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Running head: Meaningful Physical Education 1

Using Self-Study to Explore Meaningful Physical Education Experiences

for Elementary Students

Todd Van Ritchie

St. Francis Xavier University

Submitted to Prof. Dan MacDonald

EDUC 593: Capping Experience

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MEANINGFUL PHYSICAL EDUCATION 2

Table of Contents

Abstract................................................................................................................................5

Using Self-Study to Explore Meaningful Physical Education Experiences for Elementary

Students ...........................................................................................................................................7

Section 1: Autobiographical Account..................................................................................7

Critical Praxis..................................................................................................................8

Self-Study and Refection.............................................................................................9

Quality Teaching............................................................................................................11

Creating Meaningful Physical Education......................................................................12

Statement of Problem....................................................................................................12

Purpose..........................................................................................................................12

Reflective Questions......................................................................................................13

Section 2: Literature Review.............................................................................................13

Search Protocol..............................................................................................................13

Self-Study......................................................................................................................15

Critical Friends..............................................................................................................17

Value Orientation...........................................................................................................18

Effective or Quality Teaching?......................................................................................19

Meaningful Physical Education.....................................................................................22

Section 3: Inquiry Plan......................................................................................................22

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Self-Study Design..........................................................................................................22

Framework-for-Inquiry..............................................................................................22

Quality Indicators for the Teacher Research..............................................................22

Methods.........................................................................................................................22

Timeline.....................................................................................................................22

Data Collection..........................................................................................................22

Data Analysis.................................................................................................................22

Coding........................................................................................................................22

Credibility and Trustworthiness.................................................................................22

Ethical Considerations...............................................................................................22

Ethics in Practice.......................................................................................................22

Section 4: Findings and Discussion...................................................................................22

Reflections on my Practice............................................................................................23

Value orientation........................................................................................................23

Being a leader of change............................................................................................25

Can you create meaningfulness in every lesson, for every student?.............................28

Student voice - Are current approaches meaningful to “the students”?........................30

Explicitly planning for meaningful experiences............................................................31

Student choice............................................................................................................31

Section 5: Final Reflection................................................................................................39

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References..........................................................................................................................45

Footnotes............................................................................................................................54

Tables.................................................................................................................................55

.......................................................................................................................................58

Figures...............................................................................................................................66

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Abstract

“Physical education instructors are in the interesting position of being only marginally related to

education”. This quote from R. Barrow in the 1981 book The Philosophy of Schooling is a

telling example of how Physical Education, and all of the benefits derived from it, can be

marginalized and ignored. As a practicing Physical Educator, it is imperative to be able to not

only defend the need for Physical Education in the public-school system, but to advocate for it.

This means, among other things, (1) effectively teaching the students so that they achieve

success, and (2) creating positive, meaningful experiences for the students, so that the want to

achieve success. Therefore, curricular decisions are important and can affect the learning that

takes place in the gymnasium. What the educator values will play a key role in the curricular

decisions concerning content selection, assessment, classroom climate, and the goals of the

program. Correspondingly, what the students value and how they create meaning from the

program can be equally critical to the success of all in the gymnasium. With the support of a

critical friend, a non-participant observer, and the inclusion of student voice, an experienced

physical educator is using the reflective practice of self-study methodology based on LaBoskey’s

criteria for quality self-study research design: (a) self-initiated and self-focused, (b)

improvement-aimed, (c) interactive, (d) using multiple forms of qualitative data, and (e)

demonstrating validity based in trustworthiness. This research will delve into an analyse of his

curricular values with respect to creating meaningful physical education experiences for the

elementary aged students. Data from the self-study will indicate whether student perceptions of

meaningfulness in PE are congruent with those of the teacher-researcher and may ultimately help

to determine if prioritising meaningfulness will foster experiences for the students that encourage

engagement in learning and help to contribute to the value and worth of the physical education

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experience in public schools. Future work related to this self-study can look to examine the

quality of experience and meaningfulness of PE experiences for small groups of students.

Specifically, investigations could focus could be on race (African Nova Scotian, Aboriginal,

Asian, Middle Eastern…), gender (male, female, other…), social class (lower, middle, upper…)

or disabilities that affect participation and learning in PE (autistic spectrum, physical disability,

various syndromes…)

Keywords: Meaningfulness, self-study, pedagogy, elementary

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Using Self-Study to Explore Meaningful Physical Education Experiences

for Elementary Students

Section 1: Autobiographical Account

As we move forward in these times of educational funding cutbacks, attacks on

public education and changes to the system it becomes ever more critical for physical educators

to treat physical education like any other academic program with regard to their curricular

decisions. Teachers need to bring credibility to their program, demonstrate accountability, make

learning meaningful and engaging, and communicate student achievement to the

parents/guardians (Darst & Pangrazi, 2002; Pangrazi & Beighle, 2010). The idea of having to

defend physical education is at the forefront of many a physical educators mind. Too often the

“academic” aspects of physical education (PE) are overshadowed by the thoughts and beliefs that

it is simply play time in the gym. Richard Bailey (2018) discussed this concept in his paper

“Sport, Physical Education and Educational Worth”, going so far as the create Tiers of

importance for subjects. In his discussion he lists physical education last, as a Tier 4 subject. He

goes on to refer to the words of Barrow that “physical education instructors are in the interesting

position of being only marginally related to education”. (as cited in Bailey, 2018, p.52) After

pages of back and forth debate of philosophies, positions, beliefs and models Bailey concludes

with a statement that “when informed by empirical research into the outcomes of positive

participation in physical activities, the need for experiences at school that focus on the

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development and expression of the body in different ways becomes clearer and more

compelling.” (Bailey, 2018, p.63)

With this ever-present, undesirable attitude toward PE that exists in general, and

specifically in my school, though not to a terrible degree, I feel it is imperative that I am able to

not only defend the need for physical education, but advocate for why it is critical, and what

makes it critical in child development. This means, among other things, (1) effectively teaching

my students so that they achieve success, and (2) creating positive, meaningful experiences for

my students. Therefore, my curricular decisions are important and can affect the learning that

takes place in the gymnasium. What I value plays a key role in the curricular decisions

concerning content selection, assessment, classroom climate, and goals for the program.

Correspondingly, what the students value and how they create meaning from the program can be

equally critical to our success in the gymnasium. Any possible disconnect between my values as

an educator and student values presents an interesting dilemma for a self-study of my teaching

practice.

