To Örebro University

The overall aim of the article is to present a pragmatic approach for studies of meaning-making used in the articles of this issue. The approach, which is developed within the SMEDgroup (Studies of Meaning-making in Educational Discourses), mainly builds on the writings of John Dewey, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Michel Foucault. A common ambition for the researchers in SMED is to enable studies and discussions on questions concerning how meanings are made in people’s actions. Another ambition is to carry out these studies beyond assumptions of dualism, essentialism, causality and determinism. In this perspective learning and socialization are viewed in a communicative perspective. We argue in the article that our approach makes it possible, and important, to study meaning-making in action in different kinds of educational practices.

En presentation av det didaktiska angreppssättet som ligger till grund för temat Didaktiska undersökningar i Utbildning och demokrati nr 3, 2008.

 The use of educational computer games in physical education (PE) has become more popular in recent years and has attracted research interest. The aim of the article is to investigate how physical activities and images of the human body are offered by the game. The results show how the “teacher” constituted in the games is one who instructs and encourages the players to exercise and think about their bodies, but not a “teacher” who can help students to investigate, argue, or discuss images of health and the human body. We argue that the use of a wide range and variety of ways of teaching would make the teaching richer and offer a deeper understanding about the body and health.

In this article we develop and use a comparative approach for studies of the role of the body in meaning making processes in science education (SE). In debates about learning, the discussion often centres on how to explore the relation between body and mind. For example, many studies either focus on changes of bodily behaviour or on changes of people’s conceptions and ideas. In a pragmatic perspective on learning it is not possible to envision an ontological distinction between body and mind. By comparing video recordings of physical education lessons, we have studied the role of the body in meaning making processes in SE. The results show that the body is used and constituted in different ways in the analysed situations and how the participants use artefacts in order to do things in a way that would not otherwise be possible. Furthermore, we argue that the comparative approach developed in the article, together with the results of the study, can be used by teachers in their discussions about teaching in relation to different educational objectives and content.

The overall aim of this paper is to present and discuss a pragmatic approach for studies of meaning-making in different educational practices. The approach – built on a framework developed within the SMED-group (Studies of Meaning-making in Educational Discourses) at the universities of Uppsala and Örebro – is illustrated in a number of empirical studies. The main point of departure in the studies is taken in pragmatic curriculum theory and sociocultural perspectives on learning, and is inspired mainly by John Dewey, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Michel Foucault. A special focus is directed to communication practices and content selection within Physical education, Environmental education and Science education. A common ambition is to offer a language that enables studies and discussions on questions concerning how meanings are made in people’s actions. Another ambition is to make these investigations beyond assumptions of dualisms, essentialism, causality and determinism. In this perspective learning and socialisation is viewed in communicative perspective. Therefore, many of the studies are built on video recorded classroom conversations, but also on analysis of various kinds of written texts. We argue in the paper that this approach makes it possible to study meaning-making – learning and socialisation – in different kinds of educational practices.

Background

The potential use of exergames in Physical Education and Health is surrounded by a growing discussion among practitioners, policy makers and researchers focusing on different expectations about the games. In this discussion there is, however, a need to further include issues about the learning content offered by these games, how the content is expected to be taught and about the potential consequences the use of games may have for learning and socialisation. This study focus on how meanings about health and the human body are offered by the game: What kind of teaching is delegated to the artifact when used in Physical Education and Health?

Focus of inquiry

The aim of this article is to investigate how images of health and the human body and are taught by using exergames.

Analytical framework and Research methods

The empirical study builds on the use of an analytical tool called “Epistemological move analysis”. Studies of teaching and learning have shown how teachers use different kinds of actions (for example instructive, confirming, re-orienting, generative, re-constructive and evaluative moves) in order to try to direct the meaning making in educational settings. In this study, these categories are used, developed and specified in the context of teaching in Physical Education and Health. The empirical material used consists of video recordings from sessions where the games Wii Fit Plus and EA Sports Active were played.

Research findings

The results of the analyses show how the games offer different kinds of epistemological moves: Instructive moves about the fit body and how to play the game, re-orienting moves used in order to help the players to modify their action towards a more relevant and effective way, generative moves used to help the players to think about how to play the game and confirming move about the players’ gaming. In sum, the “teacher” constituted in the game is a teachers who instructs, confirms and encourages the players to move and exercise their bodies. But it is not a teacher who, in contrast to teaching in other contexts, is able to help the learners to make investigations or to participate in argumentation and discussion about for example images of health and the human body. Teaching in these games is constituted as a behavioral modification focused on an idea about a pre-defined and ideal body not expected to be discussed in education.

In society, video- and computer games are often pointed out as risk factors in relation to physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour as well as increasing levels of obesity. At the same time, computers are an important source of knowledge where IT-competence and IT-experience provide pronounced advantages in society. 

In the middle of this paradox a new type of videogames is introduced, where body movement and physical activity constitute the central element. These games, so called exergames or active video games, are games where physical movement is involved in the game through the use of for example balance-boards, step-up boards and dance-pads. Exergames are now more and more put forward in several countries as interesting tools to use in physical education in order to stimulate young people to be physically active.

In a recent review and synthesis of research on video games and health, Papastergiou (2009) strongly argues that videogames can offer ”potential benefits as educational tools for Health Education and Physical Education, and that those games may improve young people’s knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours in relation to health and physical exercise” (Papastergiou, 2009, p 603). However, Vander Schee and Boyles (2010) argue that exergames rather should be seen as a body pedagogy producing certain narrow meanings about health, and that the uncritical implementation of exergames in school is a problematic way to place commercial products in school. Consequently, there are differences in views regarding exergames in educational settings that are worth paying attention to in research about people’s learning about the body, physical activity and health.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how images of the human body are expected to be learned when using exergames.

