Interdisciplinarity session III

On this practical class we finished the presentations of our interdisciplinary activities which led to the appearance of previous ideas that had arose in other classes. In addition, this presentations have also help us to see other ways of dealing with some topics that at first might seem very difficult to combine with physical education.

Due to the characteristics of our game, my group was in charge of conducting the warm-up. As it was just a game whose purpose was to prepare the body for exercise, the amount of physical activity was good. Moreover, it could have been increased giving the students a motivation for moving. In this case for instance it would have been going to a place of the gym and going back as fast as they had been able to. Moreover, there were also some problems while carrying out the activity because some of the players could not hear very well the instructions during the game. Apart from these few things, the activity in general was a success since the students enjoyed the game and the goal was achieved.

                      

After that, four more activities were presented. Three of them were related to content of science and one related to mathematics. The last one tried to combine physical activity with the knowledge about even and odd numbers. At first the mathematical content might have seemed really difficult to be integrated in a game in PE, however, the approach our mates used was very interesting since they used the birth dates. Although the main idea was very good, I think that they did not make the most of it. As a result the activity ended very soon. As I see it, our mates could have done something more not only about the months but also about the years and the days. Even if this would not have been enough they could have use another contexts in which numbers appear as well. This leads again to an idea which I have already reflected in previous entries. Although the general idea is very good, the teacher cannot stop at that point because it is just the structure for the game. It is like building a flat, first you have to build the structure following the map (which has been made by a mixture of knowledge and creativity) and once the structure is solid enough, you have to put the walls, the windows and decorate the inside. Therefore, after having the idea, the teacher should think about the details of the activity, the context, the available materials, the time and so on. 

                  

Concerning the other activities, I would like to highlight two ideas that arose during the presentations. Foremost, we have to remember that the child should be placed in center of the learning process. Therefore, he should display an active role during the class. This refers to the fact that teachers do not have to bias the way the activities are performed and give pupils the chance to be creative. For instance this could be applied to certain activities in which children have to invent movements. If we let them try first before giving the correct one (if there is a correct one), we are not only motivating them but we are also working with body expression which is one of the main content blocks and most of the times is put aside. 
Continuing with this idea, children should not be underrated. This mistake can be seen when some teachers think that pupils are not autonomous and smart enough to carry out an activity alone and they try to conduct the whole activity limiting the possibilities of the game. Although we are the ones that are in charge of the class, we should not misunderstood this duty. We are facilitators of knowledge thus we have to allow children build their own knowledge. But this is only possible if children are free to explore and think for themselves. Concerning the interdisciplinary activities we did, this idea could have been applied if children were allowed to choose the animals they wanted and to make their own questions to their mates.
Nonetheless, this idea does not mean that we have to let children do what they want. Of course not. But teachers should find the equilibrium. A way to do that is guiding the activity so as it is done in the way we want, for instance, giving clues, choosing some of the suggestions that pupils have come up with... but never biasing.