Subtest III: Physical Education Study Guide for the CSET Multiple Subjects Test

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Social Development

Social development refers to how people grow both socially and emotionally throughout life. The childhood and adolescent years are important to positive social development as children learn how to interact with others in society and develop healthy relationships with peers, parents, teachers, etc.

Relationships

Social relationships are a big part of physical education. Providing students with fun, structured physical activity consequently provides them with an opportunity to develop social skills as well. Team sports and structured physical activity require students to communicate and work together. It is important to model positive, healthy social behavior and reinforce these relationships.

Individual Differences

One important social skill that students learn through physical education is to value and respect the individual differences of all participants. Students encounter peers of a different gender, race, culture, religion, etc. in physical education classes, and they are required to work together with all of their peers.

Contributing Behaviors

As students work together through structured, organized physical activity, they become more aware and accepting of peers of varying backgrounds. They can create bonds and foster healthy relationships through the following:

Cooperation— students learn to cooperate with each other as they work together to achieve a common goal when participating in physical activity.

Competition— is the desire to win and can be fostered in a healthy way through organized and monitored physical activity. Good sportsmanship should be modeled and reinforced.

Social behavior— is how people interact with each other. Students should be encouraged and reminded to always act responsibly and treat others with respect.

Skills and Abilities

In addition to understanding the content domains of physical education, it is important for you to know how skills and abilities in physical development are achieved and the role the teacher plays in this development.

Basic Motor Skills

Basic motor skills include gross and fine skills. Gross motor skills require large body movements, like walking or throwing a ball. Fine motor skills use smaller, more intricate movements like writing or typing.

Factors in Development

Basic motor skills are developed over time. Gross motor skills are learned first, followed by fine motor skills, and most skills build on each other. As children grow and develop physically, they gain more control over their bodies and master both gross and fine motor skills. Growth spurts can have an impact on motor skills as children learn to adjust to such rapid physical changes. Motor skills can be developed through training programs in which students need to practice skills correctly and receive coaching to improve.

Analysis and Assessment of Performance

Physical training, especially for specific sports and activities, requires the mastery of basic motor skills. A baseline assessment can provide a teacher with data on where students are and what they need to do in order to improve. Baseline assessments may include completing a series of skills such as running, stretching, doing pushups, etc. The results can be used to build fitness over time, and further benchmark assessments can be used to measure progress.

Lessons

There are a few strategies for building lessons that promote basic motor skills. Be sure to understand how to implement each of the following best practices in good physical education lesson design.

Structure of Lessons

Planning for physical education lessons needs to focus on how to maximize participation, inclusion, and engagement. The room needs to be prepared for the activity prior to student arrival. Additionally, an activity should always be explained and modeled before students attempt it themselves. Finally, monitor students and provide feedback. Students should never be left unattended during physical education activities.

Participation

It is important that all students feel welcome and get the opportunity to participate. Use strategies like rotations or subbing during activities so everyone gets a chance to play.

Inclusion

As much as possible, include all students in activities. Provide opportunities for students to volunteer, and vary who is chosen to perform tasks. Assign different students different roles at times to make sure all are included.

Engagement

Keep activities fun and engaging. Some students may be more competitive than others. Make an attempt to personally encourage those who don’t feel as confident participating and perhaps even ask if they would like to help lead an exercise. This will provide a boost of confidence and help get more students engaged in physical activity.

Traditional and Non-Traditional Activities

Physical activity covers a wide range of activities that include sports and games, dance, gymnastics, running, hiking, and other outdoor activities. One goal of the physical education curriculum is to encourage students to lead a physically active lifestyle. This could mean joining sports teams through school or later joining a local running or biking club to stay fit. Whatever the case, there is no one formula for healthy physical activity.

Student-Focused

Activities in physical education must be student-focused and age appropriate. For example, it would be inappropriate to expect second grade students to race a mile on the track. This would be more of a high school-level expectation. In the same way, there may be games that would be more appropriate for second graders than high schoolers.

Developmental Levels

As children develop physically, they become more aware of their bodies and have a better command of motor skills. Design instruction and activities around the level of development of the class. The physical activity should also help students further develop their motor skills.