The use of artifacts – physical objects made by humans – is a central part of human life. In fact, there are many activities that would not be possible to perform without the use of them. In schools, students learn to use paper and pencils, computers, vaulting-horses, footballs and so on. How and why artifacts are supposed to be used in educational settings is however not given beforehand (Cuban 1986). The use of artifacts mediates certain meanings about the view of learning and the goals and choices of content in education (Almqvist 2005, Quennerstedt et al in press).  

In this paper, we will use discourse analytical strategies in order to analyse how meanings about the body are expected to be learned when playing exergames. The discourse analytical strategies involve an interest in how processes of discourse constitute how we experience or relate to ourselves as well as our environment (Laclau & Mouffe 1985). Discourses constitute what is possible to say or do as partial and temporal fixations (Foucault 1980). These fixations are imbued with power, values and ideologies. As Evans and colleagues argue: “/…/ health beliefs, perceptions and definitions of illness are constructed, represented and reproduced through language that is culturally specific, ideologically laden and never value free” (Evans et al 2008 p 46).

Method

To investigate what these games offer we have explored the manuals, the content, the animations of the games as well as the instructions and comments offered during game play. The empirical material consists of exergames most commonly used in schools: Wii fit and Wii sports (sports active). In the discourse analysis we have explored what is taken for granted in the empirical material in relation to other possible ways to argue. In this way we can explore what is included and excluded in the games and what is possible to think and act in relation to statements concerning the body.

Expected Outcomes

The analysis shows how the logic of the game, its animations, instructions and feedback to the player, constitutes the ideal body as a physically active, well-balanced, slim and strong body. The use of the game, the balance board and the hand control, makes it possible to measure and register how the player follows this logic. The analysis also shows how the way the player is supposed to learn about the body is strongly influenced by behaviorism. In the paper we argue that this way of learning about the body is narrow and limited and that it is important to critically discuss the effects of the use of these games in schools.

References

Almqvist, Jonas (2005). Learning and artefacts. On the use of information technology in educational settings. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Cuban, Larry (1986). Teachers and machines. The classroom use of technology since 1920. New York: Teachers College Press. Evans, John, Rich Emma & Davies Bryan (2008). Education, disordered eating and obesity discourse: Fat fabrications. London: Routledge Foucault, Michel (1980). Power/knowledge. Selected interviews & other writings 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books. Laclau, Ernesto & Mouffe, Chantal (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy. Towards a radical democratic politics. London: Verso. Papastergiou, Marina (2009). Exploring the potential of computer and video games for health and physical education: A literature review. Computers & Education, 53(3), 603-622. Quennerstedt, Mikael, Almqvist, Jonas & Öhman, Marie (in press). Keep your eye on the ball. Investigating artifacts in physical education. Interchange. Vander Schee, Carolyn J. & Boyles, Deron (2010): ‘Exergaming,’ corporate interests and the crisis discourse of childhood obesity. Sport, Education and Society, 15(2), 169-185.

The chapter clarifies how a transactional approach, by providing a specific view of the relationship between bodies and environments, can inform movement learning analysis. By emphasising classical pragmatism’s central ideas of experience (radical empiricism) and learning (the process of inquiry) two transactional principles are identified and then discussed in relation to empirical research. Methodological challenges, such as how to deal with the individual and social as simultaneous and mutual, and how to handle learning as practical and embodied, are described through previous empirical research. In doing so, the chapter explains how movement have been explored in term of what stands fast for participants in movement, which gaps they experience when they move, and what it means to create relations between old and new experiences. Using concepts of stand fast, gap, and relation transactional informed empirical research has gained detailed descriptions of, for example, how pupils navigate spatial-temporal conditions through movement, establish and maintain habits, achieve stability in terms of cooperation, use aesthetic judgements to make sense of movement, accept or refrain from intergenerational touch and gain balance and manoeuvrability in dinghy sailing. Transactional models used in research can, furthermore, be used by practitioners in order to observe, understand and discuss ongoing movement learning in their own or others’ practices. For example, help learners to identify certain gaps, privilege specific standing fast moments and recognize when and which relations fulfil certain purposes. 

It is widely argued that continuing professional development (CPD) for physical education (PE) teachers is important, yet questions remain about ‘effective’ CPD. We consider these questions afresh from a Deweyan perspective. An overview of the CPD/PE-CPD literature reveals conflicting positions on teachers as learners. Considering the nature of contemporary PE, and the learning needs of teachers, we argue that a different model of PE-CPD is required to reflect the dynamic nature of contemporary practice. We propose John Dewey's classic concept of ‘education as growth’ to underpin a new conceptual framework for the design, delivery and evaluation of PE-CPD. We argue that ‘effective’ PE-CPD will not be found in formal policies, structures and processes, however, well-intentioned, unless it (i) focuses on the dazzling complexity of the learning process, (ii) prioritises context and contemporary challenges; (iii) bridges research/theory–practice in innovative ways; and (iv) nurtures the career-long growth of PE teachers.

Research display mixed results regarding the impact that teacher education have on teaching practices in schools. While some studies indicate weak influence of teacher education, others display that some content and perspectives in teacher education seem to find their expressions in school practice. Despite the lack of research about the impact of physical education teacher education (PETE), a few existing studies display the same twofold result as for teacher education in general. In this study, we have chosen a certain content, assessment of learning (AFL) in order to investigate the influence that PETE can have for newly qualified teachers (NQT) in physical education (PE). The aim of the project is twofold. Firstly, inspired by Bernstein’s theory of the pedagogic device, the aim is to investigate how AFL is constructed in university courses, re-contextualised in practicum courses, and realised in teaching practice in school PE. Secondly, and inspired by Ball’s theory of performativity, the aim is to analyse fabrications of AFL in the transitions from PETE to PE teaching practice. The design of the project is to follow a total of 10 PETE students recruited from two different PETE universities in Sweden to study how their understanding and teaching practice of AFL is transformed from PETE to PE. Empirical material will be gathered from recordings of seminars, observations for teaching, stimulated-recall-interviews, and participation in social media.

