Uno Cards to Engage in Fitness Activities

In the video on using Uno cards to engage in fitness activities, one example of a teacher applying Piaget’s or Vygotsky’s cognitive development theories can be seen when the teacher encourages students to discuss their hypotheses about different cardio exercises before trying them. This approach is based on Vygotsky’s theory that children learn best in social contexts and by interacting with more knowledgeable peers (Vygotskii). When discussing possibilities before actually carrying out an exercise, children are able to engage in higher-level thinking processes such as problem solving and critical analysis. This allows them to engage in scientific reasoning processes which will lead to greater understanding than if they were simply presented with a result without any prior discussion of what could happen (Tulis & Grover). By encouraging these conversations early on, teachers can help foster an environment where students gain deeper insights into the material through dialogue with their peers. Additionally, this type of learning process also provides students opportunities for metacognitive reflection which is essential for physical skill acquisition. Through engaging in mutually beneficial discourse such as this, students are able to better reflect on their own thought processes and consider different ways of approaching movement tasks. Furthermore, by engaging in this kind of interactive learning process rather than traditional lecturing methods, it gives students increased ownership over their education which has been shown to improve overall performance (Rosenfield et al.).