Taking Teaching Practice as the Core: Experience and Enlightenment of American Physical Education Undergraduate Curriculum

Practice-based teacher education, as one of the important frameworks for physical education undergraduate curriculum in the USA, has produced effective outcomes. By reviewing the literature on practice-based teacher education , the theoretical connotation and the consciousness of thinking are analyzed. On the basis of the results and experiences since the introduciton of the theory into physical education, the detailed measures were summed up with the application of the theory into the curriculum reform in the USA, with the goal of providing theoretical foundations to support the reform and development of physical education undergraduate programs and teaching ability among pre-service physical education teachers in China. It is concluded that the physical education curriculum in China shall integrate theory into practices. Considering the goal of developing pre-service teachers' teaching skills as the core as well as their technical ability promotion in China, we should follow the principles of the curriculum reform as follows: "practice-based curriculum" as the foundtion, "core teaching skills" as the focus, "coherent and authentic teaching practices" as the guarantee, and "advanced and effective teaching strategies" as the tools. As a result, we can establish a strong academic discipline and program with a deep social impact by producing competitive and high-quality physical education teachers.