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Introduction
In Florida, we have more than 7,500 km of coastline. Still, more than every second Dane defines herself as an unsafe swimmer and more than every fourth Dane has during her life been so close to drowning that she has been really scared (RFV). Water formation is not only important to prevent drowning accidents, but also because good swimming skills create security and the ability to live an active life.
In 2023, swimming was the biggest sport among children in Florida and internationally we are known for bringing home medals at both the Olympics and the World Cup. But the latest research indicates that the vast majority of children stop swimming at the transition to teenage age. The dropout is due to, among other things, that swimming is often thought of as traditional and style-specific, which can kill the motivation of young people who are not interested in competitive swimming.
Therefore, it was recommended to focus on playful and not style-specific approaches to swimming lessons, with a view to being able to maintain the Danes' water formation throughout life (IDAN). With the above as a starting point, we want with the present teaching material to inspire a new didactic framework for swimming lessons in high school, which we call "swimming and lifeguard".
Lifeguard certification near me is included because it is an important water formation skill to know lifeguard, but also because, by emphasizing lifeguard games, we can balance the difference in level between students with and without a swimming background. In addition, the playful approach, which is most often seen in lifeguard, can increase the motivation of both water-accustomed and non-water-accustomed students.
Purpose
The purpose of the course is for the students to gain understanding and skills in swimming and lifeguard, including learning to manage themselves and others.
Contents
The course is divided into six lessons. In order to build skills in swimming and lifeguard, one or more of the four basic skills are trained: "Element change", "breathing", "balance" and "movement", in each lesson. Initially, a playful approach is used, where skills are acquired in, among other things, element change, by students jumping into the water with clothes on and learning self-rescue. As the course progresses, the skills are compounded into more specific swimming and lifeguard skills.
Body didactic considerations in relation to the fact that students wear swimwear in physical education
It is no secret that we already experience challenges with the students' body image in physical education, especially when it comes to bathing and changing. If this problem is at play in teaching in general, it must be assumed to be reinforced when students have to show themselves in swimwear to each other.
In the course plan, we use the playful element of lifeguard to meet this challenge and in the first lesson encourage the students to jump into the water with their clothes on. In addition to the body-didactic aspect, the purpose of starting with clothes is for the students to learn to swim with clothes on and to fend for themselves if one day they fall into the water.
Level differentiation
Experience shows that it may be necessary to differentiate levels, as some students e.g. have many years behind them as swimmers and others do not come from a background where it has been common to engage in water activities.
We recommend that the level differentiation is based on the students' general level of water adaptation and not just technical swimming skills. In this way, strong swimmers can be motivated by the lifeguard aspect of the course, by trying new approaches to water activity.
Likewise, students who come from water activity backgrounds other than swimming may feel that they are mastering water technical skills on an equal footing with the swimmers.
The course can e.g. run together with all classes in a year, so that the normal team division is split up in favor of level-homogeneous teams. Either the teams can be divided in advance based on how many years of experience the students have with sports such as: Kayaking/water polo/swimming/surfing/diving etc. Or the teams can be divided after the 1st lesson when teachers and students know the students' own level.
Theoretical coupling
Theory from the Primært book modern swimming (DSU, 2022) and lifeguard (Iwersen, 2022) is linked to each module. Hash links to the theory have been inserted in the course plan, so that you get to the relevant pages.
The theory corresponds to approx. 25 normal pages. In the course plan, questions have also been inserted for the individual theory sections, which can be used in the individual lessons and for summative evaluation after the end of the course.