Describing Instructional Models for Physical Education

The word “model” has many different meanings, with several applying to how a teacher might choose to instruct physical education. That word is often used to describe a good example of personal characteristics, such as a model citizen or a model student. It can have that same meaning for teachers when used to identify professional and pedagogical behavior that others view as highly effective and desirable. The word might also be used when someone demonstrates the way others should act or think—to be a model by example. That meaning can apply to teachers who display clear patterns of planning and instructional interaction that others can observe and emulate in their own teaching. It can also be used to describe a scaled-down replica of a large object, such as an automobile, an airplane, or a building. A scaled-down model allows the observer to see more easily, in miniature, what a larger object looks like from many perspectives, without having the real object to view. Instructional models also serve this same purpose for teachers by allowing them to better understand a model’s components and features before implementing the full version with students.