12 Assessment Ideas for 7-10 PDHPE

Here are 12 assessment ideas for 7-10 PDHPE. These ideas could be used for any stage and allow you to have a variety of tasks to use for formal assessment. Make sure you read them all, they can literally become all your tasks for 7-10.

Narrative

Students can be asked to create some form of narrative to practice and apply strategies they learn or to evaluate their effectiveness. The narrative of course doesn't have to mean a creative piece of writing, but it could. It could also include making a short film, comic strips, storyboard, or podcast series. It could take the form of a character journal.

For example, students could create a narrative that showcases students preparing for high school and the events that might transpire in Year 7. They could be assessed on how well the students are compared using different strategies to manage the challenges and changes that occur. This could also include a look at how a person's identity might change throughout this time and how they showcase different aspects of who they are in various contexts, such as school, a sports team, and their church.

Such a task might look at assessing the following outcomes: 

• examines and evaluates strategies to manage current and future challenges PD4-1
• examines and demonstrates the role help-seeking strategies and behaviours play in supporting
  themselves and others PD4-2, and
• applies and refines interpersonal skills to assist themselves and others to interact respectfully and
  promote inclusion in a variety of groups or contexts PD4-10

Debate

A debate is a classic learning activity that is often overlooked as a formal assessment task for 7-10 PDHPE. A debate can be used for anything where students are asked to discuss a topic or evaluate it. The debate could include various parts, including a Socratic circle used to dive deeper into the content, an online chat-based debate, with links to resources and references, or a formal in-class debate with 4 speakers and a researcher.

An example task might ask students to debate statements such as "one person always has the power in a relationship", "unequal power balance is always destructive for the relationship", or "stereotypes must always be challenged if we are going to find our true selves." Students then need to prepare their arguments together, lay out a plan for their presentation of points, include arguments against the opposing team's points, and come to a strong conclusion based on evidence.

Such a task, looking at power, could be used to assess the outcomes:

• investigates effective strategies to promote inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships PD4-3
• demonstrates self-management skills to effectively manage complex situations PD4-9

Role Plays

While role plays would take a fair bit of preparation, they can become a fun way to assess 7-10 PDHPE. We could ask students to role-play certain situations that might come up in their lives and how they would manage them. This could include managing unsafe environments, conversations they may engage in with friends and family to promote everyone's health and well-being, or role-playing how they would include and value diversity within their friendship group.

For example, students could be put in groups and given specific scenarios where they had to recognise an unsafe situation and use strategies to navigate the environment in a way that promoted their health and that of others. They could be given a few different scenarios to role-play and assessed on their ability to:

• recognise how contextual factors influence attitudes and behaviours and propose strategies to enhance health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity (PD4-6), and
• demonstrate self-management skills to effectively manage complex situations (PD4-9)

Fitness Journal

A fitness journal can be a fantastic task to enhance student engagement in physical activity. Within such a task students could research, plan for and participate in a variety of lifelong physical activities, set goals related to improved physical, mental, social and spiritual health through the use of physical activity, or engage in a specific fitness plan to develop their health and skill related components of fitness. They could then reflect on the influences on their behaviours, decisions and actions in relation to their ability to regularly engage in physical activity based on their journal entries.

For example, students could be paired up and asked to create and monitor fitness plans for each other to develop their health and skill-related components of fitness. They would also be asked to participate in these plans, keeping a record of their efforts in a fitness journal. Furthermore, the students could:

• reflect on how the components were developed,
• monitor their responses to physical activity,
• monitor their fitness, and
• evaluate their plan

Such a task would be perfect for assessing:

• investigates health practices, behaviours and resources to promote health, safety, wellbeing and physically active communities PD4-7, and
• plans for and participates in activities that encourage health and a lifetime of physical activity PD4-8

Infographic

Students could create an infographic for just about any outcome or content in the 7-10 Syllabus. Infographics allow students to synthesise information, communicate complex information in a simple format and require them to use higher-order thinking skills such as analysis and evaluative processes in order to identify and communicate the key pieces of information.

For example, students could use an infographic to explain how they used the elements of space, time, objects, effort, and people to enhance their movement sequence. They could also use an infographic to evaluate and justify their choices in response to movement challenges. They could also use an infographic to communicate the modified rules and systems to enhance fair play and inclusive participation in a sport. I use these examples because they are not the norm for infographics. Many infographics can be found looking at statistics, factors that influence health, or the impact of transition and change.

