Nonlinear pedagogy and its role in encouraging 21st century competencies through physical education: A Singapore experience

Abstract

Nonlinear Pedagogy is an exploratory approach to teaching and learning Physical Education that can be potentially effective to help children acquire relevant 21st century competencies. Underpinned by Ecological Dynamics, the focus of Nonlinear Pedagogy is on the learner and includes the provision of less prescriptive instructions, and guided discovery which serve to develop greater autonomy, competency and relatedness in the learning process. This paper describes a study that examines the factors that contributed to motivation, enjoyment and the development of 21st century competencies in Primary School Children. 133 children were taught over 7-weeks to play a modified tennis game either with a Nonlinear Pedagogy or Linear Pedagogy (i.e., more teacher-centred) approach in a Singapore school. While findings from the IMI questionnaire showed that there was no difference for the subscales measured, student and teacher interviews indicated that the Nonlinear Pedagogy approach created a learning environment that facilitated perceived competence, autonomy and relatedness, thus potentially enhancing intrinsic motivation and enjoyment during practice. Nonlinear Pedagogy encourages teachers to create representative learning designs through the inclusion of a variety of modified games, the freedom to choose, an emphasis on exploration and problem-solving and can be relevant to develop 21st century competencies.