Information for parents about Game-Sense; an innovative PE pedagogy.

1. GAME-SENSE
What is it and why should I care?

2. WHAT IS GAME-SENSE?
As a parent you have the right to know what your children are being taught. Physical
education (PE) is often taught differently from when you were in school and a part of
this change is the inclusion of game-sense theory.
Game-sense (similar to ‘teaching games for understanding’, Mandigo, Butler, &
Hopper, 2007) is an innovative instructional technique whereby students learn skills,
strategy, and spatial awareness through playing games (Light, 2006).
In simplest terms game-sense involves three elements (Light, 2013):
1. A game
2. Questioning
3. Collaboration.

3. THE ELEMENTS
The game
• Game-sense operates with the establishment of a game, an activity with rules.
• The rules are often minimal but the outcome is well define, for example ‘get the ball over
to the net’
Questioning
• Game-sense works with the teacher posing questions to the class about how best to
achieve the outcome.
• For example they might ask, ‘Is it better to pass the ball to others, or keep it to score?’
• These questions are designed to get students to think critically about their movements
and tactics.
Collaboration
• Students need to work together to establish further rules and negotiate the best way to
achieve the outcome.

4. WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT
Game-sense is not:
• Endless skill and drill sessions (Light, 2006).
• Teacher directed.
Game-sense is:
• Holistic.
• Efficient (covers many PE outcomes at once).
• Time consuming to implement (both teachers and students take time to adjust to
it).
• Flexible (traditional games can be modified to adjust for skill).
• Generalisable (strategic thinking can transfer to other tasks/ fields).

5. WHY TEACH IT?
• Game-sense is an efficient approach to teaching PE. It allows teachers to
focus on game types that are similar and build competency in all of them
simultaneously (Mandigo et al., 2007):
• Target games – where the player attempts to get an object near a target (darts,
bowling, and bowls).
• Striking games – A player strikes an object then completes a designated running
route before they are out (baseball, cricket, and t-ball).
• Net/ wall games – Players hit an object back and forth over a net or against a
wall to score points (tennis, squash, and badminton).
• Invasion games – Opposing teams try to move an object into their opponents
zone (soccer, rugby, netball).

6. WHY TEACH IT?
• It is student directed and therefore more likely to get them engaged and
enthused (PE becomes intrinsically motivating, Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013).
• Game-sense also improves players enjoyment of the game and tactical
thinking which ordinary technique based learning fails to achieve (Light,
2006; Light, 2013).
• Questioning and collaboration in PE encourages students to critically reflect
on how to play games which makes their play more creative, flexible, and
proficient (Davies, 2010).

7. REFERENCES
Davies, N. (2010). Player-centered coaching: Enhancing player game sense.
Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, 24(2), 24-28.
Light, R. (2006). Game sense: Innovation or just good coaching? Journal of
Physical Education New Zealand, 39(1), 8-19.
Light, R. (2013). Game sense: Pedagogy for performance, participation and
enjoyment. New York, NY: Routledge.
Mandigo, J., Butler, J., & Hopper, T. (2007). What is teaching game for
understanding? A Canadian perspective. Physical and Health
Education Journal, 73(2), 14-20.
Woolfolk, A. & Margetts, K. (2013). Educational psychology (3rd ed.). Frenchs
Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.