Critical Praxis

In Conceptualising teacher education and research as ‘critical praxis’, Julie

Arnold, Tony Edwards, Neil Hooley and Jo Williams (2012) provide a description of critical

praxis that fits with the intentions of this self-study. They state that “Critical praxis for educators

seeks to move beyond the constraints of formal teaching, knowledge and curriculum and instead

encourages communities, teachers and students to work together in producing new

understandings and practices” (p.281) This encapsulates precisely what I am looking to achieve

through this self-study and reflection on my practice. By focusing on the sharing of personal

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values (of educator and of students), and the meaningfulness of experiences in the physical

education program, I hope to gain a better understanding and determination of the quality of the

teaching taking place in my gymnasium.

Self-Study and Refection

A reflective practitioner uses reflection as an action to engage in the process of

continuous learning. It involves learning from your professional experiences, rather than from

formal learning methods. It is an important way to bring together theory and practice, as through

reflection, the educator can attribute language and theory to his/her personal practice. It is not

just a process of looking back on past actions but a conscious effort to look at emotions,

experiences, actions, responses and outcomes of activities and lessons, then using this

information to reach a higher level of understanding of your practice.

Excluding those educators that will not reflect on their practice (either because

they do not know how, do not know what to reflect on, do not want to challenge their current

beliefs, or simply do not care to), I think that the largest impediment to proper reflective practice

is the time it takes to properly work through the exercise. Time is already at a premium during a

teaching day and the added time for reflection is often just not there. With that in mind I feel that

there are three levels to the reality of reflective practice.

The first level is the easiest and most often used. This happens on the spot, in

lesson reflections on what is happening and how you can modify the activity or lesson

immediately to better achieve your goals for that lesson. This is situational and often will help to

address problems arising either within the activity itself or in the resulting student

experiences/behaviours.

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The second level is an extension of the first and basically involves taking the

modifications from the reflection during a previous class and applying these changes and

improvements to the next class.

The third level is the least used and the most difficult to develop. This is reflecting

afterwards on how a lesson, class, unit, or program went, then taking the reflective thoughts and

applying them to future planning. This is a true reflective practitioner and this person allocates

time and energy to the process of reflecting on their practice. This can be done in a number of

ways and is likely an exercise in trial and error. Typical methods of reflecting would be

journaling, collaborative journal writing, self-assessment forms, video recording of teaching,

peer review, mentor/protégé experiences, student feedback, concept mapping, brainstorming, free

writing, and problem solving.

Self-Study provides a model of reflection that I can use to help to define and

organize my thoughts and observations.

Critical Friends.

In recent years, I have spent significant time reflecting on my teaching values and

curricular decisions regarding content, assessment and goals for my program. To this end I have

worked to create and maintain an informal physical education teachers professional learning

community (PEPLC) with other elementary physical educators in my area. Through this group I

have been able to extend my personal reflection to include reflection on the discussions I have

with other physical educators regarding their teaching. Additionally, this group has provided a

close-knit group of colleagues that can be turned to in times of need and questioning. These

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people provide critical and constructive feedback on questions for each other in the group and

together we are able to resolve queries and issues.

Value Orientation.

Throughout my career I have come across a large variety of approaches to

teaching physical education. Each of these different teachers valued vastly different aspects of a

physical education program. While these experiences happened over all grade levels, from P-12,

and over the course of a few years, I believe that they informed my personal values decisions and

values orientation as a physical education teacher currently at the elementary level. In my

experience teachers can discuss and converse about all of the proper topics, using the key words

and hitting all the important points, but when the gym doors close and it is just the teacher and

the class, what actually happens may be a fair bit different. I know that personally, there are days

that what I value in a physical education program and what I end up doing in the gym can be on

opposite ends of the spectrum for any number of reasons.

Quality Teaching

I believe that typically the program I offer students in the gymnasium is excellent.

I work to constantly provide new experiences and try to be as innovative in my approach as

possible. I believe that my content knowledge is excellent with regard to the curriculum,

fundamental movement skills and sport. I endeavor to give students choice and freedom to

explore and experience their learning at their own pace and in their own ways. I work hard to

incorporate technology in the gym and can confidently state I have never taught the same thing,

the same way twice.

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I definitely have areas where I need to improve, and gym management is one. I

am constantly looking for the best routines and strategies to manage students through transitions

and in activities. Another area that I struggle with is the need to expose students to so many

outcomes or indicators of learning as I feel it “waters down” their ability to earn anything. This

leads to personal reflection on how whether or not I am actually achieving any learning in the

gym and is what I am able to achieve even relevant to the students?

Creating Meaningful Physical Education

My personal beliefs concerning what should be taught and how it should happen

in elementary physical education have, until recently, been divergent from the official

curriculum. Throughout, my years in education, both informal as an outdoor educator in the

recreation field, and formal as a physical educator, I have believed that experiential, student

centered, choice-based programs which focused on the development of fundamental skills was

important. In fact, a planned for goal of my outdoor education programs was to create “memories

that last a lifetime”.

Finding the work of Dr. Tim Fletcher and his research partners this year has been

an almost life changing experience in that I find it reinforces and gave language to everything I

have always found to be critically important in elementary PE.

Statement of Problem

The problem I face on a daily basis could be described as a “tug of war” between

all of the things I am supposed to be teaching the students in physical education; what I believe

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to be the most critical skills I should be teaching; how I should go about educating the students;

and, if any of it is even relevant and meaningful to the students?

Purpose

The purpose of this self-study is to explore, through reflection, personal

observation, discussions with critical friends, and interactions with students, what I value in

physical education and how these values support the development of a quality teaching practice

by providing meaningful physical education experiences for all students.

Reflective Questions

1. What are my goals and expectations for the students in the elementary physical education

program?

2. Why are these goals valued? Do they inform the curricular decisions I make while also

aligning with the Nova Scotia P-3 and 4-6 curriculum documents?

3. What is my value orientation? Does it align with providing meaningful physical

education experiences to my students?

4. Are my current practices in physical education creating meaningful experiences for all

students? How do I know?

This research may be seen as significant for the understanding of my curricular

decision making as it pertains to creating meaningful experiences for students in my physical

education programs. Given that the experiences of students are contingent upon the content they

are exposed to and that content is at the discretion of the physical educator, then knowing why I

make these curricular or pedagogical decisions should inform the planning-teaching process.

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Moreover, other elementary physical educators may be able to take this research and transfer the

ideas, thoughts, reflections and concepts to their own practice thereby helping to create

meaningful experiences for their students.

Section 2: Literature Review

Search Protocol

A search of the literature related to meaningful physical education, self-study and

pedagogy was conducted using three electronic databases; SPORTDiscus, JSTOR and ProQuest.

