What is Movement Education?Movement education is a term used to describe a pedagogical, or teaching, approach that involves

students learning through physical activity. As part of the curriculum, the approach went through

many transitions throughout the 1960’s to 1980’s and still continues to be adapted to meet the

needs of 21st Century learners today (Abels & Bridges, 2010).

Movement education is not only used in Physical Education (PE) classes, but covers all classroom

games and activities that require students to interact in a physical manner with a subject. For

example, in our 1C class, Movement Education has been used with the students to help them learn

their Friends of Ten numbers in maths. They were asked to move about the room and to count how

many body parts they could have touching the ground at one time.

Movement Education enables students to fully immerse and engage themselves with syllabus

content and gain a deeper understanding of not only the subject matter, but their own physical

bodies.

Fundamental Movement SkillsThe 12 fundamental movement skills are:

• Static balance• Sprint run• Vertical jump• Side gallop• Hop• Leap

• Skip• Dodge• Catch• Two hand strike• Kick• Overarm throw

Develop in difficulty on a scale of 0-5Initial (0) Formative Mature (5)

What are they and why are they so important?The Fundamental Movement Skills are a set of movements deemed

essential in possessing to be wholly successful in the participation of

physical activities.

Each of the Fundamental Movement Skills work together to ensure that

students have control of their bodies across a full range of movements.

These actions provide a basis for Movement Education in that they can be

isolated or used in conjunction with each other by students to complete

learning games and activities. The skills range in difficulty from 0-5, with 5

being a mature grasp of the action. In 1C, we are at about level 2.

How do they work outside of PE?The Fundamental Movement Skills are developed through play and games in PE, and it

is through these skill building activities that the students learn healthy habits such as

working together as a positive team, respect for people’s abilities, curiousity and

problem solving skills. These are used as a basis for learning across all subjects in the

classroom and help to add depth to oftentimes dry or disengaging topics because

students are able to successfully work in a creative, team environment.

Rationale of Movement Education

Movement Education is used as a common teaching approach due to its flexible

and adaptable nature. Each game or activity can be tailored to meet the needs

of all students through the simplifying or extension of the lesson, thus

maintaining engagement with subject matter (Sevimli-Celik & Johnson, 2015).

It has been chosen as a teaching method in 1C as it allows for students to learn

in a hands-on manner, something we all love to do! We have been able to use

our bodies to explore problems in Science, Maths, English, Geography and

History. It means that our lessons can be fun and interactive, as well as helping

visual and kinetic learners understand the subject matter.

Strengths of Movement Education• Increased body awareness- Through specific activities, students begin to learn what their

bodies are capable of and how they can be used to problem solve, learn and achieve goals

• Increased spatial awareness- Activities designed around specific spatial parameters allow

students to develop their sense of space and the capabilities and limitations of their bodies

• Positive sense of community- Through team work exercises, students are able to partake in

interactive activities that motivate and entertain, all the while fostering a sense of

collaboration and trust amongst the group (Abels & Bridges, 2010). This sense of mutual

respect transcends PDHPE lessons and influences how the students work in lessons

throughout the school day.

• Increase in self-confidence- Of crucial importance for students in PDHPE classes

is gaining confidence in one’s own abilities and within one’s self. This is important

for all areas of a student’s life and through Movement Education this confidence

can be fostered through appropriately challenging activities and skill building.

• Encourage development of creative thinking- Through problem based exercises,

students need to think collaboratively and creatively to successful complete the

task. The benefit of this translates across all key learning areas delivered in the

classroom

References • Sevimli-Celik, S. & Johnson, J. (2015). Teacher preparation for

movement education: increasing pre-service teachers’ competence for working with young children. Asia-Pacific Journal Of Teacher Education, 44(3), 274-288. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1359866x.2015.1079303 • Abels, K. & Bridges, J. (2010). Teaching movement education.

Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.