Blog 1

School Name: Ngee Ann Secondary School
Class: Secondary 3 cohort
Subject: Physical Education

Profile of the class: Well-behaved express class with good mix of males and females student, and also good mix of sporty and non-sporty students.

What ICT tools are used in the lesson?
Laptops,projectors/speakers, webcam, and various Vernier technological hardware and software were used to conduct the lessons.

Describe how ICT was used for teaching and learning?
ICT was used to aid physical education by making physical activity more interesting. The lesson was aimed at reducing the frequency of sedentary behaviours by allowing the student and teachers to assess students’ physical fitness and monitor their progress towards personal goals, help them refine motor skills, comprehend new concepts and increase enjoyment of physical activities. To help this, ICT was integrated into the Physical Education lessons to aid both the teacher in teaching and the student in learning.

One method used during the lesson was by introducing the lesson with a relevant short video or movie clip. For example, a short clip from the movie “Ip Man 2” was shown before a martial arts module. The clip depicted character and values such as resilience and integrity, which was in line with the aim and objectives of the lesson. By using a medium and object familiar with the students, the teacher was better able to bring across his lesson. Thus, ICT has equipped the teacher with another weapon in his arsenal of teaching tools. By using audio-visual technology, the lesson also provided the option of visual learning for the students, thus providing them with greater learning abilities.

In a lesson that focused on learning and creating school cheers to infuse team and school spirit, a video clip on the New Zealand Rugby “All Blacks” traditional Hakka dance was shown to pip interest and motivate the students. Through this video, students were able to visualize better the levels that can be attained and aim towards that. The teacher, through the video clip, also had an additional tool to motivate the students. The above two examples, by using ICT, provided both teachers and students a new and added dimension of motivation. Such methods of ICT also allow students to better understand the human body and importance of keeping it healthy.
In addition to the above, ICT was also used as a measure of physical activity. One example was the use of computerized recording and timing in the ‘Beep test’ to assess student’s physical fitness. This was preceded by a lesson on Heart-rate monitoring, as well as healthy heart-rates during exercise. After the ‘Beep test’, students were provided Vernier Heart-Rate monitor technologies to calculate their heart-rates, allowing them to effectively measure their level of exercise. Vernier technologies such as accelerometer and pro logger software were also used to calculate effective velocity of activities such as sprints and jumps in the x, y and z axis. Such ICT tools allowed the students to better understand the human physiology, as well as sports science.

Therefore, for the subject of Physical Education, ICT provided a new dimension for both teachers and students. It allowed the teachers new means of piping interest, motivating students, explaining concepts and also gives the lesson a new and effective way of learning for the students.