Laban's Movement Framework in Elementary Physical Education

Laban's Movement Framework in Elementary Physical Education

Overview of Laban's Movement Framework

  • Key Components:
    • Four aspects: body, space, effort, and relationships.
    • Useful structure for organizing elementary physical education lessons.

The Journey of Students in Physical Education

  • Pat and Alex: Models for contrasting approaches to physical education.
    • Pat's Bus:
    • Inefficient; lacks proper practices (NASPE, 2000).
    • Provides limited success, meaning, feedback, and practice in physical activity.
    • Drives towards outdated methods and unproductive activities.
    • Alex's Bus:
    • Uses an advanced movement-framework engine based on Rudolf Laban principles.
    • Adapts learning experiences to national content standards (NASPE, 2004).
    • Ensures continuous assessment and clear guidance for students to meet their learning goals.
  • Roads of Learning:
    • Stages include Games Road, Gymnastics Lane, and Dance Avenue, leading to Physical Fitness Highway.
    • Students continuously learn and actively engage in physical activity.

Program Beliefs, Purpose, Curriculum Goals, and Objectives

  • A well-delivered curriculum aligns beliefs, purpose, goals, and objectives to guide students to meet national standards.
  • John Dewey's Perspective (1938):
    • Emphasis on having a purposeful education rather than merely focusing on activity.
    • Importance of considering consequences of educational experiences before implementation.
  • Common Pitfalls:
    • Programs overloaded with activities like poorly organized games and fitness experiences.
    • Lack of focus on teaching critical movement skills, leading to deficiencies in foundational skills.
  • Core Ideology:
    • Identifying a guiding philosophy helps educators maintain consistent practices aligned with their goals.
    • Collins & Porras (1997) stress that core values and purpose guide effective organizations—this applies to education.
  • Core Philosophy Example:
    • Use Laban's framework effectively to integrate health-enhancing physical activity into lessons.
    • Provide instruction and assessment that is meaningful, challenging, enjoyable, and enduring.
    • Nurture a learning environment conducive to self-improvement and hard work.

Curriculum Goals

  • Aim to achieve movement-skill competency through balanced participation in:
    • Games
    • Gymnastics
    • Dance
    • Blending physical fitness concepts into the core areas of curriculum.
  • Affective and Cognitive Domains:
    • Focus on respect for self and others, active involvement, and valuing contributions of physical activity.
    • Students should strive to understand movement concepts and learn vital strategies and principles relevant to all activities.

The Movement Framework Components

  • Aspects of Movement:
    • Body: What the body does; focuses on skills in locomotor, non-locomotor, and manipulative actions.
    • Space: Where the body moves; incorporates personal and general space and variations in direction, level, pathways.
    • Effort: How the body moves; involves characteristics like time (fast/slow), weight (strong/light), and flow (free/bound).
    • Relationships: How the body relates to others; recognizes the connection between body parts and interaction with peers and objects.

Learning Experience Design

  • The development of learning experiences adopts a movement framework for ultimate student growth.
  • Practical examples of teaching catching include:
    • Combining body, space, effort, and relationship components effectively over time to foster skill acquisition.
    • Learning is contextual; movement concepts should be explored in relation to games, gymnastics, and dance, not in isolation.
  • Organizing Learning Experiences:
    • Ralph Tyler (1949) emphasized the need for organized learning avenues to enhance instruction effectiveness.
    • Cohesive and interrelated activities promote long-term retention and facilitate cumulative learning.

Application in Content Areas

1. Games Road
  • Employs movement-framework in teaching various types of games (invasion, net/wall).
  • Integrates body, space, effort, and relationship themes into educational units, enabling a holistic skill-set development for students.
  • Focuses on body skills (throwing, catching) alongside spatial, effort, and relationship competencies needed for game-play.
2. Gymnastics Lane
  • Adopts a divergence from uniform skills towards individualized movement understanding.
  • Encourages efficient body management, encompassing a wide range of body movements for safety and skill.
  • Skills learned in gymnastics drive the refinement of various movements in a broad context.
3. Dance Avenue
  • Uses the movement framework for children to contact movement naturally through expression and communication.
  • Differentiation of dance forms allows students to focus on movement quality instead of rote recall of steps or sequences.

Physical Fitness Highway

  • Merges games, gymnastics, and dance with health-related fitness goals.
  • Fitness Concepts:
    • Incorporates fitness education throughout all units to help students recognize the importance of physical health.
    • Leverages lessons from games, gymnastics, and dance to build strength, endurance, and flexibility leading to lifelong health habits.

Instruction and Implementation

  • Teacher competency in the movement framework determines the quality of physical education experiences.
  • Teachers must remain aware of children’s developmental needs while selecting appropriate methodologies and assessments.
  • Assessment:
    • Use of pre-assessment to gauge student skills leads to tailored learning experiences.
    • Continuous formative assessments provide ongoing feedback for skill refinement.
    • Summative assessments evaluate the competency achieved in meaningful performance contexts.