Additionally, a search in Google Scholar was performed. These databases were selected based on

their comprehensive social science libraries that include literature specific to physical education,

education and teacher education. The searches were limited to full text, peer reviewed articles

published in English after January 1, 2010 using the following search criteria (a) meaningful and

“physical education”, (b) “self-study” and “physical education”, (c) pedagogy and “physical

education” in the article Abstract. (variances listed below) For a flowchart of the search protocol

refer to Figure 1.

a) JSTOR – search field ALL, in subject “Education” = 98 articles

ProQuest – in subject “Physical Education” = 20 articles

SPORTDiscus - in Subject: Thesaurus Term “Physical Education” = 33 articles

b) JSTOR – search field ALL, in subject “Education” = 164 articles

ProQuest search field ALL = 50 articles

SPORTDiscus – in Subject: Thesaurus Term “Physical Education” = 19 articles

c) JSTOR – search field ALL in subject Education = 116 articles

ProQuest = 34 articles

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SPORTDiscus - in Subject: Thesaurus Term “Physical Education” = 66 articles

Once all database searches were completed, three Google Scholar searches using

the same criteria were conducted that resulted in many article possibilities. After scanning the

search results for the first 3 pages of each search no significant new articles were discovered or

added to the group for review beyond a cursory read of their title.

From the database search 130 titles were selected for a closer review. Of these 46

were duplicate articles. At this point in the review I added 8 published articles by Dr. Tim

Fletcher and his partners found on his LAMPE project website and 11 articles found in links in

the LAMPE blog. This left 103 articles that were then found online through the saved citations in

RefWorks or from the LAMPE website. These abstracts were examined, and 57 articles were

deemed to be irrelevant to the research. Related article suggestions from Taylor & Francis Online

added a new batch of 17 articles for abstract review. Upon closer inspection of these articles 13

more were added from references and 22 were found to not be relevant for the research. This left

54 articles to be considered for the final research. Additionally, 18 articles that I had previously

read were added to the final review as I believed that they could be pertinent to the topic of the

research.

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Figure 1: Search Protocol Flowchart

Self-Study

There is a need for educators to take a reflective look at their practice, to gain a

deeper understanding of what they are doing, what they are teaching and what they are hoping to

have students learn. Fletcher and Ovens (2015) speak to this as a way of provoking educators to

think deeply about their practice. They look to work by Brown (2011) that advocates strongly for

the use of self-study. Brown believes that self-study is an important aspect of continuing

professional learning for those working in the field of health, sport, and physical education. “It is

a form of practitioner research in which the development of personal, pedagogical knowledge is

facilitated through a careful examination of one’s own learning beliefs, practices, processes,

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contexts, and relationships (Loughran, 2004; Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2015)”. (as Cited in

Fletcher & Ovens, 2015, p.215)

LaBosky’s (2015) review of novice teacher self-studies shows that self-study is

definitely a viable option, and that the teachers can “engage in it with fidelity and obtain

meaningful results that are continuing to influence their practice in positive ways”. (p.99)

Moreover, she felt that teachers benefit from the flexibility, responsiveness and evolving

questions that self-study allows.

Attard and Armour (2005) believe that the ongoing reflective process helps a

teacher to rethink and reassess their practice. This, they believe, opens the educator up to new

interpretations and allows the educator to possibly change, adapt, and modify their practice.

Attard and Armour (2005) also discuss how this is a continuum of learning and doesn’t happen in

stages and it is just as important to share reflections within a group in order to gain a wider

perspective on the self. Finally, the linking of practice to theory is better achieved when the

educator participates in a structured and ongoing reflection of their actions.

The exploration of self-studies by Hamilton and Pinnegar in 2015 reveal that

interest, surprise, and curiosity can be key ingredients in orienting self-study researchers in their

work. They also show that engaging in dialogue about self-study research can orient, deepen, and

sharpen questions.

As many of the researchers have pointed out, self-study cannot happen in

isolation. While the reflection and journaling will bring out the thoughts and ideas, the practice

of self-study needs to have an interactivity to it. “(G)uidelines for quality in self-study research,

as expressed by Bullough and Pinnegar (2001), Feldman (2003), Hamilton and Pinnegar (2013),

LaBoskey (2004), Pinnegar and Hamilton (2009), Samaras (2010), and Vanassche and

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Kelchtermans (2015), include interactivity as one of several core features” (as cited in Fletcher,

Ni Chroinin & O’Sullivan, 2016, p.303)

Critical Friends

While several options about sources of interactivity exist, many Self Study

researchers rely on critical friends as their main source of interaction. Fletcher et.al. (2016) refer

to Costa and Kallick (1993) to define a critical friend as a “trusted person who asks provocative

questions, provides data to be examined through another lens, and offers critique of a person’s

work as a friend” (p. 303) Fletcher goes beyond this, adding a second “layer” to the critical

friend concept. During his work on “A Layered Approach to Critical Friendship as a Means to

Support Pedagogical Innovation in Pre-service Teacher Education” from 2016, Fletcher used the

reciprocal critical friend approach with Déirdre Ni Chroinin while research partner Mary

O’Sullivan acted as a second “outside” layer to the process by providing supportive and

challenging feedback to both researchers. (p.304)

Keejoon Yoon and Kathleen Armour’s (2017) research on the benefits of using a

Community of Practice (CoP) as a means of Physical Educator Continuing Professional

Development (PE-CPD) concludes that teachers’ professional learning in the CoP impacted on

the development of both teachers’ pedagogies and intended teaching behaviours which then

influenced pupils’ learning.

Their research into PE-CPD finds that the traditional models were not effective at

bringing about change and innovation to an educator’s practice. They site a number of reasons

such as: “limited focus (Armour and Yelling 2004a), a divergence between what teachers value

and the contents of PE-CPD (Makopoulou and Armour 2011), feelings of isolation (O’Sullivan

and Deglau 2006), lack of directionality (Choi 2004), failure to take into account the context of

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the work place (Ko, Wallhead, and Ward 2006), and limited or inappropriate support (Armour

and Yelling 2004b)” (as cited in Yoon & Armour, 2017, p.428).

McEvoy, Heikinaro-Johansson, and MacPhail (2015) discuss values and purpose

in teacher education and cite Hanson (2008, p.23) from The Values and Purpose of Teacher

Education arguing that without discussing the purpose of their teaching practice people can

become stagnant in their teaching. By reflecting and sharing teachers are able to remain vibrant

and dynamic in their practice and this dialogue is indispensable to their very purpose.

Value Orientation

Research suggests that an experienced teacher’s values reflect several orientations

that form a complex profile which influences the selection of content, teaching styles, and

assessment methods. This research has identified five fundamental value orientations: discipline

mastery (DM), learning process (LP), self-actualization (SA), self/social responsibility (SR), and

ecological integration (EI). Each value orientation serves as a philosophical foundation or a

belief system guiding the physical educator’s curricular choices, instructional decisions, and

teaching behaviors in the gymnasium. (Chen, Zhang, Wells, Schweighardt, and Ennis, 2017).