Peer assessment has been proven to improve learning for both the observer and the observed. One dimension of peer assessment that has been given little attention in the context of physical education teacher education (PETE) is the tension that exists when peers give feedback on each other’s work. In this paper, we report on Swedish preservice teachers’ (PST) views on peer assessment used in PETE school placements. Our findings reveal four mechanisms of peer assessment assigned value in PETE: (i) building social relations, (ii)making ‘what to learn’ visible, (iii) giving correct feedback, and(iv) handling sensitive and gendered comments. Inspired by Bourdieu, we discuss learning potentials and complex challenges with peer assessment, where the combination of social capital and physical capital decides what is possible to say and to whom when peer assessment is used in the PETE school placement and in school physical education (PE).

In this paper, we will address the question of how physical education teacher education (PETE) matters and suggest one way to explore the potential impact of PETE. A distinguishing feature of the studies of PETE’s impact on physical education is that they either include perspectives from preservice teachers involved in PETE courses or perspectives from physical education teachers in schools looking back at their education. Longitudinal attempts to follow preservice teachers’ journey from education to workplace, in order to grasp how they perceive the relation between teacher education and teaching practice in schools, and transitionsbetween these contexts, are few and far between. This gap of knowledge is a missing piece of the puzzle to further develop PETE, and to inform courses or life-long professional development for teachers. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodological approach for investigating transitions of content areas from courses in PETE into teaching practice in school physical education. This will be done trough combining the theoretical perspectives of Bernstein and Ball with a longitudinal study design. The theory of Bernstein enables us to say something about howpedagogic discourses are constructed, recontextualised and realised in PETE and in school physical education. The theory of Ball enables us to say something about about whatcontent areas become, in terms of fabrications, in the transition between these contexts. The longitudinal design will provide us with answers to how and what pedagogic discourses regarding content areas are transformed into in and between PETE and school physical education. The suggested methodology involves Stimulated Recall (SR) interviews, observations and communication with groups through social media. SR-interviews provides an immediateness in the reflection on teaching practice and content areas. Using social media groups is an effective strategy for maintaining contact with examined preservice teachers when they leave university.

Background: In this paper, we will address the question of how physical education teacher education (PETE) matters and suggest one way to explore the potential impact of PETE. A distinguishing feature of the studies of PETE's impact on physical education is that they either include perspectives from preservice teachers involved in PETE courses or perspectives from physical education teachers in schools looking back at their education. Longitudinal attempts to follow preservice teachers’ journey from education to workplace, in order to grasp how they perceive the relation between teacher education and teaching practice in schools, and the transition between these contexts, are few and far between. This gap of knowledge is a missing piece of the puzzle to further develop PETE, and to inform life-long professional development for teachers.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we develop and present a methodological approach for investigating the transition of content areas from courses in PETE into teaching practice in school physical education. Second, we will illustrate the potential utility of this methodological approach in longitudinal studies by showing how one particular content area, Assessment for Learning (AfL), was investigated through the use of methods and theories described in the first part of this paper.

Methodology: The suggested longitudinal approach involves Stimulated Recall (SR) interviews with pre- and postservice teachers, observations and communication with groups of students and teachers through social media. The construction, recontextualisation and realisation of pedagogic discourses regarding content areas are suggested to be analysed through a combination of Bernstein's concept of the pedagogic device and Ball's concept of fabrication.

Results and Conclusions: The longitudinal design and the suggested methodology can provide answers to how content areas are transformed in and between PETE and school physical education. A combination of the theoretical perspectives of Bernstein and Ball enables us to say something not only about how pedagogic discourses regarding content areas are constructed, recontextualised and realised in PETE and school physical education, but also about what content areas become in terms of fabrications in the transition between these contexts. To conclude, we argue that the methodological research design can be used to explore different content areas in PETE and that this methodology can contribute to knowledge about how PETE matters for school physical education.

Introduktion: Group work underpins curricular models such as Teaching Games for Understanding, Sport Education  and Cooperative Learning. Within such models, HPE teachers typically assume ‘facilitator’ roles, dividing their time and attention between groups. In doing so, teachers gain only a partial view of their students’ learning. Very simply, they do not see what is happening when they are not immediately present. It is difficult to frame this as a problem – it appears to be part of the reality of teaching. At the same time, the argument made in this paper is that an understanding of student interactions where the teacher is absent has significant potential for informing pedagogic practice.

Syfte & teoretisk ram: The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence learning when two or more learners are co-constructing meaning in the absence of a teacher.

The paper draws on the work of Lev Vygotsky as well as more recent activity theory. Learning is understood as a social enterprise where the relationship between what an individual can do independently and what s/he can do in collaboration with others is crucial. Vygotsky’s notion of a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) provides a specific tool for thinking through this relationship. Key tenets include:

- performance of novel tasks is often achieved in collaboration with other people before it is achieved individually.

- potential for learning is bounded (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 208-209). At a given point in time it is not possible for an individual to learn simply anything. As learning occurs and individual performance increases, so does collaborative learning potential.

- learning takes place within the context of dialectical activity. In this respect, all learning is social.

- although individuals take on ‘novice’ and ‘expert’ positions during learning activity, these positions are flexible.

- for learning to take place, novices and experts should influence the group’s activity. 

Metod: Empirical material was produced with eight different HPE classes in years 6-9 (lower and upper secondary schools) in Sweden. Schools were selected in a way that maximized variation.

