Clara Wee Keat Tan

‘How does TGfU work?’: examining the relationship between learning design in TGfU and a nonlinear pedagogy

Background: In the last few decades, conceptions about teaching and learning in physical education have evolved from a teacher-centred approach to a more student-centred approach where learners are encouraged to develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking and autonomy of thought. A popular model advocating this approach in physical education, Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU), has attracted widespread attention. Although advocates of TGfU have provided some empirical and anecdotal evidence to support the ‘tactical over technical approach’ to games teaching, recent work has highlighted that to date, the question ‘Does TGfU work?’ has remained largely unanswered. Therefore, there is a need to research the intuitive assumptions about how students learn to play games and to understand how the TGfU approach might work for games teaching and learning. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insights to further our understanding of the possible processes underpinning the pedagogical principles of TGfU in games teaching. In this regard, we outline how a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach could provide a theoretical rationale to explain how the principles of TGfU might support learning design for games teaching. To achieve this aim, we examined the viability of the four key pedagogical principles of the TGfU model and highlighted the theoretical and practical implications of Nonlinear Pedagogy, considered with some empirical evidence from the motor learning literature. Findings: The theoretical ideas emanating from an ecological dynamics perspective, such as constraints manipulation, importance of maintaining information-movement coupling and harnessing movement variability, can underpin a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach. It has been proposed that research evidence from the motor learning literature can provide a suitable theoretical grounding to support the viability of the four main pedagogical principles of the TGfU model (i.e., sampling, tactical complexity, representation and exaggeration) and can contribute insights to the possible processes of TGfU in games teaching. Summary: A Nonlinear Pedagogy approach has the potential to provide researchers and physical educators with an understanding of the theoretical and practical work on TGfU, in association with its pedagogical principles. Understanding the underlying processes linked to the key pedagogical principles in learning design is critical for addressing pedagogy and curriculum concerns in physical education to enhance student learning. The ideas raised in this paper provided some rationale for the efficacy of the model, and also a platform for researchers and practitioners to more effectively engage students using the TGfU model.

The Games Concept Approach (GCA) as a Mandated Practice: Views of Singaporean Teachers.

This paper reports on the views of Singaporean teachers of a mandated curriculum innovation aimed at changing the nature of games pedagogy within the physical education curriculum framework in Singapore. Since its first appearance over 20 years ago, Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU), as an approach to games pedagogy has gathered support around the world. Through a process of evolution TGfU now has many guises and one of the latest of these is the Games Concept Approach (GCA), a name that is given to this pedagogical approach in Singapore. As part of a major national curricular reform project, the GCA was identified as the preferred method of games teaching and, as a result, was mandated as required professional practice within physical education teaching. To prepare teachers for the implementation phase, a training programme was developed by the National Institute of Education in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and well-known experts in the field from the USA. For this part of the study, 22 teachers from across Singapore were interviewed. The data were used to create three fictional narratives, a process described by Sparkes and used more recently by Ryan (2005) in the field of literac. The stories were framed using Foucaults notion of governmentality and Bernsteins notion of regulative discourse. The narratives reveal tales of confusion, frustration but also of hope and enthusiasm.

Nonlinear Pedagogy: An Effective Approach to Cater for Individual Differences in Learning a Sports Skill

Learning a sports skill is a complex process in which practitioners are challenged to cater for individual differences. The main purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach for learning a sports skill. Twenty-four 10-year-old females participated in a 4-week intervention involving either a Nonlinear Pedagogy (i.e.,manipulation of task constraints including equipment and rules) or a Linear Pedagogy (i.e., prescriptive, repetitive drills) approach to learn a tennis forehand stroke. Performance accuracy scores, movement criterion scores and kinematic data were measured during pre-intervention, post-intervention and retention tests. While both groups showed improvements in performance accuracy scores over time, the Nonlinear Pedagogy group displayed a greater number of movement clusters at post-test indicating the presence of degeneracy (i.e., many ways to achieve the same outcome). The results suggest that degeneracy is effective for learning a sports skill facilitated by a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach. These findings challenge the common misconception that there must be only one ideal movement solution for a task and thus have implications for coaches and educators when designing instructions for skill acquisition.

Possibilities and implications of using a motion-tracking system in physical education

Advances in technology have created new opportunities for enhanced delivery of teaching to improve the acquisition of game skills in physical education (PE). The availability of a motion-tracking system (i.e. the A-Eye), which determines positional information of students in a practice context, might offer a suitable technology to support pedagogical approaches in the teaching of movement skills in game situations. This paper explores the possibility and potential of using this technology to augment pedagogical practices in PE. Using examples from its implementation in sports science investigations and pilot work in a Singapore school, we discuss how such motion-tracking systems can be incorporated in schools, assisting practitioners in refining pedagogical practices. The implications of its wider use in a PE context will also be discussed.

Nonlinear Pedagogy and its role in encouraging twenty-first century competencies through physical education: a Singapore experience

Abstract Nonlinear Pedagogy is an exploratory approach to teaching and learning Physical Education that can be potentially effective to help children acquire relevant twenty-first century competencies. Underpinned by Ecological Dynamics, the focus of Nonlinear Pedagogy is on the learner and includes the provision of less prescriptive instructions and guided discovery which serve to develop greater autonomy, competency, and relatedness in the learning process. This paper describes a study that examines the factors that contributed to motivation, enjoyment, and the development of twenty-first century competencies in Primary School Children. One hundred and thirty-three children were taught over seven weeks to play a modified-tennis game either with a Nonlinear Pedagogy or a Linear Pedagogy (i.e., more teacher-centred) approach in a Singapore school. While findings from the intrinsic motivation inventory (IMI) questionnaire showed that there was no difference for the subscales measured, student and teacher interviews indicated that the Nonlinear Pedagogy approach created a learning environment that facilitated perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness, thus potentially enhancing intrinsic motivation and enjoyment during practice. Nonlinear Pedagogy encourages teachers to create representative learning designs through the inclusion of a variety of modified games, the freedom to choose, an emphasis on exploration and problem-solving, and can be relevant to develop twenty-first century competencies.