Scaffolding Learning in Physical Education

B2.What is the relationship between scaffolding and feedback?

Feedback refers to information provided by an agent such as a teacher or parent regarding performance or understanding (Hattie & Timperly, 2007). In a practical subject such as PE there are two types of feedback which are usually deployed; knowledge of results (KR) and knowledge of performance (KP).

Knowledge of results is feedback received about the final outcome of an activity or game, usually in the form of a score or in the case of fitness and athletics times and weights. Knowledge of performance refers to information received associated with how well a skill is performed. This type of feedback can be internal or external. Internal knowledge of how well the skill is being performed comes from experience as well as practice. An example of this could be knowing if you throw a ball your throwing arm should be pointing at where you anticipate the ball to go. External feedback comes from an outside agent such as a teacher/coach. This could come in the form of ‘that was a good attempt, try bringing your arm through faster.

From an early age children do not have the capacity to understand or interpret internal feedback; it is up to the teacher to provide guidance on how to improve so that they can start to accumulate experience. During their school career and sporting life pupils will have many opportunities to experience and engage in varying types of feedback. These experiences develop learning and understanding about their own capabilities as well as ways to try and improve. In this sense feedback is crucial to the overall development of children physical competence.

References & Research

Hattie, J. & Timperley. H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research. 1:81- 112.