Applying Laban's Movement Framework in Elementary Physical Education

Overview & Synopsis

This article recommends raising the bar in elementary physical education by using Laban's movement framework to develop curriculum content in the areas of games, gymnastics, and dance (with physical fitness concepts blended in) in order to help students achieve the NASPE content standards. The movement framework can permeate and unify an elementary physical education curriculum and instruction plan through aspects such as the program's purposes, learning experiences and their organization, content areas, instruction, and assessment. The article also examines how activity-based programs fail to help students learn and how movement-framework-based instruction and assessment can improve children's movement performance in elementary physical education. (Contains 3 tables.)