Command Words – Evaluate

Watch this to appreciate ‘evaluate’ questions for Higher PE (and how to choose where to eat out)

How do critics judge the best fine-dining restaurants?

The quality of the cooking and the flavours arriving at your table? The creative choices on the menu? The quality of service? The atmosphere of the restaurant itself? Perhaps the price on the tab at the end of the evening?

Just describing the good bits and bad bits does not cover it. The critics have to draw together their professional knowledge and experience and use it to make a value judgement on the restaurant – they have to actually make an informed decision about its quality.

Well, you have to do the same in Higher PE.

Let’s explore evaluate questions and then you can judge for yourselves.

This is thinkfour.

In essence, an evaluate question is asking you to judge how effective something was. It is a higher order question, and one that some people find tricky.

The best way to approach evaluate questions is to use a simple structure. This will make sure you always hit the right areas. Simply aim to tick off the following in your response: Value, Reinforce, Evidence.

Stating its ‘value’ simply means to start with the judgement. Such as “this was very effective…” or “the impact was small”...and so on.

‘Reinforce’ simply requires you to support your judgement with explanation, for example “..because it reduced the power in my striking leg due to muscle fatigue..”

Stating ‘evidence’ simply backs up with facts and figures what you have already argued. For example, “the performance data shows this clearly as power reduced by 12% in the final rounds”.

Be firm and direct with the language you use when writing an evaluation in performance development.

Try to highlight the benefits and limitations to the approach you chose to develop your performances, but bear in mind, describing the pros and cons is not the same as making an informed value judgement – you must do both. Always write your answer in first person, they are your experiences.

An evaluation requires you to state clearly how you improved or did not improve. It is the end of the process where you look back and reflect. As long as you follow the simple structure of value-reinforce-evidence you will be fine.

Let’s pull it together to look at a really simple example in evaluating how effective an approach was in developing performance in mental factors.

A response might read:

Positive self-talk approaches proved very effective in developing my performance, indicating mental factors were a crucial part of my approach. Self-talk impacted my levels of motivation, particularly when my opponent was in the lead in the early stages of the game. The increased motivation meant I did not give up early on chasing well-placed high, long shots. I became harder to beat in rallies and my success at pulling the score back from behind was strong. In the final game I won half of the points from winning long rallies by drawing out unforced errors from my opponent.

In this example we can see the simple formula of a value judgement being made, the argument backed up and evidence used to support.

So how does all this help you choose the best restaurant to go to?

Do you need to make value judgements, supported by theory and evidence, to choose where to eat next?

Well, this approach is right for evaluation questions in Higher PE, but I would forget it for eating out. Go where you like best and enjoy yourself.

Nobody is going to judge you.

This was thinkfour; thanks for watching.