These five orientations (Table 1) do not exist separate from each other, Chen et.al. (2017) refer to

research by Chen and Ennis from 2015 that suggests an experienced teacher’s belief systems

reflect a combination of orientations that form a profile of that teacher’s values. This

combination represents a hierarchy of priority orientations that are influential in the selection of

content, teaching style, assessment methods, and classroom environment.

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Table 1: A brief description of the five value orientations

Orientation Description

Discipline Mastery (DM) a teacher who emphasizes knowledge and skills.

Learning Process (LP) a teacher who emphasizes the development of process skills for

independent learning regardless of content.

Self-Actualization (SA) a teacher who emphasizes the continual development of an

individual’s autonomy

Social Responsibility (SR) a teacher who encourages pupils to respect and cooperate with

others

Ecological Integration (EI) a teacher who promotes personal meaning for students via

collaboratively developed curricular experiences to achieve

personal and social goals

(Chen et.al., 2017)

Effective or Quality Teaching?

The term effective teaching is associated with the research movement that seeks

links between what teachers do in their classroom or gymnasium, and what students learn.

Meanwhile, Dyson (2014) shares examples of the use of quality teaching; Darling-Hammond

(1997) in general education, The Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) in the

“Shape of the Nation” report (National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE),

2012), and more recently, the policy statement for physical education from the United Nations

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2014), who also used the term quality

physical education. So which term will best reflect what I am trying to achieve?

The goal of physical education is student achievement and learning. Many content

forms may be used appropriately to address this singular goal. It is important, however, not to be

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distracted by the diverse assortment of content that effective teachers use to enhance student

learning of fitness, skills, games, adventure, dance, gymnastics, and other movement forms.

These are the means to reaching the end goal of student learning. However, getting to this end

goal of student learning can be difficult and easily disrupted by many contextual and behavioural

factors. (Ennis, 2014) As a result, effective teaching and the resulting student learning can be

easily sidetracked or even derailed.

Curricular decisions about content and the approach or model used to encourage

student achievement and learning can also play a critical role in effectiveness. Kretchmar (2006)

criticizes the mini-unit design that is so prevalent in gymnasiums. Calling it teaching on “Easy

Street” he characterizes the teacher’s role as one of introducing, informing, and entertaining. He

explained that on Easy Street, the physical education focus is on introducing students to a series

of mini-units to expose them to many different physical activities with little hope or expectation

that they will learn the skills, tactics, concepts, or principles leading to sustained or intrinsic

interest or comprehension. Another common approach attached to the mini-unit format that is

often seen in the gymnasium is “keeping them busy with activity” or entertaining students who

might otherwise become behavior problems by enticing them to participate in “busy, happy,

good” environments. This approach, does little to encourage student or teacher accountability for

student learning. (Ennis, 2014)

The opinion of students and their support may play an additional, critical role in

some physical educators’ willingness or ability to teach effectively or implement changes in their

curriculum and teaching. While student enjoyment and public health benefits are highly valued,

when standards-based content is selected and implemented effectively, enjoyment and health are

necessary but insufficient outcomes of learning-based physical education programs. To the many

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people who look to hold educators accountable, student learning is the gold standard in

outcomes-based school curricula (Ennis, 2014) and is seen to clearly indicate the effectiveness of

the teacher.

Yet quality teaching is a term that has the potential to move our attention beyond a

focus merely on issues of effectiveness relating to the achievement of pre-specified objectives.

(Dyson, 2014) Teacher quality is a broad concept that embraces both the concepts of teaching

quality and teacher characteristics. ‘Teaching quality’ is linked directly to a teacher’s pedagogies

in and out of the classroom, such as planning and classroom management. This concept is closely

related to aspects of teaching ‘technique’. (Yoon & Armour, 2017)

As physical educators, we argue that physical activity is important, but it is just

one of many valued outcomes (DEECD, 2015a, 2015b). Mindless physical activity in schools

seems to be more prevalent when PE is taught by generalist teachers, and Ennis (2014) suggests

that in schools where physical activity is the focus, physical education teachers are discouraged

from teaching fundamental motor skills. Without motor skill development included with the

physical activity, the redundant exercises, and simple, frantic, but vigorous games lead to a

mindless approach that does not encourage student learning or achievement.

Meaningful Physical Education

Referred to earlier in the background information, the work of Dr. Tim Fletcher

has guided my foray into Meaningful Physical Education through his work with the Learning

About Meaningful Physical Education (LAMPE) project. This research by Fletcher and his

colleagues is based on the work of by R. Scott Kretchmar. Using the work of Kretchmar (2000,

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2006 , 2008 ) as a basis of the LAMPE philosophy, Fletcher and colleagues suggest that

personally meaningful experiences typically involve:

Fun

Social interaction

Challenge

Motor competence

Delight

Personal relevance

“What separates the LAMPE innovation from general good practice is that the

fostering of meaningful experiences was positioned as the prioritized filter for the pedagogical

decisions we made” (Fletcher, Ni Chroinin, & O’Sullivan, 2016, p.305) This prioritization of

meaningful experiences, with the explicit planning for it makes the approach of Fletcher and

colleagues somewhat unique. Their development of this pedagogical approach stems partly from

the “multi-activity/mini-unit” approach often found in PE and discussed earlier in Effective or

Quality Teaching. They believe that many students lack a personal connection to this dominant

form of PE as it has minimal or no relevance to their lives. They refer to research by Bulger and

Houser from 2009 and Kretchmar from 2008 that criticises the multi-activity/mini-unit design for

not having a long-lasting effect for students partly because physical educators take on too many

objectives in a short period of time and the constant turnover of objectives often results in

learners receiving mixed messages about the place of physical activity in their lives. Their belief

is that “focusing on personally meaningful experiences in physical education carries the potential

to facilitate a stronger commitment to lifelong physical activity participation” (Fletcher et.al.,

2016, p.304)

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In researching meaningful physical education, a number of other researchers

provided support for the direction the LAMPE team is moving in. Dinsmore & Bailey (2011)

point out that “fun and enjoyment were found to be central to these attitudes, closely associated

with a range of factors contributing to the physical education experience”. (p.512) While Wright

(2004) states that “defining educational values has always been problematic: however, there is

increasingly a consensus that in a very fundamental sense they are concerned with the

development of the human potential of each individual. This is often expressed in terms of self-

fulfillment” (p.152) This support for the idea of creating meaningful experiences for the students

as an explicit part of the planning process does pose challenges for teachers. “Creating physical

activity experiences that children and young people ascribe as meaningful requires a pedagogical

approach grounded in listening and responding to children’s perspectives. Young people are

consistent in telling us what they value through physical activity experiences: participating with

their friends, being challenged, having fun, and learning.” (LAMPE, 2016) This makes it critical

for educators to understand the motivations of the students, Kretchmar believes that through

experiencing joy in their learning students are better capable of achieving success.

