Oregon SHAPE

October 18, 2017
Written by Dr. Dean Kriellaars

The Oregon SHAPE conference has just wrapped up in Bend, and I was inspired by the participants so I thought I would follow up with a newsletter piece. I was honored to provide three conference sessions – one session on “what is physical literacy and now it might be a stepping stone to active participation”, the second on using physical literacy to enhance performance of athletes, as well as enhancing “durability” of participants, and the third was a workshop on “what does a quality physical literacy experience look like in PE class?”. The links to the powerpoint presentations can be found here.

With any emerging concept, like physical literacy, the first step is awareness; the second step is “how to”. If you have become a champion of physical literacy, then I suggest a few introductory videos for your students (ages 6 to 12), as well as parents to increase their awareness.

The Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA) has produced three “Hands Up” videos on physical literacy (introduction, exploration, and application) that are well worth a look & listen. The introduction video is shown below.

Sport Wales has produced a cute video on the basic concepts of physical literacy shown in the Physical literacy Cycle diagram below.

Active for Life in Canada has produced a video on the role of physical literacy in sports participation, and the link can be found here.

Finally, Design to Move has an interesting piece related to “5 years more life expectancy” that evokes an emotional response about the need to help deliver physical literacy to our children so that they can choose what they want to do in life, and continue to participate through adulthood so they “have 5 extra years of life”.

I will close this contribution to the newsletter with a figure that I find useful to remind me of the importance of both psychological and physical aspects of physical literacy when delivering the HPE curriculum to our future generation. The physical literacy cycle shows a positive feedback cycle, which is evidenced by scientific studies, showing that competence leads to confidence which leads to enjoyment with movement, and development of intrinsic motivation to continue a physical literacy journey through life.