How might you use technology when teaching physical education in a K–8 setting? Provide examples.
Technology does not need to be “high” tech to be useful in the physical education program. Pedometers are great fun and reasonably inexpensive. Walking is a healthy exercise for students of any age, and I would use a type of goal setting assignment for weekly health. It would not just include walking, but would include other healthy activities that students can chart both during our class as well as outside of class. It would be interesting to have a choice of aerobic and anaerobic activities for them.
Another opportunity to use technology is to use heart rate monitors during their physical education class. They can be used to help illustrate what it really means (by the numbers) to be physically active. The data is then downloaded and can be printed. Integrating other disciplines can be accomplished with “sportfolios” which show how much physical activity students have participated in with elevated heart rates, articles collected about physical activity, stories written and even artwork showing how they are improving their physical health through exercise.
On rainy days, students can look at videos about the systems of the body, focusing specifically on the muscular and respiratory systems. Age appropriate (grade 1 – 4) videos can be found at
Nowadays, most kids love the latest gadgets. Some individualized exercise programs can be created by the students, performed at home and the results sent to their teacher by e-mail or other approved electronic devices.
What can you do to help students who learn differently or students with disabilities be more successful in your physical education classroom? How might your helping techniques be different in a health classroom setting?
Rather than individualizing physical education for any students who learn differently or students with disabilities, it may be possible to generalize according to ability within the same class. I would definitely seek help from each child’s caregivers, possibly their one-on-one aide and their previous teachers as well as doing research myself in order to help students reach their potential in a physical education classroom. These students more than the other mainstream students, need to have programs designed for their needs and their challenges. I would try to focus on their strengths. Children in wheelchairs have more upper body development and can be challenged to set goals to improve themselves in that area. With the government’s “least restrictive” guidelines, teachers need to be a little more creative when planning for activities that all students can be participants in.
A health classroom calls on different types of teaching differentiation. Students can be grouped according to levels or in mixed groups. Alternate assignments might be used with different guldelines for completion for success (for example, 7 out of 10 questions completed). Health has more visuals that students can study and use to show their knowledge. Students can choose different venues to present their learning. However, I would work one on one with these students to set their goals for accomplishment in the Health classroom setting.
What are some specific challenges of assessing diverse learners in physical education? How might you overcome these challenges?
The first challenge that comes to mind would be setting similar goals for the entire class. Special needs children might need to have the goals altered to challenge the student and yet not frustrate them by having them attempt goals that would not be positively attained.
It would take a good deal of research and knowledge to overcome the challenges for all challenged students. For example, I read about how a teacher incorporated a blind and severely mentally retarded 3rd grade student into a physical education class. This physical education teacher developed a program for all students to work toward personal goals which enables them to be successful and challenged on their own level. For example the student works on throwing differently than his peers. He stands closer to a target and the ball he throws is attached to a string tied to his wrist so that he can retrieve it himself. The student was working with a peer that would shake a bell so that the challenged student knew where to throw. I like this kind of creativity. Not only does it include a physically challenged student, but it involves peer work and good socialization. I think that each teacher needs to have additional training in reaching physically challenged students.