Friday, November 14, 2008

Explorer Scavenger Hunt

Ahoy Maties,
The explorer scavenger hunt was a great experience for me as a physical educator. It made me realize there are more aspects than just sports that can be tied into physical education, and was a great example of a creative thinking teaching assignment. The activity I liked the most was running from place to place while completing the scavenger hunt list. It was a good way to get a good cardio work out while having fun, and was incentive based because the harder each group worked, the faster they finished. I felt the activity was a great success, and it was obvious how much time and work our lab assistants put into completing the lesson. After going through this activity, I will take with me the concepts that went into completing such a complex lesson. For example, something as simple as having each "explorer" group create their own flag for their mission. This is a good way to get the students to interact, and put a little bit of their own spice into the activity. This is certainly a lab I would consider using in the future when I become a physical education teacher, mostly because it was such a fun activity, and got us out of the normal gymnasium. It really allowed the students to have freedom within the lesson, letting each group move at their own pace. I feel that letting the students learn at their own pace is beneficial to the student because it takes all the pressure off of them. For example, if in a basketball unit, if a student does not play basketball often it is almost impossible for them to succeed, and they may be embarrassed by their performance. If the student can learn at their own pace, they can go to their own basket and work by themselves, with no one watching. This lesson kept me very active because my group and I were running from place to place on the list. If you look at the graph of my heart rate, it begins low because I by-accidentally started the timer before I was supposed to. Once the lesson really began, my heart rate was mostly in the healthy zone, and I enjoyed this activity very much.

No comments: