APE Curriculum Design & Program Planning 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In APE curriculum planning, what does 'scope and sequence' refer to?
- The range of adaptive equipment available and the order in which it is introduced
- The breadth of content areas covered and the developmental order in which they are taught (Correct answer)
- The scope of legal responsibilities and the sequence of IEP review meetings
- The number of students served and the order in which they receive services
Correct answer: The breadth of content areas covered and the developmental order in which they are taught
Scope refers to the breadth and depth of content areas included in the curriculum, while sequence refers to the logical, developmental order in which content is taught across grade levels.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of a task analysis in APE curriculum planning?
- To document the time spent on each physical education activity
- To break a complex skill into smaller, teachable steps for systematic instruction (Correct answer)
- To evaluate whether a task meets state physical education standards
- To assign difficulty levels to activities for grading purposes
Correct answer: To break a complex skill into smaller, teachable steps for systematic instruction
Task analysis decomposes a complex motor skill into sequential, discrete steps, allowing APE teachers to identify exactly where a student is struggling and provide targeted instruction.
Question 3: When selecting activities for an APE curriculum, which factor is MOST important for students with disabilities?
- The activity's popularity among non-disabled peers
- The cost and availability of adaptive equipment required
- The activity's chronological age-appropriateness and functional relevance (Correct answer)
- The ease with which the activity can be graded objectively
Correct answer: The activity's chronological age-appropriateness and functional relevance
Activities should be chronologically age-appropriate and functionally relevant to the student's current and future environments to maximize meaningful participation and skill generalization.
Question 4: Which curriculum approach emphasizes including students with disabilities in the general physical education class as the primary placement?
- Self-contained APE curriculum
- Reverse integration model
- Least restrictive environment (LRE) inclusion model (Correct answer)
- Community-based instruction model
Correct answer: Least restrictive environment (LRE) inclusion model
IDEA's least restrictive environment mandate requires that students with disabilities be educated alongside non-disabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate, making the LRE inclusion model the primary placement goal.
Question 5: What is the role of short-term objectives (benchmarks) in an APE IEP?
- They replace annual goals for students with severe disabilities
- They break annual goals into measurable intermediate steps to track progress (Correct answer)
- They document the specific adaptive equipment needed each semester
- They are required only when a student fails to meet the previous year's goals
Correct answer: They break annual goals into measurable intermediate steps to track progress
Short-term objectives or benchmarks are intermediate, measurable milestones that show the sequential steps a student will take toward achieving the annual IEP goal.
Question 6: Which of the following is an example of a well-written, measurable APE annual goal?
- Student will improve overall physical fitness
- Student will enjoy participating in physical education activities
- Student will demonstrate improved socialization skills during PE
- Student will throw a ball overhand with correct 3-step form at 80% accuracy across 3 consecutive trials (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Student will throw a ball overhand with correct 3-step form at 80% accuracy across 3 consecutive trials
A measurable IEP goal must include the skill, the condition, the criteria for mastery, and how mastery will be measured; only the fourth option meets all these requirements.
Question 7: Which principle guides APE curriculum design to ensure students develop skills usable beyond the school setting?
- Normalization principle
- Community-referenced instruction (Correct answer)
- Vertical curriculum alignment
- Standards-based progression
Correct answer: Community-referenced instruction
Community-referenced instruction designs curriculum around the specific physical activities, recreational facilities, and leisure options available in the student's actual community, ensuring real-world applicability.
APE Curriculum Design & Program Planning 2
In APE curriculum planning, what does 'scope and sequence' refer to?