TGfU in a nutshell
- Method for teaching PE
- Child-centered approach
- Bunker & Thorpe (1982)
"Sports have traditionally been taught using the skill and drill or progressive part method. Sports are broken down into their component skills and these are then taught. This technical approach, developed after World War 2, taught the skills isolated from the game and then the skills and the game are put back together."
This method assumes there is only one right way to perform a skill, but we know from observation of elite sportspeople that frequently they don’t kick the ball or swing the racquet like the ideal model. Successful sport athletes often do not have perfect stylized technique, frequently having individual technique differences and successful unorthodoxies. The other problem with this technical approach is that the thinking and problem solving aspects required for successful game performance are not central to the initial learning as the technical requirements are isolated from the game in skill drills.
- monialaisten esimerkki
The nature of the game is taught first, and the skills are added at a pace manageable by the participants.
Instead of “How is this skill performed?” Teaching Games for Understanding begins with a different style of question: “Why are we doing this? and “How can we do it better?