Individual Differences

Individual differences like height, weight, coordination, etc. should also be taken into account when developing lessons. Plan activities so that all students feel included and no one group or team has a distinct advantage over others.

Exercise

Exercise is any physical activity designed to sustain or improve health and fitness. Exercise comes in many forms, but the following are closely related to any type of exercise.

Fitness Concepts

Exercise is based on the foundation of fitness concepts. These include things like cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and flexibility, and body composition. These elements are the cornerstone of any exercise program, and plans to improve overall fitness should include training in ways that address all of these concepts.

Active Lifestyle

Exercise and physical activities encourage a healthy lifestyle. If students can learn to enjoy physical activity from a young age, they are more likely to remain physically active through exercise for the rest of their lives. It is important to make physical activity fun for young children. They will be more likely to play sports and activities that are fun, and many will continue to exercise once they graduate high school or college because they enjoy it and they see the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

Health-Related Factors

Physical health and well-being is produced from a number of different things. It cannot be accomplished through doing or not doing just one thing. The following are factors that are directly related to leading a healthy lifestyle.

Exercise

It is important to exercise in order to maintain a healthy physical condition. This can come in through cardiorespiratory activity, like running or swimming, as well as through weight training and flexibility exercises. Exercise is the main part of leading a healthy lifestyle, physically.

Relaxation

Rest and relaxation are important because they help prevent injuries from over-training. For example, a person training for a marathon needs to take a day off for rest and recovery every now and then. Too much exercise can lead to injuries and actually do more harm than good.

Nutrition

Proper nutrition is essential to living a healthy lifestyle and is very closely related to physical exercise. Typically, the optimum diet is determined by the type of exercise or physical activity. For example, a weightlifter would want a diet containing more protein than carbohydrates. On the other hand, a distance runner would require more carbs than protein in his or her diet. There is no one diet or nutrition plan that fits all. Rather, they should be tailored to the type of physical exercise and activity.

Stress

Stress management is important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Family, careers, and life in general demand a lot from individuals and the students we teach as well. It is important to prioritize tasks and organize schedules so that stress doesn’t cause anxiety. Maintaining time for exercise is important, as it can be a good, healthy way to relieve stress.

Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is a negative way to handle stress. It can lead to addiction and low levels of motivation for everyday tasks, let alone healthy activities like exercise. Additionally, substance abuse can lead to a higher risk of chronic illness like heart disease. Students need to be taught about the negative effects of drugs and alcohol in order to dissuade them from engaging in risky and unhealthy behaviors in the future.

Other Physical Education Concepts

Finally, there are a few other concepts that should influence lesson design. These aspects of physical education focus on interpersonal and social skills.

Related Personal Skills

Physical education relates to life in many ways. Challenging oneself physically and sticking to a training plan requires discipline, which is a valuable lifelong trait. Also, being a member of a team requires cooperation, communication, and humility, which are all useful in other aspects of life, including the workplace. Here are some more ways that physical education relates to life.

Enjoyment

Activities in physical education can provide a lot of enjoyment for students. Many times, students find enjoyment in an activity that moves them to join a sports team or join an extracurricular activity. Participation in these activities can provide lifelong enjoyment.

Self-Expression

In addition to enjoyment, these activities provide students with a form of self-expression. Many young people participate in physical activities because they find them not only enjoyable, but also a fulfilling form of self-expression.

Communication

Communication skills are required when participating in physical activities. Students learn to communicate with peers and work together to achieve a task, even if they are not necessarily friends. This is a valuable lifelong skill.

Responsibility

Physical education also teaches students both personal and social responsibility. Physical activities require students to be personally responsible for training themselves regularly as well as responsible to their teammates. Being held accountable to oneself and others through physical activity can be a powerful teacher of responsibility.

Culture and History

Culture and history play important roles in physical activities. Be sure to understand that sports and activities develop over time and change as new technology becomes available, like better helmets in football. Technology may also influence activities through better equipment and training strategies. Social developments throughout history also impact sports. For example, the acceptance of African Americans and women in certain sports has changed the game throughout history.