What is a Games approach to teaching Physical Education?

And why we love using it in 6S.Figure 1. Girl passing football

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In Games Sense we begin with simple games that presume very little in terms of the student’s experience or proficiency.

Fun and participation are key.

Skills are still taught but only as they are needed to progress the game. This way the technical work has meaning for the players and they appreciate its relevance to the game (Mandigo, Butler, & Hopper, 2007).

Figure 2. Boy kicking ball

Striking / Fielding Games

Net/WallGames

TargetGames

Four categories of game are considered (Mandigo, Butler, & Hopper, 2007):

InvasionGames

Throughout all game types, questions like “Why are we doing this?” and “How can we do this better?” guide exploration (Pill, nd).

This simple game helps students develop strategies that will work in a host of other games. By passing the ball to each other, players aim to get into position to pass the ball to their end player and score. The attack and defence strategies, the awareness of space and the tactics learnt, also apply to rugby, netball, soccer, basketball and other games as well.

End ball is the first “Invasion Game” I introduce.

How students benefit.(Light , 2006; Mandigo et al 2007; Townsend, 2007; How to change it: A guide to help coaches and teachers improve sport-related games , 2007)

By beginning with a simple game,

they begin to appreciate

how the rules, skills

and strategies influence

each other,

and what tactics give

them an advantage over their

opponents,

and make decisions about when to apply those tactics.

Now developing a good passing technique is worthwhile as it will help them use the tactics they’ve been developing

So this is where I can introduce rules etc to make the game more demanding.

Figure 3. TGfU model

Why I think Games Sense works so well…

The students and I love this approach because:• I find very few students get intimidated. This is

often a big problem for old-school approaches.

• It keeps everyone involved and improving. • Everyone gets more contact time. Even games

like cricket can be modified so that everyone is active the majority of the time.

Figure 4. Shuttlecock

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Figure 2. Boy kicking ball

And when everyone is active, we don’t have students hanging around waiting to practice drills, getting restless and starting to muck up.

Like this…

ReferencesFigure 1. Girl passing football. Retrieved Oct 11, 2014 from

http://www.coachingtoolbox.co.nz/table/game-sense/Figure 2. Boy kicking ball. Retrieved Oct 11, 2014 from http://nickhillcoaching.com/?p=826Figure 3. TGfU diagram adapted from image retrieved Oct 11, 2014 from

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/345792077609738231/Figure 4. Shuttlecock. Retrieved Oct 11, 2014 from

http://web.uvic.ca/~thopper/iweb09/LauraConnor/Site/Rationale_files/droppedImage.jpg

Light, R. (2006). Games Sense: Innovation or just good coaching? Journal of Physical Education New Zealand, 39(1).

Mandigo, J., Butler, J., & Hopper, T. (2007). What is Teaching Games for Understanding? A Canadian perspective. Physical & Health Education Journal, 73(2), 14-20.

Pill, S. (nd). Teaching games for understanding. Physical Education and Recreation, 29(2). TGfU...Simply good pedagogy: Understanding a complex challenge. (2009). (T. Hopper, J. Butler &

B. Storey Eds.). Vancouver: PHE Canada, .Townsend, G. (2007). Game sense: Rugby Football Union.