Designing Sustainable Digital Physical Education: A GBL–TPACK Framework Integrating FMS and Caillois’s Play Theory

This study aims to develop an instructional design framework for Game-Based Learning (GBL) to support the effective acquisition of Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) in elementary physical education and to examine its practical feasibility. To this end, we grounded the framework in Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), which emphasizes the integrative professional knowledge of teachers across technology, content, and pedagogy, and in Caillois’s play theory (Agon, Alea, Mimicry, Ilinx). Using semi-structured interviews with domain experts and analyses of authentic classroom cases, we qualitatively evaluated the validity and educational effectiveness of the pro-posed GBL–TPACK–play-theory framework. The principal findings are as follows. First, the GBL–TPACK framework organically integrated teachers’ technological knowledge (TK), content knowledge (CK), and pedagogical knowledge (PK), thereby enhancing clarity and coherence in lesson design. Second, Caillois’s play theory exhibited strong alignment with locomotor, stability (non-locomotor), and object-control (manipulative) skills within FMS and functioned as a robust theoretical warrant for pedagogical design and enactment. Third, participating teachers reported that instruction based on this framework positively influenced students’ situational interest, active engagement, so-cial interaction, and self-regulation. The study contributes practical and theoretical im-plications by structuring FMS-centered elementary PE through a GBL approach and by informing teacher professional development, curriculum refinement, and training program design.