Scientific and discipline knowledge

To me, scientific and discipline knowledge means that teaching should be based on more than instinct or just doing what seems familiar. It means understanding the ideas behind what I am doing, whether that is pedagogy, motor learning, tactics, biomechanics, or health, and then using those ideas to make better decisions in practice. I think this competency matters because it pushes me to connect theory to action. It is one thing to know a concept like TGfU or play-practice-play, but it is another thing to actually use it well in a lesson. For me, this competency is about building that bridge between what I know and how I teach. 

On this page, I have organized my artifacts into two main sources.  They are divided between EPHE 452 and 437. EPHE 437 artifacts consist of me contending with tactical concepts, and my EPHE 452 artifacts highlight my scientific review of academic sources and how I applied the knowledge in my lesson planning.

Ephe 437 Artifacts

Connection to Compentancy

My Lesson 4 plan and reflection and my summary of Stolz and Pill support my self-reflection in Scientific and Discipline Knowledge because they show that I am starting to connect discipline ideas to practice more intentionally, but I am still developing in how consistently and fully I do that. For integrate and apply core principles, I put myself in developing, and I think that fits because these artifacts show me synthesizing specific concepts rather than just using general teaching language. In Lesson 4, I used a TGfU/game-centred approach by making the tactical problem visible first, then connecting technical cues back to game play rather than teaching technique in isolation (Stolz & Pill, 2014). I also used a play-practice-play structure by beginning with game play, moving into more focused practice, and then returning students to game situations where they could apply those cues again (Hopper, 2025). On top of that, I used representation and exaggeration through 2v2 play, tighter boundaries, and constraints that made students pay more attention to space, recovery, and decision-making, which are key TGfU design principles (Stolz & Pill, 2014). In the lesson itself, I was connecting technical cues like ready position, contact point, and follow-through to tactical ideas like serving into space and recovering after the hit, which shows me bringing together pedagogy, motor learning, skill development, and tactical understanding in one setting (Hopper, 2025). Even with that, I still think developing is the fairest level because I am beginning to do this with purpose, but not yet with full consistency across different contexts.

For informing practice and decision-making, I also put myself in developing, and I think the Stolz and Pill summary supports that well. What stood out to me from that article was that TGfU is not automatically effective just because it is game-based. Stolz and Pill argue that teachers still need to be very clear about what counts as understanding and how they are using questioning, sampling, representation, and exaggeration to support it (Stolz & Pill, 2014). That pushed me to think more critically about my own teaching, especially around whether students were actually understanding the tactical problem or just participating in the activity. In Lesson 4, that showed up in how I thought about cueing, questioning, and making the task clearer and more meaningful. So I do think these artifacts show that research is starting to influence my practice and my decision-making, but I am still developing in how confidently and consistently I can apply that kind of discipline knowledge to improve what I do.

For Indigenous worldview, I also put myself in developing, but I think this area needs to be understood a bit differently. Because of my own colonial background, I do not really see this as an area where I can just claim proficiency based on knowledge alone. I think developing fits better because I am trying to approach it through humility, relationship, and ongoing learning. In the lesson itself, there were values that connect, like collective responsibility, communication, and making the task accessible for different learners, but I would not want to overstate that as deep integration. For me, this is still an area of growth where I need to keep learning, think more seriously about Indigenous perspectives in education, and continue building respectful relationships with local First Nations communities. So overall, I think developing in all three sections is the most honest and accurate reflection of where I am right now.

References

Hopper, T. (2025). Game-based approaches in physical education: Tennis: Complexity thinking and emergent learning (Chap. 13). [Course text excerpt].

Stolz, S., & Pill, S. (2014). Teaching games and sport for understanding: Exploring and reconsidering its relevance in physical education. European Physical Education Review, 20(1), 36–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336X13496001

My goal is to get better at clearly connecting the theory I am learning to the actual decisions I make in lessons. Over the next semester, I want each lesson or major artifact I create to intentionally include at least two or three named discipline concepts such as TGfU, play-practice-play, motor learning, biomechanics, or teaching styles, and then briefly explain in my reflection how those ideas shaped my planning or in-the-moment decisions. This will help me move from just knowing the concepts to using them more deliberately and consistently in practice.