Trials for Securing Learning Outcomes in Judo Courses in a Physical Education Teacher Training Curriculum during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In the Physical Education (P.E.) teacher training curriculum, it is necessary to teach students who want to become P.E. teachers the basic skills for safely teaching junior high school students techniques in judo. However, there is a relatively high risk of infection in lessons of judo courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we examined the trials for securing learning outcomes in judo courses such as practice of adopting the buddy system as a prevention measure against COVID-19. In the university where the first author of this report works as a teaching assistant in judo courses, hybrid classes were held from May 17th and online classes were held from May 31st as prevention measures against COVID-19 in the spring semester of 2021. However, in the case of judo courses, in-person education was permitted as an exception, since it was difficult to gain learning outcomes without in-person education. In the classes, an attempt was made to cover the course teaching content as soon as possible at the beginning of the semester. However, due to concerns about the lack of depth of learning of judo techniques, another idea was used aimed at maximizing the learning outcomes, namely adopting a buddy system with fixed pairs during learning activities that involve pair learning and physical contact. We also told students to reduce the amount of contact with other persons with a risk of infection in order to reduce the risk of transmission to their buddies, by recording the number of such contacts in their daily life. As a result, adopting the buddy system enabled students to develop awareness of their responsibility to avoid exposing their buddy to the risk of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.