Exercising space: re-examining young people’s use of digitised health and physical education (HPE) technologies through a spatial lens

ABSTRACT

The potential for technologies to transform health and physical education (HPE) has received increasing international attention in both policy and academic contexts. However, what is absent from much of this work is a lack of appreciation of the spatial dimension that recognises the relationship between how young people use digitised HPE technologies and where they use them. Applying Henri Lefebvre’s spatial theory, in this narrative review we examine how space is currently treated in existing research on digital HPE technologies with attention to how spaces are perceived, conceived, and lived by young people. Our work demonstrates how the spatial analysis of existing research sheds light on the materiality and power relations inherent in young people’s use of digitised HPE technologies. Our review highlights the significance of recognising spatial dynamics in research on ‘borders and boundaries’ and the transformative potential of digital technologies for learning and education.

KEYWORDS:

• Space
• digitised health and physical education (HPE) technologies
• Lefebvre
• learning environments

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for the comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by UNA Europa funding (An interdisciplinary, international and collaborative research approach to developing critical digital health pedagogies for teachers of physical education – SF2019002).