Understanding learners’ sense making of movement learning in physical education

There is a substantial body of physical education scholarshipfocusing on movement learning. The question of how pupilsthemselves make sense of movement learning has however,largely escaped attention. Answers to such a question wouldseem to be highly germane if educators are to engage in pupilcenteredpedagogies. In light of this absence, the aim of thisinvestigation was to describe how movement learners madesense of their own movement development. Drawing ontheoretical tenets of Gilbert Ryle (2009. The concept of mind.New York, NY: Routledge) and Michael Polanyi (1969. Knowing andbeing. Essays by Michael Polanyi. Chicago, IL: University of ChicagoPress), three cases from an investigation in which movementlearning was occurring are presented. The investigation wasconducted during a physical education project week with pupilsfrom an upper secondary school. Data were produced usingobservations, informal interviews, semi-structured interviews, andresearch diaries as a group of pupils learned to juggle. The resultssuggest that: the aspects of moving to which learners attendchange as they learn; learners have a relatively limited capacity toverbally articulate what they learn, and; learners’ expectations ofideal ways of moving have considerable impact on how theycome to make sense of their own ways of moving. The practicalimplications of these points are discussed in the final section ofthe paper