Observations consisted of three or four video-recorded lessons with each of the eight classes. Two cameras were used: one stationary and the other mobile. Mobile filming focused on different groups working within the classes. Between two and five students were generally in the frame at any one time and filming was done with the intention of capturing sequences where a group of students worked with a specific problem/task. Here, Emerson’s (2004) notion of key incidents was utilized. Due to the proximity of the camera to students, audio material could be obtained and detailed transcripts of speech exchanges were produced.

Resultat: Data suggest that: (1) teachers often define the outcome of groupwork situations with relative precision but pay less attention to process (i.e. how learners will reach the outcome); (2) many groupwork situations do not result in the creation of ZPD’s and hence do not result in learning in a Vygotskian sense; (3) the creation of ZPD’s in HPE are achieved through corporeal and through linguistic strategies - this makes HPE ZPD’s unique from many educational settings.

Diskussion: The emerging results suggest that HPE teachers should pay more attention to how they define and implement groupwork. They should reflect on how they present groupwork tasks to learners and think about the relationship between group process and learning outcome. Teachers should also consider how ‘expertise gradients’ can be exploited and help learners to occupy novice and expert positions in ways that maximize learning. Finally, the results suggest that facilitation of groupwork should account for learners’ physical and linguistic capacities.  

Group work is used in physical education (PE) to encourage student-directed, collaborative learning. Aligned with this aim, group work is expected to shift some power from teacher to students and enable students to make decisions and co-construct meaning on their own. There are, however, very few investigations focusing on power in group work situations in PE, with most research focusing on learning and content. Assumptions about the nature of power and its mechanisms have been largely implicit. The purpose of this paper was consequently to explore power relations in PE group work. To do this, we have drawn primarily on observational data of three groups working together to choreograph a dance performance in a Swedish PE lesson. A small amount of pre- and post-lesson interview material is used as a complementary data source. Michel Foucault’s notion of power as action-on-action is used to identify different types of power relations in this group work. Four specific kinds of relations are presented concerning: (1) the students’ task; (2) other cultures; (3) gender; and (4) interactions with one another. These relations suggest that power relations are not simply created locally between group members, nor are power relations only a function of the members’ proficiency in the task. In these respects, the results encourage a reconsideration of learning in group work and open up new avenues for further research. The paper is concluded with practical considerations that relate to common assumptions about student power, teacher authority and the potential benefit of ambiguous tasks in group work.

Background: Group work is often used in Physical Education (and Health – HPE). In this paper, we propose that despite: (1) its widespread use; (2) advances surrounding HPE models that utilize group strategies; and (3) a significant amount of literature dealing with group work in other school subjects, we do not have a particularly good theoretical understanding of group learning in HPE.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose one way of conceptualizing individual learning in peer interaction based on three tenets of post-Vygotskian theory that relate to the zone of proximal development (ZPD); namely that in learning situations: (i) group members engage in shared communication; (ii) expert–novice relationships can develop and change during group activities and (iii) constructing knowledge can be thought of as reaching agreement.

Participants and setting: Empirical material was generated with eight different HPE classes in lower and upper secondary schools in Sweden. Schools were selected in a way that maximized variation and were distributed across four geographic locations with varying sizes and types of communities.

Data collection: Observational material was produced at each of the sites with the use of two cameras: one stationary and the other mobile. Stationary filming maintained a wideangled focus and captured the entire class. Mobile filming focused on different groups working within the classes. During mobile filming, between two and five students were generally in the frame and filming was directed at sequences in which a group of students worked together on a specific task.

Data analysis: Analysis of the data focused on two kinds of incidents. The first

comprised a sequence in which two or more students were interacting to complete a

task which they could not immediately do and were engaged in collective

signification by talking about or doing the activity in mutually compatible ways.

These conditions were sufficient in our view to signal the creation of a ZPD. The

second kind of incident fulfilled the first criteria but not the second – i.e. the students

were interacting but not in mutually compatible ways.

Findings: A post-Vygotskian interpretation of three group work sequences draws

attention to: (i) the flexible and fluid nature of ‘expertness’ as it exists within groups;

(ii) the unpredictable nature of member interactions and (iii) the challenging role that

teachers occupy while trying to facilitate group work.

Conclusion: Such an interpretation contributes to a growing understanding of group

work and helps HPE practitioners to make the most of a teaching strategy which is

already used widely in schools.

If group work has not always been a central element of Physical Education (and Health - HPE), then it has certainly become one in recent times (Ward & Lee, 2005). In this paper we propose that despite: (1) the widespread use of group work in HPE; and (2) significant theoretical advances surrounding HPE models that utilize group strategies (Dyson, Griffin, & Hastie, 2004), we do not have a particularly good theoretical understanding of how learning in groups takes place in the practice of HPE. In order to fill what we see as a significant lacuna, the aim of this paper is to propose one way of conceptualizing individual learning in peer interaction based on three tenets of post-Vygotskian theory; namely that in learning situations: (i) group members create collective consciousnesses; (ii) expert-novice relationships develop and change; and (iii) knowledge can be thought of as reaching agreement (Roth & Radford, 2010). These tenets are considered with respect to three empirical instances that are represented with transcript material from observations conducted in Swedish HPE lessons. A post-Vygotskian interpretation encourages us to consider: (i) how student engagement with tasks relates to learning; (ii) how group members become “other-oriented” along with the reasons why they might not orient themselves towards others, and (iii) how “non-experts” guide interactions even as “expertness” shifts between members. Such an interpretation has the potential to contribute to a growing understanding of group work and help HPE practitioners make the most of a teaching strategy which is already used widely in schools.

References

Dyson, B., Griffin, L., & Hastie, P. (2004). Sport Education, Tactical Games, and Cooperative Learning: Theoretical and pedagogical considerations. Quest, 56, 226-240.

