TExES Physical Education EC-12 Domain I: Movement Skills and Knowledge
Overview
Domain I of the TExES Physical Education EC-12 test has about 38 multiple-choice questions. These questions account for 38% of the entire exam.
This domain is divided into 5 competencies:
- Motor Development and Learning
- Developing, Combining, and Integrating Motor Skills
- Movement Concepts and Biomechanical Principles
- Individual, Dual, and Team Sports and Activities
- Dance, Personal Performance Activities, Cooperative and Non-Traditional Games, Recreational Activities, and Outdoor Pursuits
So, let’s talk about them.
Motor Development and Learning
Let’s talk about some concepts from this competency.
Positive Transfer of Learning
Positive transfer of learning simply means that the skill you learned in one activity positively affects your ability to master a new activity. When applied to motor learning, this means that a PE teacher could begin teaching specific motor skills in pre-k or kindergarten, and then look for students to apply those skills to more advanced activities in later grades.
It is important for teachers/coaches to help students understand the relationship between motor skills and how to transfer them across activities. For example, a PE teacher might teach the overhand serve for tennis, and then when teaching how to overhand serve in volleyball, make a connection between the similar motor skills. Another example would be if someone already knew how to rollerblade, they could transfer the motor skill required for that to ice skating. It is not an identical skill; however, the skill required for rollerblading is similar to that of ice skating.
Visual and Kinesthetic Discrimination
Perceptual-motor skills allow sensory (visual and kinesthetic) information to be obtained and understood allowing for the appropriate action.
Kinesthetic discrimination is the ability to recognize small changes that involve muscle feelings and motions. Visual discrimination helps a child notice small differences between objects. Students need to be able to do both to develop strong perceptual-motor skills and use their brain and body together to accomplish different tasks. For example, requiring a student to walk on a straight line or balance beam while saying the alphabet would help students to practice thinking and moving at the same time. A student is required to do many things that require their muscles and mind to work together. Communication skills such as reading, speaking, and writing are motor-based abilities. To write, a child must know the alphabet, know how to combine letters of the alphabet to create sounds, and be able to utilize motor skills to grip and use a pencil. The whole body needs to work together for a student to be a successful writer.
Developing, Combining, and Integrating Motor Skills
Non-locomotor Skills
Locomotor skills involve the body traveling from one place to another. Non-locomotor skills refer to any body movement where the body remains stationary. For example:
- Swinging
- Stretching
- Twisting
- Bending
- Bouncing
- Pushing
- Pulling
- Rocking
A PE teacher might use the following activities to promote non-locomotor skills:
- Ask younger students to bend their bodies into shapes and/or roll on the floor.
- Ask students to participate in dance or gymnastics activities that shift weight side to side.
- Ask students to balance on different apparatuses.
- Ask students to create a dance that involves a lot of movement
- Ask students to create a gymnastics routine that involves stretching, twisting, and bending.
Rhythmic Skills
Rhythmic skills are the basis of dance and music and the purpose of this type of skill is so that a student learns to move effectively while developing a sense of rhythm. Rhythmic skills include moving the body or parts of the body in time with the tempo, beat, or pitch of music.
Activities that promote rhythmic skills:
- Square dancing
- Line dancing
- Group dances
- Asking students to create their own rhythms
- Lummi sticks (wooden rods that students can tap together or on a hard surface to create or follow a rhythm)
Movement Concepts and Biomechanical Principles
Biomechanical Principles
The biomechanical principles are:
- Center of gravity (the point at which weight is balanced)
- Gymnastics activities are excellent for working on this principle.
- Inertia
- Bowling is a great activity to explain inertia.
- Stability
- Balance activities are great to work on stability.
- Balance
- Gymnastics activities are great for working on this principle.
- Force
- Tug-of-war is an activity that effectively demonstrates force.
- Buoyancy (an upward force, contradictory to gravity, that keeps objects afloat)
- Buoyancy plays a role in swimming.
- Acceleration (the change in velocity over a period of time)
- Sprinting and throwing balls are great activities to demonstrate acceleration.
Individual, Dual, and Team Sports and Activities
Archery Equipment
The basic equipment that is necessary for archery in physical education:
- Netting- Most nets can be spread out to whatever size necessary. The net is important to stop arrows that miss the target.
- Arrows- The projectile used to practice archery. There are different sizes and types of arrows sold, and it is important to look for arrows for beginning archers.
- Bows- There are different types of bows, and it is important to consider the size and skill level of the archers who will be using the bows.
- Targets- A target is essential when teaching archery, and there are a few different types that students may use in physical education.
Introducing a New Skill
PE teachers will introduce many skills and sports to students. It is important that teachers introduce new sports in a thoughtful way so students are set up for success. PE teachers should introduce a new sport using the following steps:
1. Introduce the skill
- Explain the new skill/sport to students by providing background, basic vocabulary, and modeling.
2. Provide drills to lead up to the game
- Repetitive drills are a great way to focus on specific skills that need to be taught in isolation. For example, if you are teaching basketball, you could introduce separate skills like passing, dribbling, shooting, etc, and use drills to strengthen each skill.
3. Require students to practice the skill
- Students should have the opportunity to practice skills together while working on learning the sport. During this time teachers should provide constant feedback. For example, if a teacher was introducing basketball he/she would give students the opportunity to play a 3v1 game in a smaller area to practice skills, but not play on the whole court. The teacher would model the game for students, and walk through it slowly so all students had the opportunity to see the expectation.
4. Provide feedback and correct errors
- While students are practicing a skill/game, teachers should be ready to stop play and correct any errors as well as reinforce the correct use of skills. While playing the 3v1 basketball game, the teacher should stop the game to correct any errors in skill.
Dance, Personal Performance Activities, Cooperative and Non-Traditional Games, Recreational Activities, and Outdoor Pursuits
Folk Dance
A folk dance typically reflects the life and/or religion of a certain country or region. Folk dance began as a social function, as an enhancement to religious ceremonies, and brought a recreational aspect to celebrations. Many folk dances are performed on stage today, but folk dance did not begin as a way to perform. Examples of folk dances from around the world include:
- Clogging- Performed by beating heavy shoes on the floor while dancing
- Square dancing- Traditional dance that involves four pairs of dancers moving together.
- Fandango- A traditional Spanish partner dance that is accompanied by clapping, castanets, and/or guitars
Characteristics of folk dance include:
- Reflective of culture
- Provides socialization
- Passed down generations
- Performed on special occasions and festival
Orienteering
Orienteering is an activity in which orienteers use a detailed map and compass to find points in an area. A standard course has a starting location, a series of sites marked by circles that are connected by lines and numbered in the order they should be visited by the orienteer, and a finish point. Orienteers use compass and map skills to navigate their way through the course. Orienteering began in Sweden during the late 1800s as part of Sweden’s military training.
That is some information about Domain I of the TExES Physical Education EC-12 exam.