Imagine using an infographic to assess outcomes such as the following:

• investigates effective strategies to promote inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships PD4-3
• demonstrates how movement skills and concepts can be adapted and transferred to enhance and
  perform movement sequences PD4-11
• transfers and adapts solutions to complex movement challenges PD4-5, or 
• investigates health practices, behaviours and resources to promote health, safety, wellbeing and physically active communities PD4-7 

Blog

A blog includes a sequence of blog posts and often provides the public with information relating to a specific topic. It could easily be used as a health promotion tool, or as a reflective journal. A blog can come in various modalities other than written text, such as a video blog (vlog) or podcast. A blog is an easy way to help students communicate what they have learned on a specific topic and a great assessment idea.

The key inquiry question could easily form the overall theme for a series of blogs from the students that communicate what they learned in a helpful way, easy to assess. Such questions might include:

• What skills and strategies can be used to promote inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships? assessing investigates effective strategies to promote inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships PD4-3
• How can I apply my skills to collaborate, communicate, solve problems and include others in
  physical activity? assessing applies and refines interpersonal skills to assist themselves and others to interact respectfully and promote inclusion in a variety of groups or contexts PD4-10
• Why are connection, inclusion and empowerment important for the health, safety, wellbeing and physical activity levels of the wider community? assessing recognises how contextual factors influence attitudes and behaviours and proposes strategies to enhance health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity PD4-6, and investigates health practices, behaviours and resources to promote health, safety, wellbeing and physically active communities PD4-7

Physical Activity Challenge

Giving students physical activity challenges can be fun and useful for assessment. Consider how students would be better able to transfer their understanding from previous experiences to find solutions to new movement challenges, not just by thinking about them, but by actually being in them. We can challenge our student simply by exposing them to new games or sports they are unfamiliar with and then ask them to reflect on the transfer of their skills and strategies used. More difficult and specific challenges could also be used, such as those used in team bonding exercises, or long hikes, which could also enable them to show motivation, persistence and confidence when faced with difficult tasks.

Such as task could assess:

• adapts and improvises movement skills to perform creative movement across a range of dynamic physical activity contexts PD5-4
• appraises and justifies choices of actions when solving complex movement challenges PD5-5

Another idea is to throw our students a physical challenge they need to complete as a group and then have them reflect on the impact meeting or not meeting this challenge had on the relationships within the group and how they developed the characteristics of resilient people or used skills to enhance their resilience. Looking at outcomes:

• assesses their own and others’ capacity to reflect on and respond positively to challenges PD5-1 
• critiques their ability to enact interpersonal skills to build and maintain respectful and inclusive relationships in a variety of groups or contexts PD5-10.

Peer Teaching, Presentations & Performances

One of my favourite teaching methods is peer teaching. We learn things very well when we are asked to teach what we have learned to others. Students can be great teachers and help one another to deeply understand the PDHPE concepts. This can also make peer teaching activities or classroom presentations a great way to assess student learning because it sets them up for success.

I want to digress for a moment here to focus on presentations. Students presenting to their classmates has become a task many teachers avoid. The reason it is avoided so much is often because our students and often even ourselves as teachers, don't like presenting in front of our peers. We then shy away from this form of assessment because we don't want to "force" our students to do something they fear so much, or that may cause them anxiety. Statistics suggest that 75% of people have anxiety related to public speaking.

However, the ability to speak in public is a rare and valuable skill and those who can do so well set themselves up to have a more satisfying and lucrative career, regardless of their field.¹ So, even though it may be something our students fear, it is also something that is valuable and I believe should be a skill we teach. Which, I might add, is probably part of the problem. We often don't teach this skill to our students. Students are often told to make eye contact and use notes but are rarely given a chance to rehearse and receive feedback, or taught exactly how to write an engaging speech. So, perhaps rather than avoiding such a task, we should embrace it, teach the skills and set our students up for success in this area of their lives (I'm sure you can tell this is something I will probably write more on in the future 🙂). 

Getting back to the point, peer teaching tasks and presentations are a great way to assess student learning. Students could teach each other concepts and then through peer marking receive feedback and the other students could then be asked questions to see how well they learned based on the teaching they received. Students could complete checklists as they learn from each other. We could even do presentation walks where students present their learnings multiple times to smaller audiences as others walk through a gallery of learning. And of course, don't negate the practical lessons where students frequently teach each other, especially during the design and development of group performances, such as dance, set plays, or other routines.

We can have students present:

• movement skills they have designed and performed, 
• how power influences relationships,
• how they provided and applied feedback in a manner that developed their movement skills,
• how to advocate for health through lifelong physical activity, or
• reports on an intervention they ran to enhance their own and other's fitness.

