Improving physical education student teachers' knowledge and understanding of applied biomechanical principles through peer collaboration

Background: Student teachers start their Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Physical Education (PGCE PE) course with a variety of sports-related undergraduate degrees. This makes it difficult to ensure that they have adequate subject knowledge to teach all areas of activity of the National Curriculum for Physical Education. Knowledge and application of biomechanical principles by student teachers undertaking a PGCE in PE has been identified as a particular subject knowledge area in need of improvement. Biomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to biological systems. It can assist the teacher in monitoring and improving performance and can minimise the performer's risk of injury. The subject content knowledge' of applied biomechanics is therefore particularly beneficial for student teachers learning to teach PE. Aims: The purpose of this paper was to examine the effectiveness of a 4-week principles of movement' (PoM) pilot module; a module designed to develop and improve the applied biomechanical subject knowledge of student teachers teaching PE. Methods: The PoM module, delivered at one university in the southwest of England, consisted of a 1-hour introductory lecture outlining key biomechanical principles underpinning sports performance (e.g. angle of release, release/take-off velocities, stability, centre of gravity, kinematic/kinetic chain, angular-linear motion relationship, moment of inertia and angular momentum). In groups of two or three (peer collaboration), student teachers selected and prepared a teaching task (with tutorial support) over the following week and delivered their 10-minute teaching episode in either week 3 or 4 on at least four occasions to a rotating group of learners (instructional practice). The teaching task required selected PoM to be outlined and taught with respect to either one or two sporting techniques. The effectiveness of this PoM module in improving student teachers' knowledge of applied biomechanical principles was assessed using a test comprising 15 questions with an emphasis on the application of biomechanical PoM to sports performance. This test was administered on two separate occasions (pre- and post-module), to 54 student teachers (28 females; 26 males) undertaking the 1-year PGCE PE course. Results: An analysis of pre- and post-module test scores found that the short 4-week PoM module enabled student teachers to significantly increase their score (mean improvement of 6.8%, +/- 7.8; p<0.05). Overall, 74% of students (40/54) showed a positive increase in test score. This was considered to reflect an improvement in student teachers' application of subject content knowledge; specifically, applied PoM. Conclusions: It was concluded that knowledge of applied biomechanical PoM can enhance student teachers' subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Teacher educators might wish to include similar PoM modules on their Initial Teacher Education PE programme for student teachers.