A game-based approach to teaching net and wall games in physical education teacher education

Game-based approaches (GBAs) are learner-centered pedagogies for teaching games in physical education (PE) that emphasize developing thinking players through game modification and reflective questioning. GBAs are reported to promote learning across motor, cognitive, and affective domains and closely align with educational aims of many contemporary PE curricula. While GBAs are well-established in some PE contexts, traditional directive and commanding approaches still prevail in others. Physical education teacher education (PETE) is a key site for promoting GBAs as a pedagogical alternative. However, best-practice examples showing how to implement and teach GBAs within PETE remain scarce. This article addresses this issue by presenting the case of one PETE course in Austria in which net and wall (N/W) games were taught both through and about a GBAs. We detail a pedagogical framework of GBAs, the setting, learning objectives, session plans specified through Teaching Styles, and discuss lessons learned. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive illustration of how, in a cultural context where traditional skill-based approaches remain dominant, a GBA can serve both as method and as content within PETE, offering background and actionable guidance for course design and instruction.