Roth, W., & Radford, L. (2010). Re/thinking the zone of proximal development (symmetrically). Mind, Culture and Activity, 17, 299-307.  

Ward, P. & Lee, M. (2005). Peer-Assisted Learning in Physical Education: A Review of Theory and Research. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 24, 205-225.

In line with contemporary constructivist pedagogies, students are frequently expected to learn through interaction in physical education (PE). There is a relatively sophisticated body of literature focusing on learning in groups, peer teaching, and cooperative learning. Current research has not, however, focused on how the body is implicated in interactional learning. This is surprising given that much learning in PE is expected to take place in the physical domain. The aim of this paper is to contribute to current theorizing by examining social interactions in PE practice. By drawing on symbolic interactionist theory, we put forward a framework for considering how inter-student interactions occur in a multimodal sense. Key ideas relate to (1) the sequential organization of interactions; (2) the ways in which semiotic resources in different fields are used to elaborate each other; (3) the importance of interpretation as a driver of interaction; (4) the creation of local environments in which participants attend to and work together within a shared world of perception; and (5) the influence of material environments on social interaction. The specific concepts employed are epistemic ecology, epistemic position, and learning trajectory. The paper includes observational data from an investigation of learning in Swedish PE to demonstrate the explanatory power and limitations of the theoretical tenets presented. The paper is concluded with practical implications of understanding group work in a multimodal manner.

Background: People often expect physical education teachers to look fit and athletic, to do lots of physical activity, and to eat well. While ample research exists on physical education teachers' bodies, relatively few scholars have investigated how physical educators relate corporeal expectations to broader ideas about subject content, pedagogy, and the purposes of the school subject.

Aim: The specific aim of the paper is to identify the assumptions about content, pedagogy, and educational purposes that teachers make when they talk about a perceived need for physical educators to look fit and athletic.

Method: To frame our work theoretically, we draw from a Swedish didaktik of physical education tradition and employ Bakhtin's concept of speech genres, and Wertsch's concept of privileging. Our empirical material consists of transcripts generated from 6 focus group and 6 individual interviews (24 teachers in total, average age of 40 years, average teaching experience 11 years).

Findings: Data suggest that when teachers use an 'athletic-looking teacher as healthy role model' speech genre, they tend to privilege: (1) a particular version of health as subject content that involves not being too overweight and maintaining physical functionality in sports. This content is based on biomedical conceptions of health which foreground exercise, eating and weight, and a pathogenic reduction of risk; (2) particular pedagogies in PE that put the teacher at the centre of the pedagogical situation, and; (3) a certain educational purpose in PE, which is to educate citizens for healthy lives through participation in sport. With respect to this purpose, increasing body weight enters the genre as a potential obstacle for educational success.

Discussion: The findings raise questions concerning appropriate curricular content and its relation to teacher identities. They suggest that learning possibilities may be missed when certain content, pedagogies, and outcomes are privileged. The findings also indicate how wider voices are implicated in the speech genre.

Conclusion: The paper is concluded with reflections on the possibility for change regarding expectations of physical education teachers' bodies and pedagogies.

Aim: To provide insight into how physical education teachers use discursive resources related to obesity to create particular professional identities.

Method: Data come from focus group and individual interviews with physical education teachers in Sweden. Discourse theory on teacher identities frame the analysis of the empirical material.

Results: Data suggest that teachers in Sweden make use of six distinct but related discursive contributions to produce three professional identities: the caring practitioner, an identity concerned with ensuring all pupils irrespective of size participate in physical education; the activity luminary, an identity that focuses on inspiring pupils toward activity across the lifespan, and; the body rationalist, an identity concerned with challenging unrealistic media discourses and reassuring pupils that they have “normal” bodies.

Discussion: The identities appear more inclusive, sensitive, and critical than current physical education literature on obesity suggests, however they also contain elements that are fundamentally unsympathetic to overweight individuals.

Despite an extensive debate and an openness of teachers to a strength-based approach to health and physical education, it is not always clear what a salutogenic strengths-based approach might look like in practice, at least not in the day-to-day work in schools. The purpose of this article is to present a salutogenic strengths-based school initiative in Sweden and to identify health discourses in the school's practice. An insider perspective is used to explore health in the school through Brookfield's four lenses for exploring one's own teaching practice. Two health discourses are identified: (1) an individual health discourse rooted in the fostering of personal development, and (2) a value-based health discourse build up around social relations and the fostering of democratic values. The individual health discourse can be understood as based in a pathogenic norm, and in the investigated school practice the individual health discourse dominated the school health initiative despite the salutogenic intentions.

This article explores learning during game-play of a snowboarding video game intrigued by questions raised in the wake of the increasing mediatisation and digitisation of learning. Correspondingly, we answer to calls for more suitable metaphors for learning to cater for the entangled learning processes that changes related to the increase of digital media may infer. Using a short term sensory ethnography approach, we elaborate on the idea of multisensory emplaced learning and propose an organic metaphor – mycorrhiza – to both methodology and learning. Mycorrhiza refers to a symbiotic relationship between fungi and roots of plants in its environment where fungi are the visible effects of the mycorrhiza. The metaphor provides a way to start to unpack sensory, visual and embodied aspects of learning in the complexities of the digital age. By elaborating on the mycorrhizaic concepts fungus, soil, growth, mycelia and symbiosis we show three interrelated ways of moving through this game: (i) a social and cultural route, (ii) a competitive route, and (iii) an experiential route. With help of the metaphor we discern the symbiotic relations between what appeared in our empirical material as visual and other human and non-human aspects of emplacement.

Background/purpose: While some argue that Models-Based Practice (MBP) has a number of laudable and desirable ambitions and outcomes (Kirk, 2013), others contend that those advocating for MBP must be mindful of wider debates in the field about the overall purpose of physical education and Sport Pedagogy (PESP) (Dillon et al. 2016). The purpose of this presentation is to begin to articulate the types of questions PESP might consider now and in the future as regards the M and P in MBP.

