Course:KIN355/2020 Projects/Physical Literacy

Defining the Concept and Its Importance

Physical literacy (PL) serves as the foundation for many skills needed to obtain a physically active lifestyle throughout the course of life (Hastie & Wallhead, 2015). It includes motivation, physical competence, confidence, and provides knowledge and understanding of the significance for engaging in physical activity (PA) (Edwards et al., 2017). PL has been implemented in areas such as physical education (PE), promotion of physical activity and sport participation among youth (Edwards et al., 2017). Throughout the years, an emphasis has been placed on PL due to its positive correlation with better psychological well being, increases in academic performance, reduction of sedentary behaviour and the promotion of an active lifestyle which reduces the chances of acquiring long-term health difficulties in the future (Olive et al., 2015). Although an importance is placed on PL, roughly 67% of Canadian children do not meet the recommended levels of daily PA (Law et al., 2018).

Children Playing Outside

From a childhood developmental perspective, PL is an individual constraint that is essential to acquiring fundamental motor skills including running, walking and balance. It is important to consider that fundamental motor skills are not “naturally acquired” by children, instead children must reach proficient levels of skills before the acquisition of behavior (Bredin, 2020). Without PL, children can have trouble developing fundamental motor, cognitive and, socioemotional skills. Furthermore, during early childhood, PL serves as a basis of healthy habits throughout the lifespan.

PL can be implemented in early development through various parent-child interactions, however, educators play the most critical role in developing and fostering PL (Stoddart & Humbert, 2017). Although many adults consider themselves to be physically literate, when they are asked to elaborate, many did not have a thorough comprehension of the concept (Stoddart & Humbert, 2017). With an emphasis placed on test scores to demonstrate effectiveness, PL is often overlooked and not prioritized (Stevens-Smith, 2016). These findings show the importance of both educating and implementing PL in everyday lives. Therefore, many individuals are beginning to learn how to incorporate PA into children’s lives, whether through the use of integrated lessons at school or the promotion of sport participation at an early age (Stevens-Smith, 2016). Although some changes are being made, further revisions need to occur to promote the acquisition of PL.

PL contributes to an holistic development of the child including health-related benefits, academic achievement, cognitive development and social participation (Law et al., 2018). Therefore, PL should be considered an important component in any framework due to its multidimensional construct of physical, psychological, social, and cognitive health variables (Essiet et al., 2020).

Development and Contemporary Considerations

A child’s participation in physical activity (PA) is important from the beginning of life and will dictate whether one will adapt or reject a healthy lifestyle in the long-term. Physical literacy (PL) is understood as the ability to perform movement, motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding the value of engaging in physical activity throughout life (Jeffries, 2019). These defining characteristics of PL act as the foundation of adapting PA participation from early childhood, thus determining whether the child continues this lifestyle in the long-term.[1]

There are many individuals who can influence and govern a child’s health behaviour, including parents, educators, and coaches. Individuals such as elementary teachers, grassroot coaches, early childhood educators and physical activity learners all contribute to providing children with the knowledge of a healthy lifestyle (Bredin, 2020). Teachers play a foundational role in furthering a child’s understanding and development of PL by implementing the correct groundwork that supports the child and allows them to flourish (Essiet et al., 2020). Although these educators can teach children the importance of PL, they are required to have a deeper understanding and knowledge around these concepts in order to properly and efficiently communicate (Esseit et al., 2020). PL is often misinterpreted by educators due to its contrasting definitions and concepts (Esseit et al., 2020). Furthermore, the topic is often dismissed since it may not be required or part of their job description (Esseit et al., 2020). All educators begin teaching with different backgrounds and have various work experiences compared to one another, however by learning and developing a deeper knowledge of the curriculum, the educator can adequately deliver an understanding of PL through an effective approach(Bredin, 2020). This dictates why it is necessary to investigate how teachers and other physical educators communicate the concept of physical literacy.

In study done by Olive et al., (2019), a Physical Education and Physical Literacy (PEPL) approach was used to evaluate the effectiveness and improve the development of childhood PL within schools. The approach began when a PEPL coach introduced improvements of delivery and frequency of PE, professional development of teachers, increased opportunities for PA, and generated relations with community sport (Olive et al., 2019). The study resulted in educators who gained new appreciation and value for the importance of PE in addition to increased contribution to the development of student PL (Olive et al., 2019). Not only does the the PEPL approach benefit the educators, students were more likely to focus during class time and had an increased motivation for PA (Olive et al., 2019).

The development of the understanding of a child’s engagement and competence in PA among coaches, educators and parents will enhance the development of PL in children. Furthermore, the development of PL correlates  positive life benefits and outcomes throughout the child’s life.

Applications

Physical literacy (PL) can be implemented in a child’s life through various games and activities, thus it plays a contributing role in child’s development and the opportunities they may have to engage in physical activity (PA). One of the most natural ways to enhance a child’s PL is by creating games and activities rooted in foundational movements that support motivation, physical competence, confidence, and provides knowledge and understanding of the significance for engaging in physical activity throughout life (Edwards et al., 2017). Not only do these games provide opportunities of motor development, they also assist in the holistic development of the child. These activities are created specifically to allow the child to feel challenged, work cohesively with others, and have fun.

Animal Freeze Tag

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is for children to learn to interact with each other while learning fundamental physical skills including movement, agility, balance, coordination and spatial awareness. The activity can be played during unstructured time and almost anywhere. Furthermore, the activity allows everyone to participate at the same time, thus promoting an inclusive environment allowing each child to equally flourish. The goal of the game is for the child who is ‘it’ to ‘freeze’ all of the other children.

