Is it Possible to Add Coding to Physical Education?

Triggering Event

What are ways in which students can use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources?

My Trigger Event Question based on Reading

How can coding and/or gaming be used in PE or Health to help develop critical thinking or problem solving skills?

Article Connection/Explanation to Standard and Trigger Question

It seems like everywhere you turn, coding is the topic of conversation. There are TV commercials for new tech toys and even monthly subscription boxes full of products to teach coding. With coding taking over I figured it was time to investigate how I can include it in physical education. I found an article on TeachHub that talks about the importance of adding coding to the classroom because it’s not a trend; it’s the future. The article talks about adding 60 minutes of coding to your classroom each week. The article linked to code.org, which contains example lesson plans and activity ideas to add coding.  It was a really user friendly site and lets you modify the search based on experience level, age group, subject etc. Unfortunately, PE was not one of the subjects included in this.

Based on my research, it does not seem common to add coding or gaming to PE in the traditional sense however I feel optimistic that I could incorporate it in some fashion.  I strongly believe that our only limit is our creativity and just because someone has not done it yet, does not mean it can’t be done.  For example, like I could create a scavenger hunt workout with the pieces needed to complete the coding sequence. 

Figure 1

Another idea, as seen in Figure 1 (activity from Hour of Code), after the students created the tour in coding, I could have a physical “tour” created in the gym or running around the school.  Again, although the research and ideas in coding and gaming in PE are limited, I enjoy the challenge of creating something new and unexpected in PE.  

Resources

Hour of Code. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2017, from https://hourofcode.com/us/learn

Kiang, D. (2014). 3 ways coding and gaming can enhance learning. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/coding-and-gaming-enhance-learning-Douglas-kiang

Technology in the Classroom: The Hour of Code. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2017, from http://www.teachhub.com/technology-classroom-hour-code

Portfolio Evaluation Standard-Instruction (Do Student's Know How to Find Valid Health Resources?)

Triggering Event

What are ways in which students can apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information?

My Trigger Event Question based on Reading

How can a health teacher pre-assess ICT literacy to ensure students know how to access valid health information?

Article Connection/Explanation to Standard and Trigger Question

Figure 1

In health, the majority of our projects are based on student research.  For the wellness unit we have the students perform group research on the six health skills and then have the students jigsaw to teach each other each skill based on their research.  With this being said, without be assessing the students on ICT literacy to ensure they know how to find valid information, the project would essentially fail. That is what sparked my question of how can a health teacher pre-assess ICT literacy to ensure students know how to access valid health information?  During my research, I found a research paper by Pinkham et al. regarding assessment of student website evaluation skills.  “Over the past 20 years, the amount of information available to students via the Internet has increase dramatically.  Access for students to technological resources used to locate information on the Internet has likewise increased.  As a result, teachers are now being asked to teach students important 21^st century skills, including the ability to effectively evaluate website resources.” (Pinkham et al., 2008, pg. 1)  The research paper outlines the steps performed to pre-assess and post-assess students ability to evaluate website resources.  The portion of the paper I found most beneficial was the example questions in Appendix D:  Pre-and Post-Assessment instrument, which begins on page 22 (Figure 1).  The questions coincided with websites that were easy for students to navigate.  Overall, this research paper gave me evidence of the value for pre-assessing ICT literacy in finding valid resources as well as providing great examples to help me answer my trigger question.  From this, I will be able to create a pre-assessment to be used specifically for health resources. 

            Another way to meet ISTE Standard 3, (students can apply digital tools to gather, evaluate and use information), is using the librarian as a resource.  The librarian will have lots of expertise in not only teaching how students can find valid resources through research but also ideas for pre-assessing as well. 

Resources
Huggins, A. C., Ritzhaupt, A. D., & Dawson, K. (2014). Measuring information and communication technology literacy using a performance assessment: Validation of the Student Tool for Technology Literacy (ST2L). Computers & Education, 77(C), 1–12.

Pinkham, C., Wintle, S. E., & Silvernail, D. L. (2008, December). 21st Century Teaching and Learning: An Assessment of Student Website Evaluation Skills (Rep.). Retrieved February 7, 2017, from https://www1.maine.gov/mlti/resources/21st_Century_Teaching_and_Learning_Website.pdf