PE Concept Curriculum Quick Lesson Plan Template

What is a Concept Curriculum?

The PE Concept curriculum (CC) is an approach to curriculum design that incorporates “big ideas” that span multiple subject areas or disciplines.

A conceptual approach offers an alternative to the traditional sport and skills-based approach to physical education curriculum design and delivery.

The sport and physical activity therefore becomes the vehicle through which the concept is delivered or developed.

Shifting the success criteria within the PE curriculum

By shifting the focus of the curriculum and the success criteria of each lesson, we are providing an inclusive hook for students that have previously become disengaged by the sport-specific lesson objectives.

Personally relevant learning

By using the approach we are trying to deliver more personally relevant learning that truly harnesses the learning potential of physical activity and sport, whilst improving the experiences within PE for every child.

Concept Curriculum Lesson Plan

When implementing conceptual learning within your PE lessons, following a simple framework can ensure we maximise learning potential and physical activity time. The Concept Curriculum lesson plan focuses on two key components:

1) The LEAD Lesson Framework

The LEAD framework consist of four parts of a lesson:

• Lesson introduction: Start the lesson by introducing the concept, it opens the opportunity to focus the learning on the concept and how to apply this “big idea” within the PE context, as well as linking how this concept relates to wider aspects of life.
• Energise, engage and link: Once students have understood what is meant by the concept, get them active as quickly as possible and encourage them to explore and make connections with the physical activity we are engaging in.
• Activity: The most important part of any PE lesson is the opportunity to be physically active. We should provide engaging and challenging activities for students to demonstrate their understanding of the concept, develop their competence and confidence with the physical activity and have plenty of time to develop the skills and techniques required to engage with a variety of activities.
• Discovery: Here we encourage students to consider what they have learnt, how they have demonstrated this learning and where else this learning might help them in PE and beyond. How can todays learning promote their engagement in an active and healthy lifestyle? How can students engage in further opportunities such as extra curricular and community clubs.

2) The Know, Show and Grow Objectives

• Firstly, the ‘know’ learning objective is designed to focus on the cognitive domain, declarative knowledge and the intellectual development of your pupils.What would you like the students to know by the end of the lesson? What key knowledge and understanding do you want to impart and why? How will you convey these key knowledge concepts clearly?
• The ‘show’ learning objective focusses on the physical domain and procedural knowledge. Within this objective young people will develop fundamental movement skills and activity specific skills. What would you like the students to be able to show by the end of the lesson? What key skills will they practice, learn, perform and apply?
• The final learning objective, ‘grow’, focusses on the affective domain and conditional knowledge with a link to an overarching concept to develop young people holistically. What additional meaningful learning can be delivered through this PE lesson? What other opportunities are there to develop pupils motivation, confidence and social skills in PE?

Physical Education Concept Curriculum Quick Lesson Plan Template

This template utilises the LEAD framework and Know, Show, Grow objectives in an easy to plan, collaborate and share format.

This workload conscious resource is ideal for using during team meetings to encourage collaborative planning and consistency across the PE team.  

For those looking to implement the PE Concept Curriculum, this can be a useful tool when ensuring conceptual physical education lessons are planned and delivered effectively.

Get in touch

We would love to hear how you are using this resource, please contact us with examples of you using this template in PE practice. Please contact us by clicking here.