This is the fifth part of the Assessment in Invasion Games blog post series. If you have not yet read part one, part two, part three and part four, start there before continuing to read here.
At the start of the Assessment in Invasion Games series I shared that over these posts I wanted to share how I aimed to use proven physical education research to change the way I assessed student learning in invasion games. In the previous four parts to the series I have described why I wanted to change the way I assessed students in invasion games, how I planned for an implemented the assessments, as well as shared examples of assessment templates that I used with my students and how technology assisted me and my students throughout the unit.
In part two of the Assessment in Invasion Games series I mentioned that the purpose of the assessments was because I wanted to know if students knew what they should do with and without the ball and if they could execute the skills necessary to be successful. Essentially, I wanted to be able to assess their decision making ability as well as their skill execution.
By using the Passing and Catching Peer Assessment as mentioned in part three and the GIF assessments in part four, I was able to collect data for both of these areas which I hoped would help me to show that student learning and improvement had taken place.
As Shane Pill concluded in his paper, Involving students in the assessment of game performance in physical
education (2008), the data that was collected and interpreted using these two assessments has assisted me to “do more than provide evidence for summative assessment.” Through using a modified version of the GPAI it “helped facilitate learning as well as provide for the collection of evidence of learning having occurred.”
By collecting data for each individual student both formatively, before and during the unit, as well as at the end of the unit it helped me to see if these students had made progress in their ability to make appropriate decisions, as well and execute skills effectively over the course of the unit.
Decision Making: GIF Assessment Data
This data suggests to me that overall students showed improvement in their decision making skills throughout the course of the unit.
Skill Execution: Passing & Catching Data
Data Rich Assessment
In part one, I shared how Doherty & Brenna argued that physical education has traditionally been a relatively “data-poor” environment because of an absence of effective strategies to capture what learning has taken place. I believe that the data that was collected using the GIF assessments and Passing and Catching Peer Assessment helped me as a teacher to capture the learning that had take place over the course of the unit. It allowed me to see improvement in individual students ability to make good decisions with and without the ball, as well as execute skills effectively. It also allowed me to reflect on the way that I taught the unit and which tactical areas need more focus next year.
Next week, in the final part of the Assessment in Invasion Games series I will be reflecting on the whole assessment journey from start to finish as well as providing some tips to help you use authentic assessment strategies in your physical education program.
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Nathan Horne is a Physical Educator based in Singapore and founder of iPhys-Ed.com. Be sure to never miss out on any of iPhys-Ed.com’s future posts by connecting with us via Twitter, Facebook or subscribing to our RSS Feed.
Nathan can be contacted on Twitter @PENathan or via email at nathan@iphys-ed.com