Learning in PE

It is important to be mindful that children learn in different ways, at different speeds and assign varying levels of important to tasks. These principles are at the very heart of scaffolding. During their career, teachers develop the skill of accurately judging the abilities of their students prior to setting the activities or during the activities. A crucial part of the scaffolding process is the ability to challenge students appropriately and provide stimulus which is relevant to them which serves as a ‘hook’, that is to use differentiation.

The ‘scaffolding’ approach is centered on helping the child in tasks they cannot complete for themselves. In an educational setting this is one of the fundamental roles of a teacher. Teachers are trained and spend the majority if not all of their professional career trying to ensure they get the best out of their students

Schools form a controlled educational environment for most children from the age of two through to 18. Here children are exposed to their own means of physical activity during this period. It is important to challenge, motivate and encourage success from an early age in a subject like PE and this is why researchers such as Piaget (1932) and Vygotsky (1978) develop models such as scaffolding and Zone of Proximal development (ZPD).

Scaffolding is a useful tool in developing deep learning within PE. But what is deep learning? Deep learning is said to occur when the learner uses higher order cognitive skills such as analysing, interpreting, synthesising or problem solving to construct long term understanding. Deep learning entails a sustained, substantial and positive application on the part of the learner. In a sense the learner makes the new knowledge/understanding/ability ‘their own’.

Every teacher will have the capabilities to get the best from their students; this is inherent in the training a teacher receives throughout their PGCE or GTP course. However, this process is one which is continually development due to the variations of intakes, class and ages of students. Larkin (2002) suggests that teachers can follow a few effective techniques of scaffolding which would improve the implementation and understanding of this concept.

Motor learning research has shown that repetition is integral to supporting motor learning, with some key considerations. So called ‘blocked’ practice, where we repeat the exact same movement over and over, only teaches us how to do that movement in one particular context, with no challenge to vary and adapt it.

The relationship between scaffolding and mastery learning is key to the development of overall learning. Mastery learning is where the students are helped to master each learning unit before proceeding to a more advanced learning task" (Bloom 1968). In most cases a teacher would plan to break up a skill or concept in to small chunks to allow students to gain the necessary insight and practice to become content with the subject/activity. From here children would be assessed for their basic understanding and application of the skill and grouped according to their success.

Differentiation is the practice of varying instruction in the learning environment to promote learning in as many students as possible (Tomlinson, 2000). Differentiation is an educational strategy in which students who possess different abilities, display different learning needs, and varying levels of academic achievement are grouped together or given individualized tasks. As a general instructional strategy, differentiation shares many similarities with scaffolding.

Central to the concept of ‘scaffolding’ is the concept of providing assistance with tasks students are unable to master for themselves. With this in mind, the way in which a teacher pitches their expectations of students is key. This is where prior knowledge of student abilities and differentiation methods come in to their own. A teacher should try to engage all students as fully as possible by pitching the expectations and skills at the appropriate level. This will in turn create a success rich environment where students want to achieve and learn.