When movement is experienced as joy, it adorns our lives, makes our days go

better, and gives us something to look forward to. It provides a refreshing interlude. It

prevents the world from turning an unbecoming shade of gray and keeps us from

becoming tired and disinterested. When movement is joyful and meaningful, it

may even inspire us to do things we never thought possible. (Kretchmar, 2008, p.162)

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Section 3: Inquiry Plan

Self-Study Design

I will be using a self-study design to take an in-depth look at my practice.

Encouraged by the work of Dr. Tim Fletcher in the areas of self-study and meaningful physical

education experiences, I hope to be able to look deeply into my practice and determine if I am

giving students meaningful experiences in the gymnasium while also meeting the myriad of

requirements imposed by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Fletcher et.al. (2016) use LaBoskey’s criteria for quality self-study research design: (a) self-

initiated and self-focused, (b) improvement-aimed, (c) interactive, (d) using multiple forms of

qualitative data, and (e) demonstrating validity based in trustworthiness. (p. 307) Moreover

Fletcher’s earlier work with his LAMPE colleagues (Ni Chroinin, Fletcher, & O'Sullivan, 2015)

outlined some benefits they see in the self-study approach:

1. That self-study can capture opportunities and challenges and provide self-illumination

while sharing insights on pedagogies of meaning making

2. That self-study forced them to analyze their teaching practices, make judgements and

identify enabling and limiting aspects of their practices.

3. That self-study engaged them in questioning of their pedagogy.

4. That self-study provided the tools for a systematic inquiry into the complex nature of

their practice.

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Framework-for-Inquiry.

Hamilton and Pinnegar (2015) using The Framework-for-Inquiry Analytic

Tool (Table 2) to identify issues that researchers might address in their study providing a

series of questions focused on self and practice. This framework aids researchers to

inform themselves and colleagues less familiar with this work about the operational

how’s and why’s of this methodology.

Table 2. Framework-for-inquiry analytic tool

Topic Questions focused on the self…

Purpose What is the purpose of the study?

Definition of

S-STEP

What definition of S-STEP does the author use? Where is the self-

situated in this study?

Definition of

S-STEP

methodology

When the author describes methodology, how is it apparent that the

study is a S-STEP? How does the author describe the methodology?

Rigorous

research practice

What data collection and data analysis tools are used? How are the

aspects of the methodology described? How did the author make

apparent thoughtful research practice? As part of making a study

rigorous comes in the context selected for study, in what way or

ways do the context support the rigor of the study?

Explicit

evidence In what ways does the author connect the data collected with the

assertions made in the study? For example, if they said that they

interviewed people, how is that displayed in the evidence? Does the

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evidence collected allow for the insights the author claims?

Authority of

experience

How does the author situate the authority of her/his own experience

in the study? How do he/she situate themselves in the study so that

the readers will accept their work as trustworthy?

Story of self In what ways is the self-portrayed in the study? Where is the self in

relationship with others? How is the self-evident?

Situate in larger

literature

Within what research literatures does the author situate their work?

How do they bring depth to the understandings of their field of

focus?

(Hamilton & Pinnegar, 2015, p.183)

Quality Indicators for the Teacher Research.

Dana and Yendol-Hoppey (2014) present five indicators of quality teacher

research; (1) Context of Study, (2) Wonderings and Purpose, (3) Teacher-Research Design, (4)

Teacher-Researcher Learning, and (5) Implications for Practice. These five quality indicators will

help to inform my approach to be an effective Teacher Researcher. Table 3 presents a brief

description of the five indicators and how they can inform my teacher research.

Table 3. Quality Indicators for Teacher Research

Indicator Questions to ponder

Context of

Study

Have I considered all aspects of my context? Will others be able to

understand where my thoughts and wonderings emerge from based

on the description of the context?

Wonderings and

Purpose

Have I effectively described my dilemma? Have I connected my

wonderings to related literature? Are my wonderings focused on me

and my personal practice?

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Teacher-

Researcher

Design

Have I considered all possible data sources and the number of data

sources used? Is my timeline flexible? Is it realistic?

Teacher-

Researcher

Learning

How will I illustrate my findings? Am I confident my findings

emerged from the data rather than forcing the data to fit pre-

determined findings? Can I explain data that didn’t fit? Did these

findings resonate with me through my reflections?

Implications for

Practice

Will these results lead to action within my practice? Are they logical

outgrowths of what I learned in my inquiry? Are there further

wonderings that can grow out of my inquiry?

(Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2014)

Methods

Timeline.

The timeline for this self-study is rather short. Reflections began in February 2018

as part of the initial development of this research proposal, this will be followed up in April

2018-May 2018 with further reflections, independent observer notes, critical friend discussions,

student interactions, and an analysis of personal values in education using the Ennis VOI will

take place in May 2018.

Data will be reviewed and analyzed through the months of May and June 2018

with the completion of the self-study presented in mid-July 2018.

1. Literature Review: February – March 2018

2. Data Collection: April – June 2018

a. Researcher Generated Documents Reviewed: May 2018

b. Reflections: February – late May 2018

c. Non-Participant Observations: May 2018

d. Critical Friend Discussions and Notes: May 2018

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e. Student Voice Surveys: June 2018

3. Data Analysis: May – June 2018

4. Capping Experience Presentation and Report Writing: July 2018

Data Collection.

In order to maximize the collection of data and provide a varied approach to the

collection of data I will be using five separate strategies. Firstly, the collection and review of

documents will provide context for the self-study as it relates to the required curriculum as well

as the yearly, unit and lesson plans that have been created. The second data set will come from

written journal reflections on the lessons taking place during the study period of late April

through June. Thirdly, I have the opportunity to have a non-participant observer record

interpretations of what she is watching in the gymnasium. The fourth data set will come from

discussions with a critical friend. My critical friend will be another elementary physical educator

who I often speak with and share my practice with. Additionally, I may be able to share this

research with my PEPLC group in May, thereby getting further critical friends involved in the

discussion of my self-study. The fifth and final data collection method will be student voice. In

order to determine whether the program is meaningful to the students, it is a requirement to find

out from the students what they find meaningful; what they find fun; what they find challenging

or delightful; what motor skills they are developing; what types of social interactions are taking

place, and; what aspects of the physical education program may be personally relevant to their

lives.