The main points: The overarching intention of MBP is the achievement of specific, relevant, and challenging learning objectives that apportion more time for learners to be engaged with learning, and which ultimately strives toward par- ticular outcomes relative to each model. Interestingly, however, the preferred perspective researchers have pursued in MBP-related research is that of the teacher and to a lesser degree the coach (Casey, 2014). Whilst there are those who have focused on the learner (Hastie,1998), the aim of this presentation is to present a num- ber of questions about MBP; questions about the what, how, why, who, when and where of teaching, learning and context.

Addressing the themes: We address the sub-themes by considering the ways in which our understanding of MPB might be better fo- cused to pedagogically engage learners in transformative learning and teaching. Further, by asking questions of practice we are better able explore innovative perspectives on PESP.

Conclusions/implications: This paper concludes by problematizing the M and the P in MBP and the notion that practice, when related to models, become singular. We argue, given the diversity that exists in schools, states and countries as well as the diversity between young people, that the idea of a practice should be expanded into practices and, in doing so, acknowledge the multifarious ways in which learning might become manifest.

Background: Advocacy through the work of many scholars in physical education and sport pedagogy highlights a significant direction towards which physical education is moving in light of calls for change. Importantly, and despite the 'newness' of the terms, 'pedagogical models' and 'Models-based Practice' (MbP) are beginning to shape the vocabulary of physical education and sport pedagogy.

Purpose: To ask what happens if we take some of the 'good stuff associated with models and apply it in a different way while also taking some of the critical points raised towards models into consideration. Put simply, we (as scholars with different views on MbP) want to step off the beaten track to take a road less travelled and engage in a respectful, agonistic debate about the 'M' and the 'P' in MbP.

Key arguments: From a practical perspective, the diversity of the language used in describing models and practices in physical education indicates both a growing excellence and tradition in the field and a degree of confusion. A number of phrases are currently used to identify the same concept with individuals unaware of alternative language use. At the heart of this paper lies the manner in which one interprets the use of the terms 'model', 'practice' and 'practise'.

Discussion: Given the 'hope' inherent in pedagogical model development and implementation, we acknowledge that many of the negative or unintended consequences often arise as a result of the 'happening' both in research and in practice. However, by thinking in terms of what it is in students' actions that teachers and researchers should pay attention to in order for them to see what students learn, and in what direction this learning is developing, we are better able to see the outcomes of using MbP. In this way, the hope embedded in the chosen model, and the happenings teachers or researchers aspire to see, could be better aligned. Modelling and practicing through the focus on adaption and negotiation in various complex contexts has the potential to expand the field more than blueprints that potentially narrow the field.

Conclusions: By recognising the dangers inherent in an essentialist notion of models (i.e. by nouning or proper nouning them), and by remembering the roles set aside for teachers in the development of pedagogical models, it is important that the practising of MbP always retains a very real sense of becoming. By continuing to problematize the M and the P, and by engaging in respectful and agonistic debate, we are better able to unite the hope and the happening of MbP.

Cooperative learning can be considered as an umbrella term for a number of classroom practices. In this paper we consider the educative nature of cooperative learning in physical education, and we have challenged ourselves to examine how cooperative learning can enhance the education of young people. We do this by revisiting cooperative learning’s Deweyan foundations and hold that such a move would be a constructive way forward for cooperative learning in physical education. We argue that there is a risk, in not going back to its educational roots, that cooperative learning might just become another way to teach, for example, games or sports, and that it currently puts too much emphasis on destination rather than journey. We suggest that using Dewey’s idea of education and experience would add: a situational element, a directional element, a temporal element, a communal element and an educative element. In this way, the use of cooperative learning in physical education can move away from exclusively developing students’ skills, towards an open-ended process of becoming where a diversity of students transform and are being transformed by one another.

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to investigate how boys communicate previous experiences of cultural norms in physical education (PE) practice. This was done by analyzing what boys (from a school in the United Kingdom) remember about PE 2 years after they last participated. Making use of autobiographical memory theory and John Dewey’s notions of reactualization of experience and collateral learning, we discuss the results of the study in terms of re-membering. '

Method: The participants in this study were 20 boys from a secondary school in the United Kingdom. At the time of the study, 11 of the boys were aged 16 to 17 years old and 9 were aged 17 to 18 years old. These boys were interviewed using a semistructured approach to explore their autobiographical memories of PE.

Results: The overarching “logic” of memories of PE was sport. Almost all of the boys’ articulated memories were of doing sports, albeit in various capacities. Beyond the main theme, the article positions the boys’ recollections against established cultural norms of PE as a social practice and explores three subthemes: (a) just doing the game in a traditional curriculum though a multiactivity sport discourse; (b) learning the games in a technical sport discourse; and (c) learning beyond the game around an educational sport discourse.

Conclusions: These boys reactualized memories of learning within an educational discourse, which suggests that what they learned goes beyond the simple consequence of participating.

Pedagogical models are increasingly part of the vocabulary and practice in physical education. They emerged from decades of innovation that seeks to end the dominance of direct instruction and multi-model curricula. They continue to evolve and that serves as a catalyst for our argument that Cooperative Learning lost a keystone of its development when it was brought into physical education.

