By Team VUB, Kristine De Martelaer, Eva D’Hondt & Linde Van.Droogenbroeck
I FEEL: I can estimate the self-perceived level of difficulty for different tasks in the water to be performed in the water.
Children are open and realistic about their self-perception of the level of difficulty for different tasks to be performed in the water.
This resource stimulates children to share with the group a honest self-perception.
Three large signs with icons / emojis (see below) per (class)group.
The three large signs with icons / emojis need to be fixed on the wall next to the swimming pool.
The whole (class)group is standing in front of the three signs with icons/emojis. For a given task, each child needs to make his or her choice individually by standing in front of one of the three signs: “What emoji do you see in the water mirror when you think about performing task X?”
No safety measures are required as this is a land-based task.
This resource is applied at the beginning of the swimming lesson, and/or with the start of a new task or exercise in the water. At the end of the swimming lesson / the task or exercise, the teacher can re-use the resource to see if any of the children have changed their self-perceived level of difficulty according to their experiences during the lesson, task or exercise.
Using the resource (per lesson / per exercise or task) takes about 3’.
Having an idea of the specific task(s) to be performed in the water during (a particular part of) the swimming lesson.
The teacher explains at the beginning of the lesson the aim and the task(s) the pupils will work on, learn and practice.
On the wall there are three large signs displaying three different levels of icons/emojis, from which the child has to choose one according to their self-perception in relation to the task(s) at hand:
(1) Difficult (scared, need help)
(2) Not so easy (give it a try)
(3) Easy (repeat – enjoy)
Instruction given by the teacher: “Imagine you’re in [shallow/deep] water in the swimming pool performing [task], which icon best reflects your feelings?”
The spread of the children among the three distinguished levels learns the teacher how to differentiate the class group in subgroups, allowing differentiation in the lesson with other exercises/teaching approaches per subgroup working on the same task(s). In addition, after finishing the task the actual performance will be compared with the perceived competence through self-evaluation.
