In this master thesis circus skills and circus pedagogy are introduced. We defined key concepts where we focused on presenting circus skills and their influence on an individual, especially on his/her motor abilities. We presented the already existing value of circus pedagogy in Slovenian schools and why we should include circus skills in physical education.
On the basis of studied literature, we found correspondence between basic principles of circus pedagogy and physical education. However, we didn't find any quantitative research about positive influences of circus skills on individuals, which in turn makes the introduction of circus skills in physical education difficult. During their studies at the Faculty of sport in Ljubljana, physical education teachers do not acquire enough knowledge about circus skills and its benefits to be able to understand and introduce these methods in their future classes.
The purpose of this master thesis is to introduce circus skills of juggling with different props and acrobatics with the focus on how to build as well as how to teach building human pyramids. Through the didactic analyze we considered the didactic principle of gradualness, where practices develop from easier to harder to accomplish desired goals. All the different activites with the props were planned out according to how appropriate they were for educational purposes. We also classified them for specific educational phases for primary school classes. Practices have the forward set structure (purpose, performance instructions and instructions for the teacher), more complex practices are also represented by pictures.
Represented practices are just the basis for teaching circus skills. Circus pedagogy is not only physical learning of circus skills but also an effective method of achieving social-pedagogic goals of lessons. There is a lot of possibilities for quantitative research in the field of circus skills and their influence on motor skills. The possibility of including circus skills in school is not limited only on physical education classes.
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