PYP PE: Guest Blog by Nathan Horne

It is great to come across like-minded people in our professions. I was fortunate enough to meet a great PYP PE team at United Nations School in Hanoi, Vietnam last week when working with them on what good assessment looks and feels like in our programs. I am always on the look out and researching what other PE teachers are doing and this is how I came across Nathan Horne. I am glad that he happily agreed to be a guest blogger on pyppewithandy and share his thoughts on inquiry. Please read Nathan's article below on the role of inquiry in PE and be sure to visit his blog which is included

A bit about Nathan:

Nathan currently works as an elementary PE teacher at ISS International School in Singapore and has also previously worked in Milan, Phnom Penh and London. He is the author of the website iPhysEd.weebly.com and you can find him on Twitter @PENathan

The Role of Inquiry in PE.

"Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it.” 

(Ken Robinson, in The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything) 

I believe not in imparting opinions and knowledge, but encouraging and supporting students to create their own understandings, their own preferred future. I believe inquiry is the key to all learning and that as educators we should strive to nurture and honour the potential that each child can contribute to our community. 

At the centre of my teaching philosophy is inquiry. I believe in teaching for understanding where decision-making and problem solving is critical. I aim to evoke an emotional response from my students in order to make learning compelling. Learning is interdisciplinary and by making meaningful links across curriculum areas, I enrich and support academic learning while helping students to live a skilled, healthy and active life. 

I see myself not solely as a single subject teacher of Physical Education, but rather a health, social and wellbeing facilitator. who permeates every facet of a school’s curriculum. This interconnected and transdisciplinary approach allows students to participate fully in individual and group games, tasks, activities and experiences, and to successfully translate their experiences into other subject areas and a lifelong enjoyment of activity and wellbeing. In my program, students experience the joy of play and have specific opportunities for learning about movement through movement. There is a clear connection between Physical Education and children’s participation in their own lives. 

Being technologically literate is now at the core of everyday life and changes the way we act, think, learn and teach. As 21st century educators we must be aware of new and exciting ways in which we can facilitate learning experiences for our students. Currently, I am working closely with our IT co-ordinator on ways to successfully integrate the use of iPad’s into Physical Education lessons. 

In my classroom/gymnasium students are engaged in discussion and learning characterised by constant questioning. The ultimate goal is for students to have the confidence and inquisitiveness to ask WHY and more importantly WHY NOT?"

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