Safe gymnastics 4all

The evolution of contemporary education with its current trends, which include the use of digital technologies, is gradually affecting all areas and levels of education. Due to the nature of physical education, where practical learning is key, the potential of innovative approaches to support contact learning has not been fully exploited in this area.

In cooperation of the Faculty of Sports Studies of Masaryk University, Fakulteta za šport of the University of Ljubljana and Kineziologiški Fakultet of the University of Zagreb, new multimedia materials were created to support the teaching of artistic gymnastics within the international Erasmus+ project "Innovation of the subject of artistic gymnastics at universities with a sports focus".

The educational materials are available to the general public in OPEN ACCESS mode in Czech, Slovenian, Croatian and English. The materials contain textual and audiovisual support for selected 81 basic gymnastic elements from all disciplines.

The elements of each discipline are sorted according to difficulty, so it is recommended to practice them in this order. Each element is briefly introduced in the form of a commented video, where you can watch the execution of the movement from different perspectives. In addition to the usual videos useful for observational learning, videos from the perspective of the practitioner are included for the purpose of ideomotor training. Understanding the biomechanical principles of the elements is particularly important for teachers and coaches but can also help practitioners who prefer a rational approach to training the elements. For this purpose, audiovisual sequences with animations analysing the biomechanical basis of all 81 selected exercises were created.

Next, the physical prerequisites needed to master each element are presented. The video sequences show exercises that allow the student to prepare for practicing a particular skill in advance. Most of these exercises can be done outside the gym, i.e., at home or outdoors, as indicated by the ⌂ symbol. The next chapter is devoted to the learning methodology of a given element. The individual steps and drills through which we can master the element as a whole are presented. An indispensable part of motor learning in gymnastics is the spotting, which is clearly shown in the videos with text. The most common errors in the execution of each element are also listed, which can help teachers and coaches to diagnose errors in their students.

These created audiovisual materials will allow students to prepare theoretically and physically for the gymnastics lesson in advance, which should then help speed up the motor learning process in the gym. To verify theoretical preparedness, there are worksheets that teachers can use when working with students. There are also tests to examine selected theoretical knowledge that students should acquire by studying these materials.

Setting gymnastics in a broader context gives us a comprehensive view of the discipline. For this reason, in addition to support for the training of specific gymnastic elements, there are also short theoretical chapters included: Characteristics of Sport Gymnastics, History of Sport Gymnastics and General Didactic Principles.

All comments and texts can also be downloaded for printing.

We believe that we created materials that will support the face-to-face learning of gymnastics, but also help students prepare for practical lessons both theoretically and physically at home. In this way, we can improve the quality of distance learning if its implementation is necessary.

We hope that you will enjoy working with these materials and that you will achieve great results in your gymnastics lessons.

If you have any comments, questions, or ideas for extending the materials, please do not hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to receive your feedback. Contact: kalichova@fsps.muni.cz or contact the co-author according to the language version you are using (see authors of the publication).