Another important teaching technique is to scaffold exploration. Research shows that expert teachers teach children how to explore in dance and designing games by scaffolding the exploration process (Chen&Cone, 2003; Chen et al., 2012). The term scaffolding is used because the process resembles the creation of scaffolds used in constructing buildings. In the building trades, a scaffold is a temporary structure that you build up with the construction process. Similarly, in teaching thinking skills, a scaffold is a temporary structure that teachers remove when children no longer need its support. Scaffolding in physical education includes temporary sets of procedures, prompts, assistance, and equipment modifications to help children learn a motor, cognitive, or social skill. Examples of common equipment scaffolds in physical education include low-level beams in gymnastics, swim aids, modified equipment such as foam balls and trainer volleyballs, hitting fairway irons of a golf tee, and batting tees. In educational games, gymnastics, and dance, teachers almost always need to scaffold the exploration process with beginners- of any age. To scaffold explorations, take the students through the exploration process step-by-step using a set of tasks that have children explore only one or two choices or movement concepts while you make specific suggestions. The following examples of scaffolding come from a lesson on balancing on different body parts and illustrate three levels of scaffolding: massive, moderate, and light. TASK: Explore balancing on different body parts. Massive Scaffolding of Exploration
Moderate Scaffolding
Light Scaffolding
As a teacher your goal is to use the least amount of scaffolding necessary and to remove scaffolding when the children no longer need it. These three levels mentioned above do not represent a progression; in other words, you don't start with massive and progress to light scaffolding. Instead, you use the amount of scaffolding the children need to meet your lesson objectives. When children are beginners at exploration tasks, you need to be prepared with a backup plan to use massive amounts of scaffolding, increasing and decreasing the amount of scaffolding based on the children's actual responses. In addition, as a beginning teacher, planning massive scaffolding even if you won't need it will help you think about the movement concepts. Your thinking during planning will help build your content knowledge so that it becomes more like the knowledge of experts. Taken from Elementary Physical Education : Curriculum and Instruction (2nd Ed.) Rovegno, I., Bandhauer, D.
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Mr. Pires PhysedBlog about physical education, health and sports training. Archives
February 2021
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