Acrobatic sports didactics

Teacher(s)

De Jaeger Dominique;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Main themes

Application of didactic principles to gymnastic and acrobatic activities : 

• development of specific learning situations, 
• formulation of relevant instructions, 

Observation of learners' behaviour: error detection, 

• error correction. 
• Assistance techniques. 

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

Safely apply didactic principles to the learning of gymnastic and acrobatic praxis by peers (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 1.8, 3.4, 4.2, 4.3, 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4), and more specifically :  design learning situations appropriate to the specific objectives (praxis) and context (peer group) (1.1, 1.3, 1.6, 1.8, 8.1 and 8.4)  demonstrate correct execution of the learning situations devised and any specific assistive techniques (1.2, 1.8, 8.2, 8.1)  implement these learning situations for the benefit of a peer (1.3, 1.4, 1.8, 3.4, 4.2, 4.3, 8.2, 8.1 and 8.4)  analyse the learner's performance, identify errors and suggest appropriate remedial situations (1.1, 1.5, 1.8, 3.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.4)

Content

The teaching principles will be addressed across all three parts of the course:

• Practical sessions in Parkour
• Practical sessions in Artistic Gymnastics
• Lecture-style seminars,

Through a range of topics:

1. How can learning situations be designed?
2. How to break the learning process out of a deadlock?
3. When and how should appropriate assistance techniques be implemented? What principles are common to assistance techniques in acrobatic sports?
4. How can one analyse the causes of an observed technical error? How can it be rectified?
5. Warm-up in acrobatic sports: objectives and methods of implementation
6. What are the characteristics of an effective demonstration?
7. How can one formulate relevant qualitative instructions and performance criteria?
8. The mini-trampoline in acrobatic sports

Teaching methods

Throughout the three parts of the course, students are encouraged to reflect and interact with their peers and the teacher.
In Parkour, fixed teams are formed from the very first session, bringing together students of varying ability levels. The cooperative aspect is particularly important: the less proficient students benefit from the experience of others, whilst the more proficient students grapple with the learning difficulties faced by their less experienced teammates. Each team is assigned a section of the material to explore and structure with the teacher’s help, before passing it on to the other teams.
These team's projects will focus on

• the design of learning progressions, their demonstration, and their implementation;
• the intensification of learning situations once they have been mastered or, conversely, their adaptation to address an observed difficulty;
• the combination of different movements to enrich motor skills in Parkour.

In artistic gymnastics, students work individually or in small groups, depending on the session. A different theme is covered in each session, focusing either on a specific apparatus that has not been covered much previously (such as the balance beam or the mini-trampoline) or on a type of movement (such as hanging, jumps or twists). One session is devoted to assisting techniques. The emphasis is placed, on the one hand, on applying the theoretical knowledge previously acquired in anatomy, physiology and movement analysis, and, on the other hand, on the similarities in movement between acrobatic sports and other sporting disciplines.
In seminars, students’ active participation takes the form of individual and group work centred on cross-disciplinary topics addressed either explicitly (for example, support techniques in artistic gymnastics) or implicitly (for example, designing a learning situation, demonstrations) during practical sessions. Students are encouraged to draw on their practical experience and theoretical knowledge (anatomy, biomechanics, motor learning) to formulate teaching principles common to acrobatic sports.

Evaluation methods

☒ IN THE FIRST SESSION, the course assessment consists of 4 components.
☒ Component A: Artistic gymnastics practice sessions—Continuous assessment. (20 points)
At the end of the course, students are individually assessed on their technical mastery of a new skill, the flat twist (5 points), and assisting techniques (5 points). They are also assessed in small groups on their ability to analyze a peer’s movement, identify execution errors, and propose appropriate corrective measures (10 points).
☒ Component B: Practical Parkour Sessions—Continuous Assessment. (20 points)Throughout the course, students are assessed on their active participation in class, measured through three projects prepared in teams during class sessions, submitted individually on Moodle as assignments, and presented collectively to the other teams.

☒ Component C: Seminar – Continuous Assessment (20 points)
During seminar sessions, students are assessed in several ways:

1. their active participation, measured through the completion of assignments prepared and presented collectively during the sessions and submitted on Moodle as homework,
2. their participation in individual activities posted on Moodle,
3. the individual creation of a teaching sheet presenting a learning situation for a gymnastics skill,
4. their participation in the evaluation of teaching sheets created by their peers.

Participation in the activities assessed in points 3 and 4 is mandatory. Failure to participate in these activities (completing the teaching sheet OR evaluating peers’ teaching sheets) results in an absence grade (“A”) for the entire seminar.
☒ Component D: Oral exam during the exam period. (40 points)
During the oral exam, the students are individually tested on their mastery of the teaching principles covered during the course, either in Parkour or in artistic gymnastics as allocated at random.
Weighting : In the event of an unjustified absence, the marks for components A, B and C are weighted in proportion to the percentage of attendance for each part.
☒ Rule for calculating the final mark: The final mark is the sum of the marks obtained (out of 100) scaled down to 20, provided that the student has achieved at least 50 % in each of the four assessment components.
The final mark is

• a maximum of 9/20 if the student has not achieved at least 50 per cent in one component,
• a maximum of 8/20 if the student has not achieved at least 50 per cent in two components, 
• a maximum of 7/20 if the student has not achieved at least 50 per cent in three components, 
• a maximum of 6/20 if the student has not achieved at least 50 per cent in four components.

The final mark is ‘A’ if the mark for one component is ‘A’.
☒ IN THE SECOND SESSION, students sit the parts of the assessment in which they did not achieve a mark of at least 50%. The mark obtained in the second session automatically replaces the mark obtained in the first session for the same component.
For each of the components A, B and C, the student completes an assignment focusing on the specific content of that component and presents it orally.
Students who fail component D in the first sitting sit the oral examination, during which they are questioned individually on their understanding of teaching principles in one of the two subjects covered during the course.
The rules for passing the first sitting also apply to the second sitting.

Other information

This course is strictly reserved for FSM students. It is not open to other UCLouvain students.

Faculty or entity

> FSM