Digging into the genesis of Cooperative Learning shows that it owes much of its early intellectual development to the work of John Dewey and Kurt Lewin (Schmuck, 1985). Indeed Cooperative Learning was ‘born’ out of both the epistemology of pragmatic philosophy (Dewey) and the positivist epistemology of developmental psychology (Lewin). However, over time, the legacy of Dewey’s work around cooperation has been marginalised, at best, in the body of work around Cooperative Learning in general education and is conspicuous by its near total absence in the physical education literature. Revisiting the 27 papers used by Casey and Goodyear (2015) in their review of literature shows that Dewey’s name does not appear in a single reference list. This paper seeks to redress the balance and argues that in applying a Deweyan lens of experience to Cooperative Learning we return to Lewin and Dewey shared interest and “pioneering spirit…to improve social interaction and cooperation in schools” (Schmuck, 1985, p. 2).

One of Dewey’s main contributions is his notion of education as growth. For Dewey education is the “reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience” (1916: 76), and in these constructions the person experiencing, the experiencer, as well as what is experienced has a potential for change (Dewey & Bentley, 1949). Such change, however, is not fixed or completed. Instead it is a process of becoming which then promotes further experiences (Dewey, 1938a). Education then does not have an end beyond itself. It is about the conditions of education, and experiences are educative if they promote growth of still even more, richer experiences.

Cooperative learning as a pedagogical model should then be about “…the enterprise of supplying the conditions which insure growth” (Dewey, 1916: 61). This is not in terms of cooperating as a passive adaption into a set of predetermined contexts like for example competitive sports, but cooperating to ensure improved quality of future experiences. It should provide experiences that: “arouses curiosity, strengthens initiative, and sets up desires and purposes that are sufficiently intense to carry a person over the dead places” (Dewey, 1938b: 38).

Using Dewey we can also take critique directed towards cooperative learning seriously, for example, the inability to take power relations of the educational situation into account e.g. sexism, racism or homophobia. Here we turn to Shannon Sullivan’s (2001) use of Dewey’s notion of transaction to address this relative blindness and move beyond dualist notions of experience. Sullivan contends that:

Many times, the reconstruction of organism and environment through their ongoing transactional activity serves only to deepen the grooves of the transactions that came before. Because organism and environment are continually being remade through their transactional relationship, however, significant change is possible. (Sullivan, 2001, 36)

This, according to Sullivan, involves acknowledging continuity as well as difference in experience and in doing so cooperative learning has to be modelled to handle all students experiences since it is in the transaction between the students and the environment the model becomes the model it is.

In conclusion, by taking back Dewey’s ideas around experience and education into cooperative learning in physical education we could focus more on both the process of cooperating and the process of learning taking into account the diversity of students experiences in the complex transaction between content, teaching and learning.

Background: People aged 60 years and over has doubled since 1980 and WHO predicts that this population will reach 2 billion by the year 2050. However, increases in life spans do not directly lead to increases in health. An aging population poses both challenges and opportunities for society and for individuals. In order to address this, scholars argue for the benefits of being physically active, especially in a group of peers. However, the relation between physical activity and health is often based on an understanding of what causes or prevents illness rather than what promotes health. The purpose of this study is thus to contribute to knowledge about which health resources older adults develop in their participation in organised physical activity initiatives. The study will consider to what extent older adults develop health resources, differences in demographic background and the relation between the health resources and Sense of coherence (SOC).

Methods: This is the first data collection in a longitudinal study. Participants were old adult men and women, 60 years and above. All participants were active in ongoing organised physical activity initiatives in different organisations on a voluntary basis. A survey included demographics, overall health, health resources (McCuaig & Quennerstedt, 2018) and SOC-13. The data collection is ongoing (preliminary n = 200) and ends spring 2020. Statistical analyses were descriptive and included bivariate analyses.

Results: Preliminary results show that the most frequent health resources are social relations, positive energy and embodied identity for both men and women. A positive related correlation of the health resource habit of exercising were observed with a high sense of coherence.

Conclusion: The Salutogenic idea of having access to various health resources linked to a high sense of coherence is in line with the result of a positively related correlation direction and also with the health resource habit of exercising. The results of the study can contribute to knowledge about which health resources older adults develop in their participation in organised physical activity initiatives.

Objectives: Examine health resources that physically active older adults consider meaningful when participating in physical activity initiatives. Health resources are protective factors, including attitudes, knowledge, material factors or social support, that potentially enable people to understand and make sense of their lives or to cope with life stressors.

Design and main outcome measures: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with two questionnaires used to serve as a compiled ‘ageing well’ survey: the Salutogenic Physical Activity Health Resources Questionnaire (SPAHRQ) and the short form of the Sense of Coherence questionnaire, SOC-13.

Results: The study included 372 participants ranging from 60 to 96 years of age (mean age: 74.4 ± 7 years; 60% women). Social relations, positive energy, the habit of exercising and embodied satisfaction were considered important by more than 70% of the participants. Social relations were the most meaningful health resource for both men and women (89%). Women rated positive energy as a significantly more important consequence of their participation in physical activity than men (W 88%, M 72%; p = .001). The three health resources that were considered less important were capability in and about physical activity, self-worth and identity as an exercising person. Those who were more physically active considered social relations, self-worth and the habit of exercising to a higher extent. Participants with higher sense of coherence consider the habit of exercising to a greater extent to be important.

Conclusions: Findings that social relations, positive energy, the habit of exercising and embodied satisfaction were considered important by more than 70% of the participants, can contribute to a wider understanding of health resources that older adults consider meaningful in their participation in organised physical activity initiatives.

Most studies on issues relating to ageing, physical activity and health are based on an understanding of what causes illness, rather than what promotes health. The health benefits of physical activity relate to questions about how to avoid physical inactivity and overcoming barriers to participating in physical activity, rather than why older people continue to be physically active. The aim of this study was to explore health resources in relation to physical activity, especially resistance training, that physically active women between the ages of 69–75 years characterise as important for the maintenance of health. In order to investigate these health resources, the study drew on salutogenic theory and the concept of sense of coherence. The analysed data came from interviews with 14 physically active Swedish women aged 69–75 years who had previously taken part in a resistance training intervention, but who also had continued to engage in physical activity and resistance training when the intervention ended. We identified seven health resources, social relations and care, positive energy, self-worth, capability in and about physical activity, the habit of exercising, identity as an exercising person and womanhood related to physical activity, in this case resistance training, that physically active women aged between 69 and 75 years characterised as important for maintaining their health. In conclusion, physical activity carried out in a stable group of peers provided a meaningful, comprehensible and manageable way for these older women to engage in the on-going process of maintaining health.

