Case
Participation

Physical education is a performance based class and participation is essential. At the middle school level, Coach Finn is having a hard time getting the girls in his class to participate. He has explained to them that their grade will reflect their participation or their lack of participation. Usually, the girls will participate for a brief period of time before they lose interest again. What are some ways to encourage participation from all individuals?

Posted on: 10/19/14 | Views: 1057
Solution #1
Often times girls do not want to participate in certain physical activities that they do not enjoy. Try asking the students what they would enjoy participating in as a physical activity. If the students respond with some valid suggestions then try working them into the class to keep students engaged. If the boys and the girls are assigned the same activity, Coach Finn could consider assigning a different activity for each gender to differentiate instruction in PE class. This might also encourage more participation from girls and keep all students engaged.
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Solution #2
I am certainly not a PE Coach, but I have friends who are and they struggle with the same thing. I would suggest have them 3 different activities to choose from. I am not sure what kind of things are okay to do in PE these days but maybe set up a group that jump ropes, one that hula hoops, and another that learns a dance routine by video. Maybe that would help. If not, do a survey on exercise activities that they would like to incorporate into class.

I would have to agree with giving them a choice of activities and telling them they cannot choose the same activity two days in a row to encourage choosing the activities needed for assessment.

I like this solution. I think that giving the students choices would be appealing.

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Solution #3
It is important to make activities appealing to all students. Many girls are not interested in playing football or field hockey. Also, girls may feel intimidated to participate in certain sports with boys. Maybe, allow girls to participate in the same activities, but also allow them to be on all girls teams sometime in order to improve their confidence.
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Solution #4
Student interest would be the best way to approach this situation. The female students are most likely feeling disconnected from the activities so allowing students to participate in an interest survey may help you determine what sports and other activities appeal to them.
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Solution #5
Having a pretest (more of different activities listed) and giving it to the students at the beginning of the school semester to rate what they would be interested in doing from favorite to least favorite. Trying to be gender neutral when thinking of activities to do.
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Solution #6
Student choice is always a great route to go, but sometimes students will give a suggestion and still not participate. If they continue to show a lack of participation, I would have them do outdoor activities. I would assume most students enjoy activities outside, at least I did and I am a female.
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Solution #7
I think a possible solution would be to have the girls participate at different times then the boys. I know girls in middle school sometimes would like to look "cool" in front of boys and if you take that factor away their could be positive results.
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