain level of intensity. It is important to understand the difference of incorporating the cooperative learning and a traditional Physical Education class. Differentiating allows cooperative learning to be far more effective. Within these parameters, students do not hide inside the entire group. In a bigger class, with the entire class involved in the same activity, students are less effective and the chances of success diminish dramatically.  In the Physical Education setting differentiating is a methodology I will implement to help my students maximize learning through maximum participation and higher chances of success. 

Think-Pair-Share Activity

In the Physical Education setting, it is important for students to engage in higher level thinking. Being physically engaged is an important component in PE. However, students must also be challenged to think critically. For example, in PE for students in middle school, the teacher can incorporate a think-pair-share activity where students work in groups of two. Students are given images of individuals performing different exercises. The objective is, for the students to share what they know about exercise. Is the exercise cardiovascular? Does it focus in strength? Flexibility? The students try to associate the image with the actual concept of the exercise. This activity, will allow the teacher to take the class in the right direction. The teacher will know how much the students know and where to begin in the field. The next step, based on how the class responds, will be to have the students engage in another think-pair-share activityy, where students can evaluate and predicts the level of difficulty of specific exercises. The next progression, will be to participate in the lesson, experience and rate how close, how far the student was from their evaluations. Accountability is very important. The teacher can begin by setting a certain number of exercises, such as 5 or ten, to evaluate them based of what they know, and students are then required to perform those exercises in the PE setting. Another way to hold students accountable is to first teach correct form, and to perform those exercises with such correct form. Students can begin in stations, and rotate at specific times. The teacher leads the rotations and the organization of the lesson.  In retrospect part A deals with the students associating the pictures to content. Part B deals with the students performing those exercises in a station like, lesson. 

Differentiated Instruction in Physical Education - Undergraduate Student

In the Fall of 2015, my last semester at Cal State Northridge was a very rewarding experience. In the last teaching class, we were required to teach one final lesson to students in 1st or 2nd grade. One of the first things we did, was to visit the school to observe student behavior in their classroom. Students at the school did not have physical education every day and therefore, it was important to have a clear idea of who the students were.

Our lesson topic was Cardiovascular Endurance. Our students were to learn about the positive effects of exercise in our bodies. Students were expected to learn about the effects different exercise intensities had on the body. Students related movement to feeling, to an understanding how how our heart works and how it helps us stay alive. Hence, the importance of exercising.

At the time, we did not use the term differentiated instruction. We did however, apply may of the same concepts. For example, it was important to know who we were going to work with. We learned that many students enjoyed a certain type of music. We learned that some students did not understand english. We also learned of one student was disabled and he was not going to be able to do what the rest of the class would. Therefore, it was very important to be able to create a lesson that was inclusive.

Our lesson was successful. Students were full of joy during the entire lesson. Students had the opportunity to make decisions. For example, part of the lesson was to mimic animal movements according to what picture they saw. The student that could not physically participate was designated to select which animals the class was going to perform. Students also had the opportunity to select which animals to mimic. At selected times, students were asked to feel their heart rate by placing their right arm over their chest. This helped them feel the different each movement had on their heart beat. Students began to associate heart rate to levels of intensity. Students understood via informal assessment that the faster their heart beats, the stronger their heart gets. 

It was a successful physical activity lesson. Students were engaged during the lesson and they had the opportunity to learn about the importance of physical activity, levels of intensity and the positive effects in the body. 

Why did I want to be a teacher?

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to become a computer engineer. I have always had an interest in technology and I was convinced that is what I wanted to do. During my first year of college, I was excited about being an engineering student; I was not convinced. After one year, I had the opportunity to work in a local high school as a soccer coach. I always had a special connection to the game. I love soccer and I enjoy being around such environment. However, I never thought about coaching until the opportunity came.

My first job was to be a soccer coach. I was motived and nervous because I had never coached or taught anything to anyone before. I began to interact with my students and as the season went by, I was falling in love in what has become my life today. I became passionate about teaching and coaching. Through this profession, I believe that I can make a positive impact on others. I strongly believe that this is my way, of contributing to our future.

Physical Education is an important component in learning that is overlook in many ways. During my first year as a coach, I learned a lot about teaching through my very own personal experience with my students. After a few weeks, I was convinced that there was only so much I can do with what I currently had. An engineering degree was not going to help me be in a better position to help my students. I did not think twice, I changed my major to Kinesiology with a specialization in Physical Education.

I have been fortunate to have learned from incredible professors and mentors at Cal State Northridge. Graduating from Northridge was such a memorable achievement because of how hard it was to get there. Being a soccer coach in a local school required me to work full time with the salary of less than a part time employee. I was convinced I needed to invest in my students while going to school.

One of the most unique things about teaching and coaching is that they are very strongly related. Many of the teaching methodologies can be applied in both that I am in a very fortunate position. My short term objective is to learn form my classmates about teaching and how to maximize their learning and success in the classroom; especially in the field of Physical Education. In the long term, I hope to have the opportunity to teach in high school and community college while coaching soccer. Most importantly, to have the opportunity to provide a positive learning environment for students in Physical Education.