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WHAT IS MOVEMENT EDUCATION?

This year in KM we will be undertaking a Movement Education approach to
teaching PE.
Movement education aims to develop a wide base of skills that students can
utilize in all aspects of their lives. Movement education focuses on
developing motor success, as well as providing students with cognitive
knowledge ability movement (Abels, 2010).
Movement education teaches movement through the use of fundamental
movement skills.

WHAT IS MOVEMENT EDUCATION?

Fundamental movement skills provide students with the building blocks
needed to engage in a wide range of games, sports and physical activities
(NSW Department of Education and Training, 2000).
Gallahue and Ozmun (2006) have suggested that teaching movement
skills to primary aged children is most beneficial in achieving lifelong
habits as they are at an optimal age to learn and develop motor skills. In
correlation, the NSW syllabus has integrated movement education into
their content which is evident in MOES1.4-Demonstrates a general
awareness of how basic movement skills apply in play and other
introductory movement experiences. (Board of Studies, 2007)

WHAT ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL

MOVEMENT SKILLS?
There are twelve fundamental movement skills that make the foundation
of movement education. Although these sometimes differ, below is a list
of the movements we will be focusing on:

Static balance
Hop

Catch
Sprint run
Leap

Two hand strike

Vertical jump
Skip
Kick
Side gallop
Overarm throw
Dodge

WHY TEACH MOVEMENT EDUCATION?

Movement Education provides students with a foundation to live active and healthy
lifestyles. The learning of fundamental movement skills not only contributes to a
child's physical education, but also aids in cognitive and social development
(Lubans, Morgan, Cliff, Barnett and Okely, 2010).
As previously noted, movement education aims to teach students gross motor skills.
Lubans et. al. note that students with high levels of motor skills are more likely to
have higher levels of fitness and competency in sports, thus making them more
likely to engage in physical activity.
Without the knowledge of movement skills including, kicking, throwing and catching,
children are less likely to experiment with sports and thus less likely to establish and
maintain active lifestyles (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2000).

HOW DO WE TEACH MOVEMENT

EDUCATION?
In order to effectively teach motor skills and develop a lifelong commitment to
physical health and education, KM will be incorporating a Game Sense
approach to teaching.
The Game Sense model is a student based model that uses games as the
main focus of the lesson. Through the use of games, students are presented
with real life experiences in which they can learn from and discover new
abilities. By focusing on the game instead of specific skills, students are
encouraged to become more tactically aware, make better decisions during
the game, think strategically about game concepts and develop fundamental
movement skills (Towns, 2002).

REFERENCES
Board of Studies, NSW. (2007). Personal development, health and physical
education K-6: Syllabus. Sydney, Australia: Author.
Gallahue DL, Ozmun JC. Understanding motor develop- ment: infants, children,
adolescents, adults. 6th ed. Boston (MA): McGraw-Hill, 2006
Lubans, D. R., Morgan, P. J., Cliff, D. P., Barnett, L. M., & Okely, A. D. (2010).
Fundamental movement skills in children and adolescents: Review of
associated health benefits. Sports Medicine, 40(12), 1019-1035.
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2000). Get skilled: Get active: A K-6
resource to support the teaching of fundamental movement skills. Ryde,
Australia: Author.
Towns, J. (2002) About Game Sense. University of Wollongong
Weiller Abels, K. (2010). Teaching movement education. Human Kinetics.