Physical education programs at the nursery and elementary school levels should stress the development and refinement of fundamental movement patterns and a wide variety of sport skills instead of dealing with specialized skill development through refined performance experiences. The developmental model of physical education is based on the proposition that the development of children's movement abilities occurs in distinct but often overlapping phases (reflexes, rudimentary movement abilities, fundamental movement patterns, and sport-related abilities) in each of the categories of human movement (stability, locomotion, and manipulation). This development is achieved through participation in skill themes that are applied to the various physical education content areas of individualized movement, games and sports, and rhythmics. The movement concepts of effort, space, and relationships are also learned through participation in skill themes. Through performance in each of the skill themes, students develop through the appropriate level of motor skill learning (exploration, discovery, combination, selection, or refined performance). (JD)