This active session introduces physical educators to the Common Ground Collaborative (CGC) approach and its intentional application in physical education settings. Rather than treating inquiry and concept-based teaching as separate pedagogies, this session demonstrates how they work best together to deepen student understanding, engagement, and transfer of learning. Participants will experience an active lesson from a student perspective and then step back to unpack the instructional design choices that made the learning meaningful. Through movement-based tasks, guided questioning, and collaborative problem-solving, teachers will see how big ideas and key concepts can anchor lessons while inquiry drives student thinking, decision-making, and reflection. The session emphasizes practical application. Teachers will explore how to frame powerful questions, design learning experiences that surface student thinking, and use movement contexts to help students make sense of concepts that extend beyond a single activity or sport. Attention will also be given to assessment strategies that align with concept-based and inquiry-driven instruction. By the end of the session, participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the Common Ground Collaborative approach, concrete examples of its implementation in physical education, and immediately usable strategies for designing lessons that prioritize learning.

Attendees will be able to describe the foundational tenets of the Common Ground Collaborative (CGC) approach and explain how inquiry and concept-based pedagogies are intentionally integrated within physical education.

Attendees will be able to articulate how the pedagogical strategies experienced during the session can be transferred and adapted to a different unit or movement context they currently teach.