Table 4. Data Sources and Prompts

Source Prompts

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Documents Lesson topic? Lesson outcomes? What am I explicitly

attempting to do/teach/present in this lesson? In this unit?

What model is being used?

Reflections Do I feel that the students are getting what I want from the

lesson? Is my focus similar to what they are experiencing?

Non-participant

Observer

What do students seem to be doing during lesson? What are

you observing in their behaviours? Are they on task,

developing a skill? Interest in activity? Do they appear to be

having fun, experiencing joy or delight? Are they being

challenged appropriately? What social interactions are being

observed?

Critical Friend

Discussion

What resonated with me from our discussion was… I would

approach this lesson by…I suggest that you…

Documents.

Through the entire process I will collect documents that will inform me on my

curricular decisions regarding content selection, assessment strategies and timing, unit and lesson

design, and other educational priorities. This data will come from review and reflection on my

planning documents (yearly, unit and lesson plans, assessment plans and documents).

Other documents that will inform the data are the NSTU Guidelines: Constitution

and Policy document, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Physical

Education P-3 and 4-6 curriculum documents, the Essential Learning Outcomes P-3 document,

and the Streamlined Curriculum 4-6 document.

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Written Reflections.

“Capturing “thinking” is a challenge for any researcher. One way a teacher

researcher captures the thinking that occurs in the school and classroom and within his or her

own mind is through journaling. Journals provide teachers a tool for reflecting on their own

thought processes” (Dana, 2014, p.109)

Fletcher and Ni Chroinin developed a format for recording their reflections. They

began with brief overviews of the lesson plan but would focus the reflection on a critical incident

from each class that resonated with them and the LAMPE pedagogies. They recorded a

contextual description of the incident and would reflect on whether their feelings about the

critical incident had changed as a result of the reflections. In doing this they were able to

pinpoint and analyze their data with respect to the meaningful experiences and the pedagogical

approaches that enabled or limited the experiences. This type of structured reflection is the

approach I will take as I believe it focuses the mind and data collection thereby making it easier

to analyze at a later time. Additionally, as a novice teacher researcher and as a novice reflective

educator (in a structured and organized sense) this format will also assist in the process of

reflecting. (Fletcher et.al., 2016)

Non-Participant Observer.

The availability of a Non-Participant Observer provides the teacher researcher

with an ability to collect observations of lessons, teaching practice, and student behaviour and

provides a major means of collecting data in qualitative research. It offers a firsthand account of

the situation under study and, when combined with other methods of data collection, provides for

a holistic interpretation of the phenomenon being investigated. (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).

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Having access to a non-participant observer also allows for the use of digital

pictures and video as data. Nancy Fichtman Dana (2014) describes the use of pictures and video

as allowing teacher researchers to gain a better “understand an unfolding behavior, capture the

process used, study the learning situation, and make visible products or outcomes. More

specifically, through observing video of one’s own teaching, teachers can observe attitudes, skill

and knowledge levels, nature of interactions, nonverbal behavior, instructional clarity, and the

influence of physical surroundings” (p.107-108)

Critical Friend Discussion.

Fletcher et.al. (2016) look to the work of Costa and Kallick (1993) who defined a

critical friend as a “trusted person who asks provocative questions, provides data to be examined

through another lens, and offers critique of a person’s work as a friend” (p.303). They go on to

consider the beliefs of Baskerville & Goldblatt (2009) and Vanassche & Kelchtermans (2015)

who believe that having a critical friendship allows a teacher researcher to challenge their

assumptions and identify new ways of thinking about their practice as a teacher, while also

allowing for alternative interpretations of situations and reflections. One caution from Fletchers

work with Ni Chroinin & O’Sullivan (2016) was that they found themselves to be more “friend”

than “critic” and may have been “overly sensitive to one another’s feelings and emotions, we

risked not receiving enough critical support from one another through moments of frustration or

uncertainty” (p.303) In their discussion they reflected that this may have occurred because

initially parameters were not set for their expectations of each other in the relationship. This

learning will inform my critical friendship in such as I will endeavour to establish clear

expectations with my critical friend prior to beginning our discussions.

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As a part of the critical friend discussion I will use prompts similar to those

Fletcher and Ni Chroinin did. Examples of the prompts they used are:

What resonated with my thinking was…

The questions that it raised for me are…

If I were going to be contentious, I might suggest… (Fletcher et.al., 2016, p.308)

Student Voice.

“Helping children to articulate their opinions about the environment and

stimulating the development of social responsibility is a crucial, but often forgotten, factor in the

prevention of psychosocial problems and promotion of health and well-being for children.”

(MacDougall, Shiller and Darbyshire, 2004 , p.372) Given that this self-study is a reflection of

my teaching practice it seems illogical to not include the voice of those who are directly

influenced by the curricular decisions I am making on a daily basis. Yet, with the age of the

students my main concern is their ability to effectively participate in discussions on their PE

needs. Working with students from 4-12 years of age MacDougall, Shiller and Darbyshire (2004)

found in their study of student opinions regarding physical activity that “children were

enthusiastic participants in the research and appreciated the opportunity to communicate their

views.” (p.369) If my students’ values and opinions are going to help shape their future PE

experiences, I need to listen to these views, conduct research where necessary and consider how

their views can inform and shape my practice. By taking the time to speak with students in

informal ways I hope to gauge their impressions of the PE program and whether it is meeting

their needs. This data collection will take the form of in class notes that will then later be

compiled into a journal format.

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Data Analysis

Data analysis is an ongoing process in a qualitative research study. It should begin

with the completion of the first collection of data, be it an interview, survey, observation… and

doesn’t conclude until you have presented your findings. Even then, through peer review,

submission to journals and defense of the research further data analysis may continue as a result

of the feedback and critiques received. The process is emerging, recursive and dynamic.

Merriam and Tisdell (2016) talk about the interactive nature of data collection,

analysis and reporting, of how one set of data informs and directs the next phase in the data

collection, of how as the researcher your insights, hunches and hypothesis may change or take

the research in a new direction. The continual analysis of collected data allows for the refinement

of the collection process; fine tuning the observational focus or rewording an interview question.

Using a timeline of data collection that will allow for simultaneous data analysis

is important. Too much data can become overwhelming and unmanageable. It will be important

to keep in mind a few of the “helpful suggestions” that Merriam and Tisdell (2016) attribute to

Bogdan and Biklen. The most helpful for my research will be the suggestions that help to keep

me focused on the task at hand, to keep my mind and data from wandering and to keep myself

organized and methodical. For my study, I will be using data analysis to inform my data

collection as described above. By creating a timeline that allows for simultaneous collection and

analysis I allow the data to lead me through the observations. Keeping track of my thoughts,

feelings and commentary will be a critical aspect of my reflections and by using the hints offered

by Merriam and Tisdell (2016) such as margin notes, brackets and a journal I hope to manage

these aspects of the data collection effectively.

