Understanding learners’ sense making of movement learning in physical education

ABSTRACT

There is a substantial body of physical education scholarship focusing on movement learning. The question of how pupils themselves make sense of movement learning has however, largely escaped attention. Answers to such a question would seem to be highly germane if educators are to engage in pupil-centered pedagogies. In light of this absence, the aim of this investigation was to describe how movement learners made sense of their own movement development. Drawing on theoretical tenets of Gilbert Ryle (2009. The concept of mind. New York, NY: Routledge) and Michael Polanyi (1969. Knowing and being. Essays by Michael Polanyi. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press), three cases from an investigation in which movement learning was occurring are presented. The investigation was conducted during a physical education project week with pupils from an upper secondary school. Data were produced using observations, informal interviews, semi-structured interviews, and research diaries as a group of pupils learned to juggle. The results suggest that: the aspects of moving to which learners attend change as they learn; learners have a relatively limited capacity to verbally articulate what they learn, and; learners’ expectations of ideal ways of moving have considerable impact on how they come to make sense of their own ways of moving. The practical implications of these points are discussed in the final section of the paper.

KEYWORDS:

• Movement learning
• awareness
• sense making
• knowledge
• Polanyi
• Ryle

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mats Rönnqvist is a teacher in Physical Education and Health at the Centre for Language Development and The Technical High School of Lindholmen, in Gothenburg, Sweden. His academic work within the field of physical education revolves around learning in a school environment, adapting new perspectives on teachers’ roles in the classroom and the embodiment of movement knowledge through practice and exploration.

Håkan Larsson is professor of Sport Sciences, specialisation Education, at The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm. His research concerns two areas, sport, gender and sexualities, and teaching and learning in school physical education. Currently he is also scientific leader of two doctoral programs, one for physical education teachers and one for adjunct physical education teacher educators.

Gunn Nyberg is associate professor of Sport and Health Sciences, specialisation sport pedagogy, at University of Dalarna, Falun, Sweden. Her research concerns knowledge, teaching and learning in school physical education. Currently she is also director of post graduate studies in Educational Work.

D. Barker is associate professor at the School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden. His research focuses on aspects of learning in physical education and the articulations of theory and practice.

ORCID

D. Barker http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4162-9844

Notes

1. This could make it difficult to articulate how something has been done, a point that Stride, Flintoff, Fitzgerald, Drury, and Brazier (2009) has addressed in his distinction between knowing that (for example, knowing in principle how a movement is done) and knowing how (i.e. actually performing the movement).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Vetenskapsrådet [grant number 2017-03471].