Implementing a game sense approach to teaching junior high school basketball in a naturalistic setting

Traditional approaches to teaching and learning in physical education classes have concentrated on the development of so-called ‘fundamental sport skills’ rather than account for the contextual nature of games in which those skills are to be employed. In an attempt to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional approach, Bunker and Thorpe have proposed a way of teaching games which focuses on the development of game sense through the early immersion of students into modified game situations. Such an approach attempts to integrate the cognitive and contextual dimensions of learning in the physical domain. This paper reports on a study that investigated, using a qualitative research process, the implementation of a game sense conceptualization for teaching games into the naturalistic setting of a junior high school physical education programme. The study found that there were a number of issues in a school context which influence the degree of success of implementing a game sense approach and these are discussed in the paper. © 2000, North West Counties Physical Education Association and SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.