GAMES SENSE APPROACH TO TEACHING P.E.

What is Games Sense?

▪ There are 12 fundamental movement skills (FMS) that are essential for students to successfully
engage in lifelong physical activity and sport: balancing, running, jumping, galloping, catching,
hopping, skipping, throwing, dodging, skipping, striking and kicking (Department of Education, n.d.).

▪ The Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) is a model first introduced by Rod Thorpe and David
Bunker in 1982, which places the student in a game situation where tactics, decision-making and
problem solving are seen as critical components, followed by the development of skills (Webb &
Pearson, 2012).

▪ The Game Sense approach was developed in association with Rod Thorpe and the Australian Sports
Commission and builds on the TGfU model by specifically targeting students with the view of
developing a particular game player (Light, Curry & Mooney, 2014).
▪ Game Sense Mode:
1. Understand game process
2. Recognise challenges of game
3. Develop deeper understanding of game and the rules
4. Incorporate principles of movement and develop tactics
5. Students introduced to technical aspect of game through skill development
(Towns, 2002)
 What does Games Sense mean?
▪ Game Sense a method of learning PDHPE, used in schools all over the world, empowering students
to take control of their own learning (Light, Curry & Mooney, 2014).

▪ It is about having fun! Game Sense involves lowering the technical skills students are expected to
know as part of the game so they can deal with the game’s tactics. As the game gets harder, students
start to understand and develop the skills of the game better (Light, Curry & Mooney, 2014).

▪ Game Sense is used to encourage students to play sports by modifying some parts of the game. This
gives students an opportunity to understand game strategies, while also developing their
fundamental movement skills like catching, throwing, kicking etc. (Light, Curry & Mooney, 2014).

▪ There are four categories associated with the Games Sense approach based on similar rules and
tactics:
1. Invasion games: e.g. NRL, soccer, hockey, touch football, basketball, netball, AFL
2. Striking/Fielding games: e.g. cricket, softball, T-ball, baseball
3. Target games: e.g. golf, bowls
4. Court/Net games: e.g. tennis, squash, badminton (Light, Curry & Mooney, 2014)
 What is a Game Sense approach to teaching primary PE?
▪ Game Sense is taught in a game environment as it tends to be more fun for the students and
presents a more effective way for them to develop certain skills. This is because techniques are
best learnt in a real game scenario with real pressure and the need for strategic thinking (Towns,
2002).

▪ Game Sense takes a student-centred approach to learning where the teacher constructs
effective questions that guide students to explore and discover themselves through games (Pill,
2014).

▪ By using a Game Sense approach, learning is promoted when students communicate with each
other and with the teacher (Towns, 2002).

▪ It is a method to modified sport that allows rules, area of play or the equipment to be adapted
with the intention of focusing on a certain feature of the game e.g. the attacking team forcing
the ball out by hitting it outside the limits of the defending team’s area, or putting pressure on a
player to hit a ball with their bat into a determined area (e.g. cricket and baseball) (Australian
Sports Commission, n.d.).

▪ It allows game concepts to be easily transferred between games within the same category e.g.
AFL and NRL have similar concepts that can be taken from one game to the other: passing the
ball between attacking players to get it to a defined area to score points (Pill, 2014).
Rationale on applying a Game Sense approach to my teaching
▪ I am applying a Game Sense approach to my PE classes with 2N by developing the skills of
my students within a realistic and enjoyable context and focusing on the game instead of
the techniques needed. This will help my students develop a better understanding of the
game they are playing.

▪ I want to challenge 2N to be great thinkers and great players by empowering them through
self-directed learning.

▪ I want to develop students that are tactically aware and use anticipation skills in order to
make decisions during games.

▪ I want my students to think strategically about the concepts of a game while developing
their skills e.g. kicking, passing etc. as they play soccer, basketball, touch, netball, and so on.

▪ Most importantly, I want my students to be active and have fun as they learn!
Strengths Of Using Game Sense As A Teaching Approach
▪ By organising games with similar rules and strategies such as invasion games, it helps students take the
concepts of one game and apply it to another within the same category e.g. NRL and AFL.

▪ Students are empowered through a student-centred learning approach, with the teacher taking on a
guide/facilitator role.

▪ Promotes social interaction where students build relationships through physical activity.

▪ The relationships formed and achievement of challenges set by the teacher increases motivation and
creates a sense of achievement.

▪ It is an inclusive approach that encourages participation of students with diverse abilities.

▪ Promotes excitement and provides an engaging environment for students.

▪ Allows students to anlayse what has taken place in a game to determine how they can improve as a
player and as a team.

▪ Deep understanding is established when students are encouraged to think when the teacher asks them
guiding questions and when they demonstrate their understanding through learned actions in games.

(Light, Curry & Mooney, 2014).

 Links to the N.S.W. PDHPE K-6 Syllabus
▪ Through a Game Sense approach, students learn by being introduced to various skills in
order to achieve the goal of a certain game.

▪ Skills from the Game Sense approach that are linked to the outcomes in the K-6 PDHPE
syllabus include: anticipation

Decision
Communicating Interacting Moving Problem Solving
Making
Students learn to Students use Students build Students learn to Students learn to
effectively express tactical and relationships, move effectively observe problems,
themselves through anticipation skills listen and respond by responding to a determine
feelings and ideas, to make to peers, learn variety of games solutions and
and listen to others decisions from each other apply these to
and cooperate appropriate
circumstances

(New South Wales. Board of Studies, 2007)

 References
Australian Sports Commission. (n.d.). Game Sense approach. Retrieved from https://www.sportingschools.gov.au/resources-and-pd/schools/playing-for-life-resources/game-sense-approach

Department of Education. (n.d.). Introducing fundamental movement skills. Retrieved from

https://schoolsequella.det.nsw.edu.au/file/3847e308-dbe1-4ece-b751-d042287293e6/1/4.%20Programming%20FMS.pdf

Light, R., Curry, C., & Mooney, A. (2014). Game Sense as a model for delivering quality teaching in physical education. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education, 5(1), 67-81.

Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/

New South Wales. Board of Studies. (2007). Personal development, health and physical education K-6 syllabus. Sydney, N.S.W.: Board of Studies NSW. pp.1-60.

Pill, S. (2014). An appreciative inquiry exploring game sense teaching in physical education. Sport, Education and Society 21(2), 1-19. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/

Towns, J. (2002). About game sense. Retrieved from https://vuws.uws.edu.au/webapps/login/

Webb, P., & Pearson, P. (2012). Creative unit and lesson planning through a thematic/integrated approach to Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU). New Zealand Physical Educator, 45(3),

17-22. Retrieved from https://www.informit.org/