American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

 Issue: February 2005

Designing Appropriate Learning Tasks: The Environmental Management Model
Stephen E. Palmer & Kathryn Hildebrand

Abstract:
It is inappropriate to provide students in physical education with task progressions that begin with static skill practice such as dribbling a basketball around cones and then continue with dynamic game play such as playing a five-on-five basketball game. If static practice were appropriate, then playing the game would be frustrating to students. Similarly, if playing a basketball game were appropriate for students, then dribbling a basketball around cones would lead to boredom. Providing tasks that are engaging to students regardless of skill level is necessary to encourage learning, success, and subsequent enjoyment of physical activity. An Environmental Management Model (EMM) that includes five considerations of task design is presented as a means to design learning tasks for children regardless of ability.

Article category: Teaching