Lived Body Knowledge: Disciplinary Knowledge for Preservice Physical Education Teachers

The American Kinesiology Association has constructed an undergraduate core for degree programs that reside in kinesiology-based academic units. Since many Physical Education Teacher Education programs are housed in such units, there is a need to prioritize the areas of the undergraduate core, particularly the place of the scientific dimensions of physical activity and the practice of physical activity, in Physical Education Teacher Education curricula. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of the lived body is employed to (a) challenge the predominant inclusion of the scientific dimensions of physical activity in teacher preparation curricula and (b) suggest that preservice physical education teachers need “lived body knowledge” of the subject matter to teach physical education. Lived body knowledge is skillful and meaningful engagement in dance, exercise, games, play, and/or sport. It is then argued that the practice of physical activity deserves a significant presence in Physical Education Teacher Education curricula