Domains of Learning

A common misbelieve of Physical Education is that it's only purpose is to develop the psychomotor domain; that simply is not the cases.  As a physical educator you have a duty to develop your students in all the domains of learning (psychomotor, cognitive and affective)! Today's class revealed that with a little creativity and a well structured lesson plan development in all three domains is achievable while still having fun and keeping cost down. We began with Ultimate, in which we partnered-up and tossed a Frisbee back and forth (psychomotor & affective). To step it up we were then instructed to find as many new ways to throw the Frisbees as possible (psychomotor and cognitive). Next we practiced our newly learned tosses while running up and down the gym (field) with a required 5 passes between partners. Then we bumped it up to 10 passes with a defensive player. During this progression partners worked together improving both the affective and psychomotor domains.

To drive the point home, without any equipment (FREE) we played a cognitive, psychomotor game of clap hands and memory recall to increase development. As an appropriate winding up activity we practiced relaxation/stretching movements to develop all three domains. The final activity, The Name Game, focused primarily on cognitive and affective development although there were some elements of movement.

So in a nutshell, with little equipment the class worked on all three domains of learning (some simultaneously) and had a great time. This is what PE is all about!