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Coding.

As data is collected and analyzed, it is important to begin the process of coding

the data. This involves reading through the field notes, transcripts, or other data and identifying

the key ideas and concepts as they relate to the research problem. As Merriam and Tisdell point

out “a unit of data can be as small as a word a participant uses to describe a feeling or

phenomenon, or as large as several pages of field notes describing a particular incident.”

(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 201). As the data grows so will the codes that represent all aspects

of everything determined to be relevant to the study. Once a number of codes have been

developed through data then I will review codes looking for larger concepts that can bring

together groups of the codes. For example, for my non-participant observer I might have a set of

codes such as feedback, praise, criticism, and social. All of these codes could then be categorized

under responsive interactions between teacher and student. This process is called axial coding.

Given the research problem and guiding questions have formed my thinking

going into the data collection, the use of a priori coding strategy, where I have predetermined

some of the codes to fit the desired storyline of the research may also be effective (Stuckey HL,

2015). With the focus on meaningful physical education experiences I plan to begin use the

coding described in Table 4, below.

Table 5. A Priori Coding – potential codes and behaviours

Code Behaviours to observe

Fun and/or Delight Happiness, laughing, engagement, joy

Challenge Too easy, too hard, appropriate

Frustration, errors, off task

Interactions Positive, negative

o Student-student, student-teacher, teacher-student

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Behaviour, social, critical,

constructive/corrective

Motor Competence Practicing skill

o Proper performance, uses feedback

Personally Relevant Engagement, interest

An important final reminder from Merriam and Tisdell (2016) is the need to

ensure that categories are responsive to the research problem and reflect what is being studied,

that they be exhaustive and include every piece relevant data, that they be mutually exclusive and

that the names should be sensitive to the data in the category, and finally that they are

conceptually congruent, in that each item of data should exist on the same “level”.

Credibility and Trustworthiness.

Do the research findings match the reality from which they were observed? Is the

researcher capturing the true essence of the observation? Is the researcher measuring what they

believe they are measuring? Credibility or internal validity addresses these questions. It “refers to

the believability and trustworthiness of the findings. This depends more on the richness of the

data gathered than on the quantity of data. The participants of the study are the only ones that

decide if the results actually reflect the phenomena being studied and therefore, it is important

that participants feel the findings are credible and accurate.” (CIRT, n.d.)

Merriam and Tisdell (2006) describe triangulation as a means to “shore up” the

credibility (internal validity) of a study. They refer to the four types of triangulation (as cited in

Denzin, 1978); multiple methods, multiple data sources, multiple theories, and multiple

investigators. Similarly, Cohen and Crabtree (2006) discuss these same ways to triangulate data.

However, believe that “rather than seeing triangulation as a method for validation or verification,

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qualitative researchers generally use this technique to ensure that an account is rich, robust,

comprehensive and well-developed.” (Cohen & Crabtree, 2006, Triangulation Page).

Through the use of a multiple methods triangulation, which is the cross-checking

of data and findings through the various sources of data collection, I will endeavour to provide

credibility and trustworthiness to the research. Personal journaling and reflection, the Ennis

Value Orientation Instrument (VOI), non-participant observations, critical friend discussions,

student interactions, and written documents (curriculum guides, yearly, unit, lesson and

assessment plans and timelines) will all provide a rich and in-depth picture of the research.

Hamilton and Pinnegar (2015) discuss how researchers in a self-study will come

up against unexpected experiences or reflections that challenge their understandings. At these

times they need to reach out to the wider knowledge base and the research related to their self-

study. This allows the researcher to deepen and support their understandings and put themselves

into a larger research conversation thereby giving the opportunity for the researcher to share their

findings and contribute to a broader understanding of the topic. (Hamilton & Pinnegar, 2015)

Meanwhile, Fletcher and Ovens (2015) believe that trustworthiness is established by readers of

their research placing the findings and results into their personal contexts, situations, challenges

and understandings.

Ethical Considerations.

Ethics are the standards and norms that help a person determine right from wrong,

acceptable or unacceptable. The credibility and consistency of research findings rely on the

adherence to ethical principles. Patton (2015) states that “methods do not ensure rigor. A research

design does not ensure rigor. Analytical techniques and procedures do not ensure rigor. Rigor

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resides in, depends on, and is manifest in rigorous thinking— about everything, including

methods and analysis” (as cited in Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p.260).

Analyzing data may present other ethical problems. Since the researcher is the

primary instrument for data collection, data have been filtered through his or her particular

theoretical position and biases. Deciding what is important— what should or should not be

attended to when collecting and analyzing data— is almost always up to the investigator.

Opportunities thus exist for excluding data contradictory to the investigator's views. Sometimes

these biases are not readily apparent to the researcher. (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) Through the

use of a non-participant observer as well as critical friend discussions, it is possible to mitigate

these biases and this limitation to the self-study.

Ethics in Practice.

The personal ethics of the researcher may at times come to the forefront in qualitative

research. Dilemmas may emerge during data collection, data analysis or when sharing the

findings that force the researcher to make an ethical decision. Knowing what to do can be a

challenge and the researcher must trust their own personal values, morals, and beliefs and make a

decision. (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016) The “Ethical Issues Checklist” developed by Patton in

2015 lists 12 items to be considered.

Explaining the purpose of the inquiry and methods to be used

Reciprocity (what's in it for those involved)

Promises

Risk assessment

Confidentiality

Informed consent

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Data access and ownership

Interviewer mental health

Ethical advice (who will be your counselor on ethical matters)

Data collection boundaries

Ethical and methodological choices

Ethical versus legal (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p.264)

As a novice researcher, this list is a perfect starting off point to ensure that, aside

from any procedural ethics involved in the research (of which I do not believe there to be any), I

don’t make any ethical miss-steps. In the end ethics is simply making sure that, as a researcher,

you have crossed your “t’s” and dotted your “i’s”, that you have considered the moral and ethical

implications of what you are doing, observing, asking, and determined them to be acceptable,

that you are doing no harm whether physical, social, emotional or mental to anyone involved or

affected by the research and that you are not putting yourself or others in any illegal situations.

