Carefully constructed lessons with supporting worksheets guide you and your students step by step through the challenging topics on the AQA GCSE PE specification.
Students struggle with the concepts of ‘movement analysis’ as the complex and dynamic nature of sporting movements makes them difficult to interpret. Additionally, unfamiliar technical terminology can lead to lower confidence.
Physical Training requires analytical thinking to link together the various components of fitness, the tests used to measure them, the types of training to develop them, and the principles of training required to optimise fitness programmes. The challenge then is to apply this knowledge to individuals or different training contexts and use high-level thinking to evaluate, discuss and justify reasons for selecting a chosen fitness component, test or training method. Previous examiners’ reports have indicated that students struggle to access AO2 and AO3 marks in the exams, due to not relating their answers to the given contexts.
Constructing and interpreting figures can be a challenge for the experienced scientist, let alone students who may not have had clear and direct teaching of this skill. Previous examiners’ reports have indicated how marks can be easily lost for drawing inaccurate lines when plotting a graph or for not understanding the key aspects of the figures presented, e.g. axes, variables and data points.
On the whole I thought it was a useful resource that helps to break down a tricky area into bite size pieces that makes it more digestible for students to understand and retain. I liked the key term sheets at the start to develop the student’s basic knowledge of the key terms of the Lever system to develop confidence in students’ knowledge, whilst the use of stickers to identify parts of the lever system when performing a specific skill was simple, but an excellent idea to reinforce any knowledge gained. I feel that it develops and reinforces members of staff’s knowledge in this tricky area, as some areas have historically been open to misinterpretation, such as the lever system being used in a specific skill. However, the thorough mark schemes helps to clarify any uncertainties. Thus, reinforcing knowledge and understanding amongst staff and students alike. The resource covers all aspects of the course specification requirements, which is reinforced by activities whereby students are encouraged to apply such knowledge to practical sporting examples and finally, all this knowledge and understanding can be formatively assessed with a range of exam questions that can be gauged students’ knowledge and understanding. In the past I have been quite critical where the flaws lie in the resources I have reviewed, however, I feel that this is an outstanding resource, as it has given me numerous ideas on how I can break down such a tricky element of the course and hopefully make it an enjoyable aspect of the course now. It has broken down a potentially difficult part of the course into methods that I had previously considered, which I now recognise make it easier for students to grasp. There are also a vast range of exam style questions provided that can gauge the student’s level of knowledge and understanding (questions on these areas are generally very difficult to get hold of!).
This resources is a great tool to use to help students become confident in understanding and interpreting data. Data can often be a stumbling block for students so being able to practice it numerous times before their real exam is essential. The practical element of the resource will appeal to the kinaesthetic and visual learners.