Innovative teaching units applied to physical education

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reflect on the original attributes that define planning in order to reformulate the concept of teaching units in Physical Education (PE), providing teachers with new structures of planning that allow them to achieve authentic outcomes. Some issues related to students’ learning are raised as regards the duration of a traditional teaching unit, as well as the total time amount and allocation dedicated to students’ learning. Based on previous psychological and learning theories, as well as on in-service teachers’ experience, four proposals of innovative teaching units are provided. Providing opportunities for significant and meaningful learning level in PE is not an easy task for teachers. The main objective of the proposals is to provide students with substantial learning experiences and to accomplish authentic outcomes by planning PE classes. Intermittent, alternated, irregular, and reinforced teaching units are analysed. The proposals focus on new approaches to time allocation in PE, and on a renovated concept of unit planning and curriculum design. Several applications for each type of teaching unit are shown in order to highlight PE teachers’ opportunities to innovate their planning. The proposals of intermittent, alternated, irregular, and reinforced teaching units could guide teachers through planning of PE based on related learning and may provide an effective tool for PE planning to overcome learning deficiencies attributed to traditional teaching units.