Ms Stella Yap
Driven by passion and dedication to bring out the best in every child, I envision for every child to gain access to a holistic & dynamic Physical Education (PE) experience. Education at its core, must be genuine, deliberate, meaningful, engaging and relevant for every child. Change is a constant in education, and change is a constant in life. Alongside rigour in sports , it is important to balance and provide learning an engaging experience, nurturing a child's joy of learning. The movement towards a holistic PE experience requires a calibrated, structural change as we consistently evolve and improve! Harness passion, creativity and dynamism to lead, make meaningful changes and become agents of change to prepare every child for the future battle!
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Educating for Character
I strongly believe in a process driven education where, 'The medium, is the message'.
The value of value creation for every child is significant to prepare them for the future. It is important to anchor the game to skills, concepts and character, which in turn tie the games together. PE is definitely a fantastic platform for character development to inculcate values and skills such as Respect, Responsibility, Resilience, Care & Concern, Integrity, Self-Discipline, Dedication, Teamwork, Inclusiveness, Communication & Leadership.
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Educating for Skill Development
Practice makes permanence, perfect practice makes perfect. As such, it is important that every child is given the opportunity for a scaffolded and progressive learning experience; to achieve success through customizable approaches which best support him/her. Quality practice is key to pursuing attainable success, to acquire a new skill, and to be better than before.
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Educating for Cognitive Engagement & Conceptual Understanding
Developing a Thinking Player would empower a child to thoroughly and confidently enjoy/appreciate sports at a deeper level. It is important to prepare them by using experiences as valuable feedback, develop their conceptual understanding, decision-making skills, to create and recreate scenarios for their learning and enable them to apply their learnings in different contexts.
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Approaches & Pedagogies in PE
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1) Games Concept Approach (GCA)
In the past, we often emphasize on learning skills and lack the component of how to play skillfully - that is, learning how to use those skills in competition. The games approach, in contrast to the traditional approach, emphasizes on first learning what to do, then how to do it. Moreover, the games concept approach enables a child to discover through exploration and experiential learning.
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It is a guided discovery method of teaching that empowers students to solve the problems that arise in the game, which is a large part of the fun in learning. GCA, in time, helps to develop a thinking player, and gives players the skills to make better moment-moment decisions in a complex and dynamic sport! This means that the student has an innate understanding of what is going on around him/her and has the talent to influence the game. The us eof guided discovery by teachers will be a positive influence on this healthy PE experience.
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2) Sports Education Model (SEM)
Sport Education Model is about providing students with the authentic sport experiences in the physical education setting. It places emphasis on the learning of skills, rules, strategies and organisation of the sport; developing fitness specific to the sport; and the appreciation of sporting values and participation.
Sport Education has three key goals for the learner:
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A competent sportsperson has sufficient skills to participate in games satisfactorily and can execute strategies as a knowledgeable games player.
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A literate sportsperson understands and values the rules, rituals and traditions of the sport.
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An enthusiastic sportsperson participates and behaves in ways that preserve, protect and enhance the sport culture.
Learner experience extends beyond that of a player on the team to include officiating the sport as an umpire and referee or a coach for the team. Students take up active roles in making decisions to organise small sided or full games and competitions.
Sport education model has the following unique characteristics:
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Features are similar to that of an organised sport. There are practice period, preseason, regular season and a culminating event. Students are organised in teams that stay intact for the season. Students have control over the decisions over the organisation of the competition. The process is an educational experience for the students.
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Inclusive in nature where everyone participates in more than one capacity. Students take on the role of team player and officials.
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Students have an active role in the design of a developmentally appropriate version of the sport to play and the decision-making in the organisation of the competition.
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3) Judith Rink 4 Stages of Learning
Rink believes that there is a “difference between the ability to execute a skill and the ability to use a skill in a game situation”. For this reason, we must employ drills that will incorporate tactics and skills. Rink believes that it is more meaningful for students to be actively playing a game and not simply stuck in boring drills. In order to do this, “skill development as well as game tactics development should be integrated with game play at the appropriate level of complexity” for all age groups . With that said, skill drills should not be abolished completely, instead, there is a time and a place for them.
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Stage 1
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Concern with individual skills
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Ability to control and object
Stage 2
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Using skills in combination with each other
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Relating movement to others in cooperative ways
Stage 3
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Basic offensive and defensive strategies
Stage 4
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Modified games with changes in the rules, boundaries, number of players, etc. – specialized positions
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The full game