Running: A way to increase body awareness in secondary school physical education

• Research suggests that young people’s understanding of how their bodies move in space and time is deteriorating. The aim of this study was to examine how students learn to analyse sensations and feelings while running. In total, 94 students aged 16–19 years and seven physical education (PE) teachers from two different secondary schools participated in the study. Five different PE lessons were designed, conducted and analysed based on the tenets of variation theory. Two questions guided the investigation: (a) What aspects of the running movement do students discern as critical for increased awareness of body posture in running? (b) In what way do lesson designs and teaching techniques affect students’ identification of critical aspects of body posture in running? The paper provides examples of how embodied exploration of body awareness can be used as an educational means to enhance movement capabilities. Two themes are identified and described: tentative critical aspects of body posture for running, and differences in students’ ways of developing movement capability. The paper concludes with a summary of the main results along with reflections on issues that require further attention.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Idrottsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Sport and Fitness Sciences (hsv//eng)

Keyword

body awareness

embodied exploration

learning study

Physical education

secondary school

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)