What is Critical Evaluation in Scholarship Physical Education?
· The scholarship standard requires students to “critically evaluate information related to physical activity through application of knowledge of biophysical principles and socio-cultural factors drawn from learning experiences in, through and about movement” (Ministry of Education, 2005, p.1).
· For the purposes of New Zealand Scholarship Physical Education Standard (Ministry of Education, 2005) the ability to “critically evaluate means that a student must be able to demonstrate the ability to make valid judgements clearly supported by evidence gained through the processes of critical thinking (p.2)including ‘examining, questioning, evaluating and challenging taken- for- granted assumptions about issues and practices’(Health and Physical Education in New Zealand Curriculum) (Ministry of Education, 1999 p.56).
· Critical evaluation, critical analysis and critical reflection are forms of critical inquiry. Critical thinking is a process used to critically inquire. Critical evaluation requires critical thinking but they are not he same thing.
· It is the examination, questioning and synthesis of the knowledge and ideas, identified through processes of critical thinking, which demonstrates critical evaluation for scholarship physical education.
What is Critical Thinking?
Garside (1996 cited in Donnelly, Helion & Fry, 1999) suggests at least four defining aspects for thinking to be considered critical:
· “thinking that is clear, precise, accurate, relevant, logical and consistent;
· thinking that reflects a controlled sense of skepticism or disbelief of any assertion, claim or conclusion until sufficient evidence and reasoning is provided to conclusively support it;
· thinking that takes stock of existing information and identifies holes and weaknesses, thereby certifying what we know and don’t know; and
· thinking that is free from bias, prejudice and one-sidedness of thought” (p. 199).
Constructing Teaching and Learning Environments for Critical Evaluation.
· During the last ten years, curriculum writers for health and physical education (HPE) have responded to changing social and cultural contexts by placing increasing emphasis on social constructivist theories of learning as mainstream in physical education.
· Critical inquiry, critical thinking and problem solving are underpinned by social learning theory and are important concepts in contemporary HPENZ.
· The literature on critical thinking and critical inquiry in physical education (McBride, 1999, Wright, McDonald & Burrows, (2004) suggests that students in physical education classes are capable of critical thought in environments that are carefully structured to foster critical inquiry.
· To establish the right environment for critical evaluation to occur teachers must shift from teacher-directed to student-centred lessons. This requires a departure from the stimulus- response teaching and learning, that encourages students to recall facts or replicate movement patterns, to providing challenges that are multi faceted, may not have a single right answer and require students to become “active” learners rather than passive recipients.
· Stimulus –response, teacher directed learning does not prepare students well to achieve assessment tasks, such as scholarship Physical Education, that are constructed around critical evaluation.
References and Further Reading
Donnelly, F., Helion, J. & Fry, F. (1999). Modifying teacher behaviours to promote critical thinking in k-12 physical education. Journal of teaching physical education. 18 p.199-215.
Kirk, D. (2004). New practices, new subjects and critical inquiry. In J. Wright, D. Macdonald, & l. Burrows (Eds.). Critical inquiry and problem solving in physical education. (p.199-208). London: Routledge.
Macdonald, D. (2004). Understanding learning in physical education. In J. Wright, D. Macdonald, & l. Burrows (Eds.). Critical inquiry and problem solving in physical education. (p.199-208). London: Routledge.
McBride, R. (1991) Critical thinking- An overview with implications for physical education. Journal of teaching physical education. (11) p. 112-125.
Ministry of Education (2005). Physical education scholarship standard. Wellington. Ministry of Education.
Ministry of Education (1999). Health and physical education in the new zealand curriculum. Wellington. Lerning Media.
Wright, J. (2004). Critical inquiry and problem-solving in physical education. In J. Wright, D. Macdonald, & l. Burrows (Eds.). Critical inquiry and problem solving in physical education. (p.199-208). London: Routledge.