Target Age: Age 3-5 years

Although this activity is recommended for children in toddlerhood and early childhood, older children can add to the activity making it more difficult. Older children can also add new rules, strategize ways for not getting tagged, and vary the mechanism for getting freed.

Apparatus/Equipment: This activity can be played anywhere, whether inside a gymnasium or a field. The only thing required is a bit of space where the children are able to spread out and move.

This photo provides examples of animal poses children may 'freeze' into during the game of Animal Freeze Tag.

Instructions:

1. Explain that you are going to play a game called Animal Freeze tag and you are “it”.
2. When children are tagged, they must freeze in any animal pose
3. Demonstrate what an animal pose might look like (ie. turtle, cow, car, bird, etc.)
4. Children can rejoin the game when another individual taps them on the shoulder
5. To begin the game, ask the children to spread out around activity space
6. Remind the children to keep their heads up when running.

Modifications: In order to make the activity more difficult, another child can guess what animal the ‘frozen’ child is in order for them to rejoin the game. Another modification is implementing the concept of “following the line”. Rather than allowing the children to run freely, the children must now follow specific lines on the gymnasium floor. Once the children are familiar with the game, the facilitator can also increase the number of children to be "it".

Skittles Dodgeball

Purpose: The purpose of the activity is to promote teamwork around a group of children. Each team has to work cohesively to achieve a common objective of knocking down all of the opponent’s pins. There are 2 key movement skills used in the activity, catching and throwing. Catching assists in the development of hand-eye coordination along with increasing stability and full body control. On the contrary, throwing provides proprioceptive information to joint receptors, thus improving overall body awareness. Throwing is a full body exercise and pulls both sides of the body to work, allowing bilateral coordination to develop. In this activity the child also needs to be aware of their space. This can be seen through dodging the balls being thrown and maintaining on their own side. The game is won when all of the ‘skittles’ (the pins) are knocked down or all members of the other team are out (whichever happens first).

Target Age: Ages 6-12

Apparatus/Equipment: This activity requires foam balls, 12 pins, 12 hula hoops, and 2 benches. This game can be played in a gymnasium where there is a clear line in the center dividing the gym in half.

Set-up: Prior to beginning the game, divide the group into 2 equal teams and set up 6 pins on each side of the gymnasium. The pins should be set up in a straight line. Place a hula hoop around each pin (this allows for children to guard the pins, but not get too close). Line the balls up in the center of the gym. The centerline of the gym acts as a divider of the teams, children are not allowed to cross the center. There is also NO throwing above the shoulders. Benches are set up along the sidelines for the players who are out.

The provides an example of how to set up the game of Skittles Dodgeball.

Instructions:

1. Players will take their position by having one hand on the wall at their respective sides facing the centreline
2. Following a signal by the facilitator, teams may approach the centre line to retrieve the balls
3. Players can only grab one ball from the center line
4. Once retrieving a ball from the initial center line, the player must aim to hit another individual or try to knock over a ‘skittle’
5. The game is won when all of the ‘skittles’ (the pins) are knocked down or all members of the other team are out (whichever happens first)

A player is eliminated when…

1. They hit someone in the head above the shoulder level
2. They are struck by an opposing player below the shoulders (if the ball is deflected against someone else or the ball, the player is still out)
3. A player’s throw is caught by an opposing player (In this case the thrower is out, and one eliminated player from the catcher's team is allowed back on the court.)

Modifications: To avoid children being excluded, the facilitator can set up two coned areas at the back of both sides. If a child gets hit by the ball, they simply walk to the coned area and are allowed to participate from there. Now the opposing team must also be aware that they can get hit from behind too.

Summary

Insert video vignette...as per Section 4 requirements.

References

Bredin, S. (2020). Module 4: Developing the fundamentals. KIN 355 Movement Experiences for Young Children, School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia.

Bredin, S. (2020) Newell’s Model of Constraints (1986), Personal Collection of Dr. Bredin, S., University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Edwards, C.L., Bryant, A.S., Keegan, R.J., Morgan, K., Jones, A.M. (2017). Definitions, foundation and associations of physical literacy: a systematic review. Sports Med 47 (1), 113-116. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/s40279-016-0560-7

Essiet, I.A., Salmon, J., Lander, N.J., Duncan, M.J., Eyre, E.L., Barnett, L.M. (2020). Rationalizing teacher roles in developing and assessing physical literacy in children. Prospects 1, (1), 1-18.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-020-09489-8

Hastie, P. A., & Wallhead, T. L. (2015). Operationalizing physical literacy through sport education. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 4(2), 132-138. doi:10.1016/j.jshs.2015.04.001

Jefferies P, Ungar M, Aubertin P and Kriellaars D (2019) Physical Literacy and Resilience in Children and Youth. Front. Public Health 7:346. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00346

Law, B., Bruner, B., Benson, S. M., Anderson, K., Gregg, M., Hall, N., . . . Tremblay, M. S. (2018). Associations between teacher training and measures of physical literacy among Canadian 8- to 12-year-old students. BMC Public Health, 18(S2). doi:10.1186/s12889-018-5894-7

Olive, L., Telford, R., Byrne, D. (2015). Physical literacy development in Australian youth: a current concern. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 19 (1), 64.10.1016/j.jsams.2015.12.157

Olive, L., Telford, R., Byrne, D. (2019). The physical education and physical literacy (pepl) approach: a multicomponent primary school intervention targeting physical literacy. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 22 (2), 21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2019.08.172

Stevens-Smith, D. A. (2016). Physical Literacy: Getting Kids Active for Life. A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, 29(5), 3-9. doi:10.1080/08924562.2016.1205536

Stoddart, A., & Humbert, M. (2017). Physical Literacy is…? What Teachers Really Know. PHEnex Journal, 8(3). doi:2336248971