Integrating Better PE into Physical Education

This blog post explores how Hiveclass’s Better PE can be a resource for physical educators to address all learning domains and provide specific teaching strategies. One of the guiding philosophies of Better PE is to provide high quality resources to help educators focus their time and energy on providing impactful instruction – you teach, let us handle producing high quality instructional materials.  

How can Better PE address all the learning domains?

Any well-rounded physical education program addresses all learning domains. Virtually, it is hardest to figure out how to address teaching motor skills. However, Better PE can help you! 

• To address the psychomotor outcomes, Better PE has dynamic Beefit warmups that target the muscle groups specific to each lesson. The warmups not only get the body prepared to move, but address components of fitness. 
• Within Better PE there are Beeskillful instructional videos to make progress in becoming more skillful movers. These videos provide developmentally appropriate instruction that break down important elements of skills and provide opportunities to practice the motor skills.
• When physical educators shifted to teaching online there was an increased focus on the cognitive domain – which of course is the strength of digital learning tools and certainly important in a well-rounded physical education program. Beecompetent components include self-assessments, checks for understanding, quizzes, and easy to follow text, images, and videos reviewing the finer details. 
• The affective domain, including social and emotional learning has always been addressed in physical education because being physically active requires strong intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. The Beeaware journal guides students through the goal setting process and has them reflect on their progress weekly. Additionally, prompts are designed to develop resilience, personal responsibility, and a growth mindset. 

Teaching with Better PE!

Face-to-face, hybrid, or online education – Better PE can assist physical educators and their students regardless of educational mode. There are many practical ways that Better PE can be implemented – here are a few:

How can I use Better PE in my classroom?

Ultimately there are many ways physical educators can use Better PE. Stations or learning centers that are implemented in a variety of ways within physical education are a great tool to maximize time, space, and of course student interest. Because Better PE’s instructional videos are about 2 minutes long – they are a great tool at stations to not only provide instruction, but to keep the students’ attention. The videos break down the skills in an easy to understand way and provide practice tasks to develop the skill. 

If you are the lucky educator who has multiple tablet devices and can have one at each station, the videos can be queued up so when students get to the station they press play and follow along. If you teach High School, it is likely that most of your students have cell phones – or certainly at least one per group. You can use a QR code for students to scan and watch and follow along with the videos on their own devices. 

Alternatively, if stations are not practical but you have access to a projector in the gym, a mobile television on wheels, or another method of showing class digital content in the spaces where you teach – you can still take advantage of Better PE! You can show the videos as part of whole-class instruction or be ready to provide a demonstration of what the skill can look like. The models in the videos are diverse and age-appropriate for students to relate to. 

How can Better PE help me flip the classroom?

Yes, of course! During the pandemic teachers had to teach online and many continued to use digital tools when they returned to face-to-face instruction. By flipping the classroom with Better PE content students can prepare for upcoming classes, review prior class content, or play catch-up if they had to miss a class. Another use could be for students who need to sit out due to injury. Instead of having that student sitting around doing nothing – let Better PE content keep students learning and engaged with class content while they are unable to engage with the rest of class. Better PE has many tools to help teachers such as working on:

• Motor skill development: watch and practice Beeskillful videos to get ahead, catch up or refine physical skills
• Cognitive development: take quizzes – either in class or at home and/or review Beecompetent content which includes easy to follow text, images, and videos breaking down concepts, reviewing rules, and strategies
• Social development: Use the Beeaware journal and have students write down goals and reflect on their progress. 

Take your physical education program a step further towards developing life-long physical activity habits by flipping the classroom. Provide students with Better PE’s high quality instructional materials – then tap into that prior knowledge in class to have engaged and informed discussions. 

Getting 1% better. 

Within Better PE, we encourage students to get “1% better every day.” Better PE is a resource for teachers to elevate their program and ultimately provide students with an exceptional physical education experience. No matter what mode you teach, Better PE is there to help. If you are teaching summer school or preparing for the next academic year – consider adding this high quality teaching tool to your toolbelt of awesome. When trying something new – use the KISS principle – implement in a manageable way and let’s all get better (PE)!