This semester, UFV kinesiology students and professors are bringing physical literacy education to Chilliwack elementary schools and beyond. The Physical Literacy Action Network (PLAN) is an outreach program that began in fall 2019, designed to educate primary-age students about physical health.
Created by kinesiology professors Lauren Couture and Joanna Sheppard, the PLAN brings student volunteers into local elementary schools, providing UFV kinesiology students with valuable opportunities to gain experience applying what they’ve learned in the classroom to a real-life setting.
“We’re creating and teaching fundamental movement skills,” Couture said. “Physical literacy is a life-long journey, and it begins with our youngest children.”
The PLAN grew out of Couture and Sheppard’s KIN 121 class, which focuses on teaching physical literacy to UFV students. For Couture, the PLAN is a “natural extension” of the course, which already involves visits to local classrooms where UFV students lead and facilitate physical activities and games.
“Our students were really keen to get more hands-on experiential learning opportunities,” Couture said. “It helps them develop their skills as future teachers, practitioners, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and more.”
Couture said the PLAN expands on the frequency of these visits, which are intended to give young students “motivation and confidence” around physical activity as a foundation for their future, whether that future involves playing sports, or simply engaging in recreational activities. Now, instead of visiting as an entire class, students attend in smaller groups of four, taking elementary students through physical activities in a more intimate setting.
Together, Couture and Sheppard still oversee the program, ensuring that the activities students are taught in the classroom are suitable and rigorous. They have also hired UFV students to help, both with coordinating the program and with researching its effects.
“We want to start to measure the impact that this has on our students,” Couture said. “We believe that it is beneficial to have opportunities to learn outside of the classroom, so we want to understand to what extent a program like this adds value to the kinesiology degree.”
Couture also stressed that demand for PLAN volunteers outweighs supply.
“We’re always looking for more kinesiology student volunteers,” she said. “So far we’ve been in four schools, but we have more demand than that … more schools want us, and [the ones we’re working with] want us to come more than we already are.”
Couture said the benefits of participating in the PLAN include valuable work experience and co-curricular record credits for students willing to put the hours in.
“The only prerequisites are that students have already taken the KIN 121 course, and they do a police record check,” she said, though she adds that some exceptions for the class requirement may be made for students who have “relevant experience.” Students interested in getting involved should email program coordinators at PLAN@ufv.ca.
Image: UFV Flickr
