for pdhpe

1. INTRODUCTION TO GAME
SENSE APPROACH
All you need to know is included in the next few slides!
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2. Definition
• The game sense approach is a student-centred method that allows
students to develop their own understanding and skills of the game. It
requires students to be actively involved through participating and
working as a team. This helps students to understand and realise why
particular skills and rules are necessary to play the game. (Sporting
Schools, 2016).

3. Further Information…
• Game sense encourages students to ‘Play for Life’. This means it takes
an engaging approach to let students think critically on how they can
modify game strategies and concepts to develop new skills that could
be incorporated into the games. It changes students from becoming
mindless players to ‘thinking players’ by having spatial awareness
(Sporting Schools, 2016).
• The focus of the Game Sense approach was to change the focus of
directive teaching performance that is usually found in “textbooks” to
a more tactical approach that allows students to facilitate what they
know and understand about the skills and performance needed (Pill,
2014).

4. Fundamental Movement Skills
• There are 12 Fundamental Movement Skills students are being taught
through the Game Sense Approach that allows them to read (tactical
awareness), respond (decision making), react (functional movement
response) and recover during physical sports games (Pill, 2014). These
are:
- Static Balance - Catch - Two Hand Strike
- Side Gallop - Kick - Overarm Throw
- Skip - Leap
- Sprint/Run - Hop
- Vertical Jump - Dodge

5. Rationale to Game Sense Approach
• The Game Sense Approach gives students the opportunity to not only
be concerned about their own wellbeing, but the well being of others
too. It encourages students to understand and value others as they
work cooperatively as a team, creating a stable interpersonal
relationship (BOSTES, 2007).
• Game sense also promotes physical activity and emphasises students
informed ability to make decisions that can lead to an effective
responsible action (BOSTES, 2007). This is most critical to
sportsmanship as it allows students to think proactively which will in
turn benefit their physical, social, cognitive and emotional growth
(BOSTES, 2007).

6. Strengths of Incorporating Game Sense
• The lesson revolves around ‘Game first’ rather than ‘practice first’.
This allows students to discover the game through inquiry learning
which is supported by teacher questioning. (Pill, 2013)
• Allows grouping of game categories such as Invasion, striking/fielding,
net/court and target games. This enables the teacher to transfer
game concepts between games by allowing students to sampling each
game respectively. (Pill, 2013)

7. NSW PDHPE Syllabus
In relation to the NSW PDHPE Syllabus, Game sense promotes all five
essential skills that are necessary for students to develop. These are:
• Communicating
• Decision Making
• Interacting
• Moving
• Problem Solving
Students are able to develop a positive value and attitude towards
themselves and classmates as well as appreciating one another.
(BOSTES, 2007)

8. References
• Board of Studies, NSW. (2007). Personal development, health and
physical education K-6: Syllabus. Sydney, Australia: Author.
• Pill, S. (2013). Play with purpose: Game sense to sport literacy.
Hindmarsh, SA: Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and
Recreation.
• Pill, S. (2014). Play with purpose: An introduction to the game sense
approach. The Physical Educator, Pedagogy.
• Sporting Schools (2016). Game Sense Approach. Australian
Government, Australian Sports Commission.