The Arts, Health, and Wellness Study Guide for the GACE

Physical Education

In addition to educating a student’s mind, attention must be paid to teaching physical skills and habits that will enable the student to be physically fit throughout life. It begins by teaching skills and continues through encouraging their use in physical activities.

Motor Skill Development

Students in physical education classes need to demonstrate competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns. These basic motor skills and movement patterns are needed to perform a variety of activities like running, jumping, throwing, etc.

Developmental Milestones

Physical abilities increase in complexity as a student gets older. For this reason, the skills and activities that are appropriate for upper elementary students are too advanced for primary students. Teachers can also use developmental milestones to differentiate instruction for struggling students and consider referrals for students with severe physical challenges.

Appropriate Activities

Planned activities should promote the development of locomotor, non-locomotor, manipulative, and perceptual awareness skills in children.

Basic Motor Skills

Basic locomotor skills range from the ability to walk, run, skip, hop, and jump to more advanced abilities of object manipulation like dribbling a ball, striking a ball with an object (such as a bat or racket), volleying, and kicking. The basic motor skills learned in younger grades are built upon throughout elementary school until students can put these skills together to be competitive in sports and games.

Movement Patterns

Movement patterns refer to the ability to manipulate direction, speed, force, etc. At younger grade levels students can practice moving fast and slow or changing direction by zig-zagging. Throughout the grade levels, student skills and abilities increase as they practice these skills in spaces and within the confines of games or sports.

Fitness Principles

Students should be able to identify and demonstrate knowledge and skills that promote a healthy lifestyle through physical activity and fitness. This knowledge includes recognizing that moving at a fast pace increases the heart rate and breathing, understanding the benefits of physical activity, explaining the importance of hydration, and finding ways to engage in physical activity independently and in groups.

Safe and Respectful Environment

A major principle of physical education is respect for self and others. Students can demonstrate respect for self by following the rules and safety protocols for all physical activities and games in the physical education environment. Students should also learn respect for peers and superiors by accepting corrective feedback and enjoying a physical challenge with a positive attitude.

Rules

As in any instructional setting, rules are important, both for safety and for preserving the learning experience. In physical education classes, additional rules will be needed due to the nature of the class and its varied activities. The rules should cover use and storage of equipment, as well as expected behavior during all activities.

Behavior

Students must be taught to demonstrate responsible behavior when engaging in physical activity through respecting others as well as themselves. These skills and abilities can be organized into the two categories of personal and social behavior.

Personal Behavior

Personal responsible behavior includes following personal safety protocols, exhibiting self-control, accepting corrective feedback, and participating willingly in all class activities.

Socially responsible behavior includes listening to others, respecting others and their space, interacting positively with others, accepting differences in abilities within a group, and applying safety principles within a group.