Idrottsrörelsen har tilldelats ekonomiska resurser av regeringen för att arbetamed utvecklingsarbete hos målgruppen äldre. Regeringens önskemål de närmaste åren är att skapa bättre förutsättningar för äldre att idrotta i organiseradform och på så sätt bland annat bryta oönskad ensamhet hos målgruppen samtöka den fysiska aktiviteten. I den studie som ligger till grund för denna rapportundersökte vi äldres upplevelser och erfarenheter av föreningsdeltagande inomidrott. I fokus var de värden som fysisk aktivitet och idrott i organiserad formpotentiellt kan ge beträffande välmående, hälsa, meningsfullhet och minskadupplevelse av ensamhet.

Vi använde ett hälsofrämjande perspektiv på föreningsidrotten som arena, vilketinnebär att vi ställde frågor om på vilka sätt föreningsidrott för äldre kan varahälsofrämjande. Studien genomfördes som en tvärsnittsstudie, närmare bestämtsom en enkätundersökning där data av både kvantitativ och kvalitativ art samlades in. Datainsamlingen resulterade i svar från 4 837 personer över 60 år, varavungefär två tredjedelar bestod av män och en tredjedel kvinnor. Den högstaandelen respondenter återfinns i åldern 65–70 år, men det finns ett flertal somär över 90 år. Mer än hälften av respondenterna har högskoleutbildning och bori en stad. Den övervägande majoriteten är födda i Sverige. Över 80 procent avrespondenterna anger en veckomängd av fysisk aktivitet över de rekommendationer som i dag finns för äldre.

Av rapporten framgår att majoriteten av de äldre känner att deltagande i föreningsidrott ger dem energi, är en god vana, bidrar till deras sociala liv samt göratt de känner sig nöjdare med sin kropp. Det förekommer skillnader mellan mänoch kvinnor samt avseende ålder. Ett exempel är att kvinnor anger fler saker sommeningsfulla med deltagande i idrott och att sociala aspekter blir viktigare medstigande ålder. Det är en stor variation i vad de äldre ser fram emot i sin föreningsidrott. Det handlar om sociala aspekter, träning och glädje, men även om attdet är en vana, viljan att få tävla och att de ser fram emot att lära sig nya saker.Även hur deltagarna rekryterats till idrotten skiljer sig åt. Oftast har det skett viavänner, endast cirka fem procent har kommit i kontakt med idrottsföreningengenom externa kontakter. Enligt de äldre är en förening hälsofrämjande om denhar en anpassad verksamhet med ett varierat utbud, hög trivsel i föreningen samtatt det är enkelt att börja och att fortsätta i föreningen.

Rapporten visar dessutom att det redan görs mycket bra för äldre i föreningsidrotten. Men också att mycket viktigt arbete kvarstår i fråga om hur idrott skullekunna organiseras för att nå och tilltala fler, det vill säga för att kunna erbjudaen verksamhet för så många som möjligt, så länge som möjligt. Centralt är dåfyra faser: drop-in, drop-through, drop-over och drop-out. Begreppen beskrivsoch utvecklas som rekommendationer för idrotten att arbeta med för att sänkatrösklarna såväl in i som mellan olika aktiviteter och verksamheter för att främjafortsatt deltagande och förhindra att äldre lämnar verksamheten. 

I årtionden har begreppen folkhälsa, hälsa och hälsofrämjande använts i relation till idrott på många sätt i såväl praktik, forskning som i policy. Att idrotten har någon slags betydelse för och koppling till folkhälsan torde vara helt klarlagt. Men hur kan vi förstå relationen eller kanske snarare relationerna mellan idrott och folkhälsa? Ett forskningsområde som tar tag i relationen idrott och folkhälsa och som också breddar vad relationen kan bestå av är forskningsfältet idrotten som hälsofrämjande arena (Health promoting sports clubs). I artikeln kommer vi därför att med utgångspunkt i forskning om idrotten som hälsofrämjande arena teoretisera relationen idrott - folkhälsa. Vi kommer därigenom diskutera och illustrera hur vi på fler än ett sätt kan öka förståelsen för idrotten som hälsofrämjande för så många som möjligt så länge som möjligt.

Sports participation has the potential to contribute to young people's health. A prerequisite for young people to benefit from sports is that they stay in sports. Studies that consider both personal and contextual factors are needed to unpack the broader health-promoting potential of youth sports. The purpose of the study is to contribute to knowledge about the health-promoting potential of young people's participation in organized sports by exploring youth perspectives on what makes a sports club health-promoting with a focus on health resources that young people consider important for sports club participation. For this cross-sectional study a brief survey was conducted with 15-16 year old students (n = 123) at two schools in Sweden, asking three open-ended questions about their participation in sports. The study used a salutogenic theory-driven analysis in combination with statistical analysis. Five health resources that young people consider important for sports club participation are revealed. On an individual, more 'swimmer'-related level, these are personal well-being and social relations, including relationally meaningful activities, and on an organizational level, relating to the 'river', that sports clubs offer a supportive and well-functioning environment. For sports clubs to be health-promoting settings for young people and thus hopefully to reduce drop-out, we need a more sustainable approach emphasizing drop-in, drop-through, and drop-over as a continuous iterative process. We also need to consider the complexity of sports participation for young people, involving individual, organizational and environmental issues.