Associate Professor Heidi Bohler, Ed.D., joined the World Symposium for Developing Authentic Game-Based-Approach on September 26, as one of four invited speakers. The online event was sponsored by Tokyo Gakugei University, where Dr. Bohler spent a month on sabbatical in 2017. Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) is a method to educate future physical education instructors by using games to teach, a style Dr. Bohler specializes in at Westfield in her instruction of physical educators and coaches.
“TGfU has roots in constructivist teaching/learning principles,” said Dr. Bohler. “It is a student-centered model that promotes the development of problem-solving skills, active decision-making, and the development of tactical understanding and contextualized skill development through small-sided games and questioning.”
The global symposium of 100 scholars from more than 33 countries was conducted to share ideas on the use of game-based-approaches around the world. The two-hour Zoom meeting allowed educators to share their ways of thinking using a Game Centered Approach (GSA) where students can learn how to play a game before their skills are perfected. They also considered how to use these approaches online due to COVID. They were each allotted 15 minutes to present their model followed by a question-and-answer period. Following a moderated discussion, they then split into groups to compare what they learned.
“This work is a result of a long-standing community of practice for research and pre-service teacher development in the U.S. and Japan,” Dr. Bohler said. “This event was an extension of the community of practice in order to gain new insights and to share the work of prominent game-based teacher and coach educators in the field.”
Dr. Bohler’s involvement in the long-term community of practice is with Karen Richardson, Ed.D., and Deborah Sheehy, Ed.D., of Bridgewater State University, and Naoki Suzuki, Ph.D., of Tokyo Gakugei University. They work collaboratively on research, pre-service teacher development, and in-service teacher professional development in the U.S. and Japan. Dr. Bohler teaches how to use a GSA in her teaching at Westfield. She employs this style to graduate and undergraduate students in courses such as Theory and Practice of Games I and II and continues research on the topic.