In order to be effective teachers, we need to be aware of the three domains of learning and how they impact learning. The three domains of learning, which belong to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains, are psychomotor, cognitive, and affective. The psychomotor domain involves movement skills; anything that involves the student moving in some way. The cognitive domain has to do with knowledge. This can include general knowledge, tactics and strategies for sports, movement concepts, etc. The affective domain involves social and emotional skills. Any activity in which the student is interacting with other students is part of the affective domain. The affective domain also includes things such as resource management and the enjoyment of physical activity.
So how do these three domains impact our teaching, and more importantly our students learning? Well if you’re “in the know” when it comes to teaching physical education, then you should be familiar with the NASPE Standards for Physical Education:
Standard 1: A physically educated person demonstrates competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities
Standard 2: A physically educated person demonstrates understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to the learning and performance of physical activities
Standard 3: A physically educated person participates regularly in physical activity
Standard 4: A physically educated person achieves and maintains a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
Standard 5: A physically educated person exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings
Standard 6: A physically educated person values physical education for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and/or social interaction
So now that we know the NASPE Standards for Physical Education, and the three domains of learning, we just need to connect the two. Standards 1, 3, and 4 all have to do with actually participating in physical activity so these three standards fall under the psychomotor domain. Standard 2 has to do with the knowledge and understanding of movement concepts, strategy, etc. so this falls under the cognitive domain. Standards 5 and 6 fall under the affective domain since they have to do with social skills and values.
When teaching, it’s important to include all three of these domains in every lesson because they all impact learning in a multitude of different ways (to keep things simple, we’ll just talk about physical education for now, but these should be included in lesson plans for every subject). The psychomotor domain is obviously the domain that is paid the most attention to in most physical education settings since we want to teach our students the skills that will allow them to live a healthy lifestyle. However, living a healthy lifestyle is more than just being able to perform the skills, and the other two domains play an equally large part in teaching students about being active and healthy. The cognitive domain helps students know why they’re doing something. Anybody can tell the students “Go run laps” but as physical educators our job is to make sure the students understand how running those laps will benefit them. If you teach students the methods behind dieting and exercise, rather than just teaching them how to perform certain exercises, it will ultimately make them more physically educated people which will allow them to take care of themselves and achieve lifelong fitness. The cognitive domain can also impact learning because once a student understands the benefits of certain physical activities, they may be more likely to actively participate in those activities. So now when the teacher says “Go run laps” the student knows that running laps will improve their cardiovascular fitness as well as help them burn more calories which will allow them to get into better shape and ultimately live a healthier lifestyle.
The affective domain impacts learning in a physical education setting because students need to be socially adept and comfortable around their peers in order to learn the psychomotor skills being taught. Everybody who’s ever gone through any PE program has seen the students who don’t participate and just kind of stand around for the entire class. These students aren’t learning any of the skills being taught and will have a hard time living a healthy lifestyle if they don’t know these skills. They’ll also probably fail the class which will only hurt them more in terms of graduating and going to college. It may seem like these students just don’t care, but coming from someone who used to be one of those students, it’s more a matter of being afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of their peers. If a student feels like they’re going to be made fun of if they try to catch a ball and fail, then it’s easier to just not try to catch the ball. And sadly, most of the time a student who messes something up in PE class will be ridiculed by the other, “more athletic” students. I mentioned in my last blog post that during my EDU 256 experience I had the chance to interview an outstanding English teacher and I received a lot of great advice from her. Perhaps some of the best advice I got from her had to do with making the learning environment safe. I observed one of her classes in which the students were acting out Shakespeare and noticed that all of the students were actively involved and enjoying themselves. I was shocked because when I was in high school, the last thing I would want to do is speak in front of a group of people. After the class I asked her how she managed to get everyone so involved and so comfortable with being in front of the class. She said that at the beginning of the year, there are always some students who are intimidated about acting in front of the class, but she makes it clear that it is 100% required and that they won’t pass without participating. She also makes sure to institute a very strict “no bullying” policy that involves being respectful of all students in the class. She said that “if you make the learning environment safe, so that the students know they won’t get made fun of for anything, then it’s amazing how quickly they all get involved and start having a good time.”
It’s extremely important to incorporate all three domains of learning into every lesson if you want you’re students to learn as much as possible. To be a truly great teacher, you need to understand how each of the three domains impacts learning and how to use each of the three domains to improve your class. This is where I think I can make the best contribution to PE. As someone who was never very good at the standard sports of basketball, baseball, soccer, etc. I can make up for it with my knowledge of sports and my knowledge of what it feels like to be that awkward, unathletic kid in class. Too many physical education teachers are ex-jocks who believe that everyone should be able to throw a football and hit a baseball as well as they can. While these skills may be important to be able to do, it’s more important that the students know how to live a healthy lifestyle and enjoy living a healthy lifestyle.
No comments:
Post a Comment