Iowa Association For Health, Physical Education, Recreation And Dance (IAHPERD)
State of Iowa
Legislature Alert
Movement Experiences Terminology
Movement Concepts are: Space, Body, Effort and Relationships
Simply stated:
Space is where the child can move
Body is what the child can move.
Effort is how the child can move.
Relationships are with what or with whom the child can move.
Space Concept (Where)
The basic concepts pertaining to space are:
General Space: This is the total working area for the lesson.
Personal Space: This is the area immediately surrounding the child.
Directions: These are forward, backward and sideways.
Levels: These range from high to medium to low.
Pathways: These are straight, curved and zig zag.
Body Concepts (What)
The basic concepts connected to the body are:
Whole body actions and Body parts.
Whole body actions include such actions as the basic locomotor skills and the manipulative skills.
Body parts involve identifying, locating and utilizing the relationship of the body parts to each other as seen in many non-locomotor and balancing actions.
Effort Concepts (How)
The primary Effort Concepts and their components are:
Space: ranging from direct to indirect
Time: Ranging form slow to fast.
Force: Ranging from strong to weak.
Flow: Ranging from Free to Bound.
These components consist of a sliding scale much like the Bass control level on a radio. For example, the time component can be anywhere from very fast to very slow or anywhere in between. Force could be from very strong to very weak or anywhere in between.
Relationship Concepts (With Whom and With What)
The primary Relationship Concepts and their components are:
People (with whom) and Objects (with what).
The people relationships can be:
Solo: One person performing
Alone in the Mass: Several to many people moving but “doing their own thing” within the parameters of the task.
Partners: two people working together.
Group: Three or more people working together.
The Object relationships can be:
Contacting an object or Not Contacting an Object.
If the object is being contacted, it may be manipulated (i.e. throw, catch, kick, strike) or not manipulated (i.e. crawling under, walking on, hanging from).
Please note: There are many different structures through which these basic movement tenets can be displayed or organized. The above structure was selected as it provides the teacher with a solid foundation yet allows for variability among school districts.
|
Space
|
Body
|
Effort
|
Relationships
|
||
|
General / Personal
|
Whole Body Actions
|
Space
|
|
||
|
Directions
|
Body Parts
|
Time
|
|
||
|
Levels
|
Identify
|
Force
|
|
||
|
Pathways
|
Locate
|
Flow
|
|
||
|
Relationships
|
|
Useful References that may assist in teaching basic concepts of Movement Experiences
- Pangrazi, Robert P. (2004) Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School Children, 14th edition. San Francisco, CA.: Benjamin Cummings, pp300-335
- Graham, George, Shirley Ann Holt/Hale and Melissa Parker. (2004)Children Moving, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies (239-295)