Skip M. Williams, Ph.D., Mary L. Henninger, Ed.D., Margo M. Coleman, Ph.D., Kristin B. Carlson, Ph.D. Illinois State University, Normal, IL

Physical Education Teacher Candidates’ Competence in Invasion and Net/Wall Games

Introduction•NASPE (2009) recently called for physical education teacher candidates to “demonstrate competent movement performance…as delineated in the NASPE K-12 Standards”.

•Competence in sport-related games refers not only to the performance of a particular set of skills, but also to knowing what to do and when to do it in the complex context of game play (Grehaigne, Richard, & Griffin, 2005; Grehaigne & Godbout, 2001; Thorpe, Bunker, & Almond, 1986).

•According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, 2004; 2008) a competent mover is someone who is both skillful and capable of making appropriate tactical decisions during game play.

Purpose•The purpose of this study was to determine if physical education (PE) teacher candidates possess the knowledge and skills necessary to demonstrate competent movement performance.

MethodsParticipants & Setting

•116 Physical Education Teacher Education majors •All participants were from 1 Midwest university•Participants were enrolled in two required major courses:

• Teaching Team Sports• Teaching Individual/Dual Sports and Activities

Instrumentation

•Process/product rubrics were designed by the primary investigators to assess participant skill level.

•Tactical understanding was assessed through the Tactical Decision-making Competency (TDC) framework (Pagnano-Richardson & Henninger, 2008) during game play.

Procedures 

•All TDC data for invasion, and net/wall games were collected during game play.• Game play was stopped randomly three times for basketball, soccer and volleyball.• For tennis game play was stopped three times after 4 serves.• Badminton game play was stopped three times after a 4 contact rally (excluding the

serve).

•During the three times game play was stopped participants responded to the following two questions:

• “What were you thinking about during game play?”• “Is there anything else?”

•All TDC data were collected by peers (trained) and recorded verbatim on score sheets.•All skill performance data for basketball, soccer, and volleyball were collected during game play.•Tennis and badminton skill performance data were collected during individual skill drills.•All skill performance data were collected and recorded by peers (trained).

Data Analysis

•The TDC data was coded into levels (1-4) (Pagnano-Richardson & Henninger, 2008).

•The participants’ coded scores, ranging from 1-4 on the TDC scale for each comment, were summarized and averaged to arrive at a final TDC score for each participant for each sport.•The four levels of the TDC and skill scores were aligned with the NASPE descriptors of Target, Acceptable, and Unacceptable. •Participants’ skill scores for each sport were aligned with NASPE descriptors of Target, Acceptable, and Unacceptable.

•Participants were classified as being a competent mover or not competent based on their classification of TDC and skill for each sport. To be considered competent in a particular sport activity, participants had to score in the "Acceptable" or higher range for both skill performance and TDC.

•All data were compared based on percentages of participants who were classified as a competent mover.

ResultsPercentage of participants classified as a competent mover based on sport.

Results Cont…

Percentage of participants classified as a competent mover based on game classification.

*Note: Volleyball was not put into either classification due to the fact the volleyball students did not participate in either Badminton or Tennis

Percentage of participants whose TDC score was a hindrance to being classified as a competent mover.

Conclusions•Pre-service teachers are in need of continued tactical knowledge and skill development instruction throughout their PETE programs.

•Findings indicate that skill and tactics are content specific therefore it is important to assess teacher candidates’ skill and tactics in a variety of game forms.

Future Recommendations•Examine more than one skill within Badminton and Tennis.

•Examine product outcomes of the skills within basketball, soccer and volleyball.

•Examine the need for PETE programs to teach for the development of tactical knowledge of teacher candidates and the role that TDC development plays in becoming a “competent” mover.

Key ReferencesGrehaigne, J., & Godbout, P. (2001). Tactical knowledge in team sports from a constructivist and cognitivist perspective. Quest, 47, 490- 505.

Pagnano-Richardson, K. & Henninger, M. (2008). A model for developing and assessing tactical decision-making competency during game play. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, 79(3), 24-29.

Thorpe, R., Bunker, D., & Almond, L. (1986). Rethinking games teaching. Loughborough, U.K.: University Technology, Department of Physical Education and Sport Science.

ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF KINESIOLOGY & RECREATION

Sport Males Females Both

Basketball 26 (60%) 9 (53%) 35 (58.3%)

Soccer 17 (40%) 8 (44%) 25 (41%)

Volleyball 4 (9.3%) 2 (11%) 6 (10%)

Badminton 26 (65%) 7 (64%) 33 (38%)

Tennis 40 (65%) 16 (64%) 56 (64%)

Game Classification Male Female Both

Invasion 43 (50%) 17 (49%) 60 (50%)

*Net/Wall 66 (53%) 23 (45%) 89 (51%)

Sport Males Females Both

Basketball 17 (40%) 7 (41%) 25 (40%)

Soccer 26 (60%) 10 (56%) 36 (59%)

Volleyball 39 (91%) 16 (89%) 55 (90%)

Badminton 20 (74%) 7 (26%) 27 (31%)

Tennis 33 (53%) 15 (26%) 48 (55%)

Sport N Males FemalesBasketball 60 43 17Soccer 61 43 18Volleyball 61 43 18Badminton 87 62 25Tennis 88 62 26

Sport Target Acceptable Unacceptable

Basketball, Soccer & Volleyball

36-31 30-26 >26

Badminton & Tennis

100-80 79-60 >18

TDC LevelNASPE

Descriptors

Level 1 Unacceptable

Level 2 & 3 Acceptable

Level 4 Target

Sport Rubric Type Sport Skill(s) Assessed

Basketball ProcessJump Shot, Chest Pass &

Screening

Soccer ProcessThrow-in, Dribbling &

Passing

Volleyball ProcessSet, Forearm Pass,

Overhead ServeBadminton Process/Product Overhead Forehand ClearTennis Process/Product Forehand Groundstroke