Physical EducationQ&A by dot point

Diet, nutrition and ergogenic aids: the dietary components and their functions, energy balance, diet manipulation for performance (carbohydrate loading and hydration), and the effectiveness and risks of legal and illegal ergogenic aids.

Energy for exercise: ATP as the immediate energy source, the ATP-PC, glycolytic and aerobic systems (fuel, site, yield and by-products), the energy continuum, thresholds, and the factors affecting VO2 max.

Environmental effects on body systems: the physiological responses to altitude, heat and humidity, and cold, the implications for aerobic and anaerobic performance, and acclimatisation strategies.

Fatigue and recovery: the types and causes of fatigue, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) and its fast and slow components, and recovery strategies and their physiological basis.

Injury prevention and rehabilitation: intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors, acute and chronic injuries, immediate treatment (PRICE), and rehabilitation methods including the role of technology.

Periodisation and planning of training: macrocycles, mesocycles and microcycles, tapering and peaking, double periodisation, the structure and purpose of warm-up and cool-down, and overtraining.

Preparation and training methods: health-related and skill-related components of fitness, the principles of training, training methods and the development of aerobic capacity, strength, speed, power and flexibility, with target zones.

Angular motion and projectile motion: angular velocity and acceleration, moment of inertia, angular momentum and its conservation, and the factors affecting projectile flight (speed, angle and height of release) and the parabolic path.

Biomechanical principles: mass, weight, inertia and friction, the lever systems and mechanical advantage, the centre of mass, and the factors affecting stability and balance.

Fluid mechanics: the factors affecting drag, the Bernoulli principle and lift, and the Magnus effect on a spinning ball, applied to performance in air and water.

Linear motion: Newton's three laws applied to sport, the linear quantities (distance, displacement, speed, velocity, acceleration), and the calculation and use of force, momentum and impulse from a force-time graph.

The musculoskeletal system and movement analysis: joint types and movements, the antagonistic muscle action, types of muscle contraction (concentric, eccentric, isometric, isokinetic), muscle fibre types, and planes and axes.

Technology in sport: the use of video and computerised analysis, force plates, motion capture, timing gates, GPS and heart-rate monitors, and the impact of technology on performance, officiating and accessibility.

The analysis and evaluation of performance: observing and analysing a performance, identifying and prioritising strengths and weaknesses, and structuring the task to draw on the areas of study.

Applying theory to performance: using exercise physiology, biomechanics, sport psychology, skill acquisition and sport and society to explain strengths and weaknesses and to justify improvement.

Developing an action plan: designing a justified development plan for the prioritised weakness, selecting appropriate training methods or coaching, applying SMART goals, and evaluating the plan.

The NEA practical performance: performing or coaching in one activity, the assessment against sport-specific criteria under formal conditions, the role of video evidence, and internal assessment with external moderation.

Classification of skills and transfer of learning: the classification continua, using classification to design practice, and the types of transfer (positive, negative, zero, bilateral) and how to maximise positive transfer.

Guidance: the types of guidance (visual, verbal, manual, mechanical), their advantages and disadvantages, and the appropriate use of each depending on the performer, the task and the environment.

Information processing and decision-making: the stages of information processing (input, decision-making, output, feedback), Welford's model, selective attention, and the factors affecting reaction time including Hick's law and the psychological refractory period.

Memory and feedback: the multi-store memory model, strategies to aid retention and retrieval, and the types and use of feedback at different stages of learning.

Skill, ability and learning: the definitions of skill, ability and technique, the characteristics of skilled performance, the stages of learning (cognitive, associative, autonomous), and learning curves and the plateau.

Theories and methods of learning: operant conditioning, cognitive and observational learning theories, and the practice methods (massed, distributed, fixed, varied, whole, part, whole-part-whole, progressive part).

Commercialisation and the media: the golden triangle of sport, media and sponsorship, the positive and negative effects of commercialisation, and the role of the media in shaping sport.

The emergence of modern sport: the characteristics of pre-industrial popular recreation, the development of rational recreation in post-industrial Britain, and the roles of public schools, the church and governing bodies.

Ethics, deviance and violence: sportsmanship and gamesmanship, deviance and the win-at-all-costs culture, drugs in sport, and the causes and control of crowd violence and hooliganism.

Global sport, politics and international events: the Olympic Games and major events as political and commercial spectacles, the political use of sport, globalisation and player migration, and the impact of hosting on a nation.

Social differentiation and equal opportunities: how class, gender, ethnicity, age and disability affect participation and performance, the barriers to participation, and the strategies to promote inclusion and equality.

Aggression and social facilitation: the theories of aggression (instinct, frustration-aggression, social learning), aggression versus assertion, and social facilitation, social inhibition and evaluation apprehension.

Stress, arousal and anxiety: the theories of arousal and performance (drive theory, inverted U, catastrophe theory, the zone of optimal functioning), somatic and cognitive anxiety, and stress management techniques.

Group dynamics and leadership: the stages of group formation, task and social cohesion, the Steiner model of group productivity and faulty processes, and styles and theories of leadership.

Motivation and goal setting: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, achievement motivation, the types of goal (outcome, performance, process) and effective goal setting using SMART principles.

Personality and attitudes: trait, social learning and interactionist theories of personality, the components of attitudes, and how attitudes are formed and changed.