Mary L. Henninger

A Model for Developing and Assessing Tactical Decision-making Competency in Game Play

JOPERD • Volume 79 No. 3 • March 2008 A ll teachers want their students to become better game players who are motivated to participate in and outside of class. Students need to learn how to make good tactical decisions, in addition to being skilled movers, in order to become competent game players (Mitchell, Oslin, & Griffi n, 2006). When students make better tactical decisions, they experience more success and therefore are often more motivated to participate (Kretchmar, 2005). One way to emphasize tactical decision-making in physical education is to identify students’ current level of tactical decision-making competency (TDC). This article provides a model of TDC that shows a continuum of what TDC might look like in students from upper elementary school through high school. It also provides practical teaching techniques and tools that can help students to reach higher levels of TDC and can be used to assess students’ TDC during game play. What is competency? Competency, for the purpose of this model, refers to the ability to perform motor skills and to make appropriate tactical decisions during game play. This defi nition of competency comes from national standard one, which states that students, by the end of grade 12, should be able to perform the basic and advanced skills and tactics to participate in one or more activities, including team sports (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004, p. 19). In other words, competency equals skill execution plus tactical decision-making. The model of TDC discussed in this article was developed from two sources. First, it is based on a review of literature on the development of expertise in a variety of physical activities (French & Thomas, 1987; Housner, 1981; Langley, 1995; McPherson, 1993a, 1993b; Nevett & French, 1997; Nevett, Rovegno, & Babiarz, 2001; Nevett, Rovegno, Babiarz, & McCaughtry, 2001; Placek et al., 2001; Rovegno, Nevett, & Babiarz, 2001; Thomas & Thomas, 1994). A key fi nding from this literature shows that expert game players have an increased tactical awareness that allows them to focus on the more complex features of the game, such as their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses, thus increasing their ability to make tactical decisions. Second, the levels of TDC were further developed from a study of 16 novice students enrolled in a university volleyball class (Henninger, Pagnano, Patton, Griffi n, & Dodds, 2006; Henninger, Patton, Pagnano, Dodds, & Griffi n, 2003). For further explanation of that study, refer to Henninger et al. (2006).

De-escalation: How to take back control in your urban physical education classes

A teacher walks into the gym and notices that several students have not dressed for class. As she gives instructions for an activity, two students in the back of the class talk about their plans for an after school social event. During a game of team handball, two students accidentally run into each other prompting a verbal confrontation. The teacher is in the middle of a swimming lesson when one student sits off on the side of the pool instead of participating. A teacher leads a class in warm ups when two students arrive late. As the teacher moves around the gym giving feedback to students, he notices a student hitting the shuttlecock up into the rafters. One student refuses to follow teacher instructions during activity or refuses to participate. Do any of these situations sound familiar? How should these situations be handled? While individually these situations do not appear to be a threat to the learning process in urban physical education classes, the cumulative effect poses difficulty in providing an environment where learning can occur in the gymnasium. Dealing with these types of behaviors day after day can place stress on a teacher, which ul-

Acute and Session Ratings of Perceived Exertion in a Physical Education Setting

A commonly stated rationale for examining the use of ratings of perceived exertion with youth is its potential value as an assessment of intensity in physical education settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between ratings of perceived exertion and heart rate in a natural physical education setting. Sixth through eighth grade students performed cardiovascular and muscle endurance circuits and then recorded ratings and heart rate. It was hypothesized that, similar to laboratory studies, strong positive correlations would be seen between heart rate and ratings of perceived exertion, which would provide additional support for the use of ratings of perceived exertion in physical education. However, only low to moderate correlations were found. When data collection occurs in a natural physical education setting, there are challenges that may result in poor correlational results between variables such as heart rate and perceived exertion that demonstrate strong relationships when examined in laboratory settings.

2005 Research Consortium Graduate Student Award Winner

This abstract will be among those presented in the Pedagogy II Free Communications session scheduled for Saturday, April 16, 2005, from 10:15–11:30 a.m.).