The difficulty and environmental continua
I can classify skills based on their characteristics and place them on the environmental and difficulty continua.
The difficulty and environmental continua
I can classify skills based on their characteristics and place them on the environmental and difficulty continua.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Skills can be classified along continua based on their charactersitics.
- The difficulty continua classifies skills between simple and complex based on how difficult they are to perform.
- The environmental continua classifies skills between open and closed based on the level of environmental influence.
Keywords
Simple skill - a skill which is quickly learned as there are very few decisions to be made when performing the skill
Complex skill - a skill which requires a lot of focus and decision making to perform
Open skills - skills affected by the environment and predominantly perceptual as they must be adapted to suit the environment. These are usually externally paced e.g. a pass within a game situation in football
Closed skills - skills that are performed in a predictable environment e.g. a player taking a line out in rugby
Common misconception
A very common mistake made when classifying skills is to name a sport without the skill. For example, trying to classify 'rugby' rather than one of the many different skills within rugby.
Ensure pupils understand that specific skills are required and that they can name multiple examples of skills from different sports.
To help you plan your year 11 physical education lesson on: The difficulty and environmental continua, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 11 physical education lesson on: The difficulty and environmental continua, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 physical education lessons from the Sport psychology: skill and ability unit, dive into the full secondary physical education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
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Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
rugby
cricket
sailing
volleyball
figure skating
Exit quiz
6 Questions
quickly learned as there are very few decisions to be made
requires a lot of decision making and high levels of coordination
skills affected by the environment and predominantly perceptual
skill performed in a predictable environment