You could easily use peer teaching or presentations to assess:

• researches and appraises the effectiveness of health information and support services available in the community PD5-2
• designs, implements and evaluates personalised plans to enhance health and participation in a lifetime of physical activity PD5-8
• adapts and improvises movement skills to perform creative movement across a range of dynamic physical activity contexts PD5-4
• appraises and justifies choices of actions when solving complex movement challenges PD5-5
• researches and appraises the effectiveness of health information and support services available
  in the community PD5-2
• analyses factors and strategies that enhance inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships
  PD5-3

Case Study Analysis

This is something very much promoted in the new Health and Movement Science syllabus, but can easily be used throughout 7-10 PDHPE. Case studies provide great insight into how students can apply their knowledge, understanding and skills. Asking students to analyse a case study of a young person who has poor health, or how someone managed to transform their whole life through physical activity can be an easy way to apply student learning to the real world. Providing students with food labels would also be a type of case study, or having them examine specific relationships in terms of power, inclusivity and respect can deepen their understanding and allow them to show their learning.

For example, a task could provide students with a specific relationship that has broken down and have them come up with various methods of helping to improve this relationship. This could be done by describing the rights and responsibilities of each person in the relationships, identifying where empathy and active listening might be helpful, and assessing the power dynamic and how it could shift towards equality and mutual respect. The case study could include abusive situations, power imbalances, online relationships or relationships with other family members.

Such a task would be used to assess analyses factors and strategies that enhance inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships PD5-3 and assesses and applies self-management skills to effectively manage complex situations PD5-9.

Wellness Plan

A wellness plan is an all-encompassing plan to improve an individual or community's health and wellbeing. The broadness of the plan makes it very adaptable and effective in helping our students bring various topics and subjects together to apply them to themselves or others. However, it most clearly aligns with healthy, safe, and active lifestyles.

For example, students could work in groups to create a wellness plan for the school, which evaluates strategies and actions, as well as plans to promote health, safety, wellbeing and physical activity levels.

The outcomes such a task would best assess include:

• plans, implements and critiques strategies to promote health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity in their communities PD5-7
• designs, implements and evaluates personalised plans to enhance health and participation in a lifetime of physical activity PD5-8
• assesses and applies self-management skills to effectively manage complex situations PD5-9

Health Campaign

Similar to the situation above, students could also be involved in their own or participate in an organisation's health campaign. They could reflect and analyse the campaign, or design and implement it. Or, better yet, get them to do both and suggest improvements for the campaign next time. Students could be involved in running jump rope for heart at a primary school, running coaching clinics for younger students, or promoting better nutrition across their school. 

For example, students could analyse current health information, products and services and then put posters up or QR codes around the school to educate others on the misinformation and what accurate information is accessible. This could involve the analysis of trending ads or posts on social media. Throughout their campaign, they could help other students know how to select credible sources of information and advice on health.

This task could be used to assess outcomes:

• researches and appraises the effectiveness of health information and support services available in the community PD5-2
• critiques contextual factors, attitudes and behaviours to effectively promote health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity PD5-6
• plans, implements and critiques strategies to promote health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity in their communities PD5-7

Mindfulness & Stress Management Workshop

Students could run any type of workshop for other students, but focusing on mindfulness and stress management can be a great way to engage students in a current health issue affecting them and many others. Consider how the students could run such a workshop for older students in Year 12 or for the staff at the school.

Running such a workshop would help students implement and refine strategies to demonstrate their leadership skills while they also propose, implement and evaluate strategies and actions that influence their own and others’ mental health and wellbeing. This could assess:

• critiques their ability to enact interpersonal skills to build and maintain respectful and inclusive
  relationships in a variety of groups or contexts PD5-10
• critiques contextual factors, attitudes and behaviours to effectively promote health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity PD5-6
  
• plans, implements and critiques strategies to promote health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity in their communities PD5-7

Bonus - Reports and Essays

Possibly the most obvious method to use when assessing students is to have them create some kind of report or an essay-style answer to a question. You could simply provide students with one of the key inquiry questions and ask them to create a report on it or answer the question with reference to specific items pulled from the content statements. 

A simple example would be to ask the students to write a report on how to respond positively to life challenges with references to people who have overcome adversity. This would be used to assess assesses their own and others’ capacity to reflect on and respond positively to challenges PD5-1.

References

1 - Forbes Magazine Why Professionals Should Embrace Public Speaking (And How You Can Get Started)