Section 4: Findings

From the beginning of this research it was important for the pedagogical concepts to be

familiar to the students. The concepts that make up meaningfulness and meaningful experiences,

as described by LAMPE in their research, were introduced and discussed with students in class

prior to the beginning of data collection. Additionally, as an introduction to the survey of student

perceptions of meaningfulness in the spring PE program, I recorded a short video that again

discussed meaningfulness with respect to challenge, delight, fun, personal relevance, social

interaction and skill development. The major finding of this research was that, overall, students

appear to find their physical education experiences meaningful in some way, the majority of the

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time. This result reinforces my beliefs that the program is meeting the needs of the bulk of the

students. The question that grew out of these findings though is “can we make PE meaningful to

every student in every lesson?”.

Reflections on my Practice

Value orientation.

I went through this instrument as part of the reflective process with regard to my

teaching practice. By looking into my value orientation, I hope to find out where my beliefs "fit"

according to the research by Chen, Zhang, Wells, Schweighardt, and Ennis (2017). When I first

came across this research in 2017 I reflected on where I felt I would fit into it. Below is an

excerpt from a paper I wrote that addressed this topic.

Based on descriptions of the Ennis Value Orientation Inventory used in the

research by Chen, Zhang, Wells, Schweighardt, and Ennis (2017) I believe

that I would primarily fall into an orientation combination of the ecological

integration (EI) and self/social responsibility (SR) orientations with a more EI

focus. The EI orientation is a balanced perspective that addresses mastery, self-

actualization and social interaction. Subject matter and social responsibility hold

equal importance in developing an engaged and confident mover. While my

secondary orientation would seem to fit the SR orientation that focuses on

interpersonal interactions, cooperation, and teamwork in both the learning

situation and beyond. The SR orientation uses group-centered instruction,

expects students to demonstrate respect and cooperation, value teamwork

and emphasize collective effort. There are also aspects of disciplinary

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mastery (DM), specifically the development of physical competence, and

learning process (LP) through the use of problem- solving and application of

learning. (Van Ritchie, 2017, p.5)

Having taken these types of inventories many times over the years, I felt it best to

embark on this in two distinct ways. Firstly, I took the test twice (April 27th, 2018 and June 6th,

2018) as a means of validating the results. Secondly, I never opened the scoring guide until I was

finally ready to score the tests (June 6th, 2018). The results were unexpected in some ways,

though upon reflection quite accurate. My earlier reflection above is one that is possibly a little

unrealistic and altruistic. I know how to talk the talk, so to speak, and that reflection may just be

that.

The results of the VOI taken this spring clearly placed me in a very different set

of orientations, quite the opposite of my July 2017 reflection.

Table 6: Value Orientation Instrument - Results

DM LP SA EI SR0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Apil 27th June 6th

Looking at these results I consistently show a preference for the students to

develop individual autonomy (SA) with a strong focus on the learning process (LP) and

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discipline mastery (DM). Putting these together would look like a program that encourages

students to learn independently, to share their voice about their program and to take more control

of their learning, while focusing on their development of the knowledge and skills of the PE

program. Interestingly, to me, this seems to be exactly what I am looking to move toward with

this change plan that will explicitly focus on meaningful experiences for the students.

Non-participant observations.

The results obtained from 25 observations done over the spring by a non-participant

observer who was assisting in the PE program as a coop student provide more evidence of that

the program appears to be meaningful to the students. The 25 observations were done on 25

different students, randomly selected using a number generator which corresponded to their class

number (alphabetical listing). The students ranged from primary to grade 5, with 52% being male

and 48% being female. Students of visible minorities made up 16% of the data (12% African NS,

4% Arabic) with the remaining 84% being Caucasian.

Figure 2: Non-participant observer – student grade, gender and ethnicity breakdown

Results of the observations clearly show the students were engaged and enjoying

the activities, appeared to be appropriately challenged, and were interacting with each other in

positive ways. These results all point to meaningfulness being created in the program. (Figure 3).

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Figure 3: Meaningful Experiences Observed by Non-Participant

Student voice: Are current approaches meaningful to “the students”?

What do the students find meaning in? This question is critical to answer in order

to determine if there exists congruence or divergence between myself and my students. Using a

Google Form that was voluntary and available to all grade 4 and 5 students through my Google

Classroom, I asked them to check all that apply to them on a regular basis, with regard to their

general PE program. The results are listed in Table 8 below. The survey also asked about favorite

activity/game, fondest memory and things they disliked. Themes that emerged from these written

responses included: (1) Team sports were listed as favorite activity and fondest memory most

often, (2) gymnastics was the most popular individual activity listed, and (3) the most common

answer to least favorite activity was “none”. These results did not surprised me for a couple

reasons, firstly, the team sports (4 corner soccer, 4 corner tag tchoukball, rounders) we played

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were cooperative based and non-competitive in design. They focused on teamwork and every

game was preceded by an activity focused on fun, skill development and social interactions. The

popularity of gymnastics was also no surprise as the spring gymnastics program is a culmination

of their gymnastics “unit” which spans the year and had 4 sessions of varying lengths. The final

session this spring was very student focused giving them the autonomy to choose the skills,

apparatus and partners they wished to focus on. Comparing this with the results from the “How

Meaningful were our Spring PE Activities” survey reinforces these beliefs of the students with

team sports and gymnastics the highest ranked activities for “Fun” (Table 9), “Delight” (Table

13), and Personal Relevance (Table 14).

Table 8: Student voice in PE survey results

PE is Fun

A Goo

d Cha

lleng

e

Too Easy

Too H

ard

Positiv

e Soc

ial In

teract

ions

Enjoy S

kill D

evelo

pmen

t

I am im

provin

g

Releva

nt to

me

Life lo

ng m

emori

es0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Grade 4 Grade 5

Fun

The student survey revealed results that were not unexpected. While reflecting on

the effectiveness of lessons and on whether I believed I was presenting meaningful experiences

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to the students, my thoughts consistently mirrored the results of the survey. Gymnastics is

undoubtedly the favourite activity of the majority of my students, the novelty of Tchoukball (a

new game introduced this spring), the connection to the Winter Olympics with the simple play

like concepts of Bobsled/Luge/Skeleton, and the simple and friendly competition in Rounders (a

version of soccer baseball) account for the high scores for fun. Conversely, the practice time that

was spent and the difficulty in being successful in Spikeball could account for its lower fun

scoring.

Table 9: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey - FUN

Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of the amount of fun they had during the

activities this spring.

Spikeball Rounders Kicking Skills

4 Corner Soccer Tchoukball Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Vault

Bobsled /Luge/Skeleton

Intro to Golf

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Bars

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Social interactions.

Reviewing the social interaction results from the student survey confirm what was

observed by the non-participant observer. The vast majority of the time interactions are of a

positive nature. The only activities that brought up “generally not positive or cooperative, poor

sportsmanship seen” were the games where teams played against each other. However, even in

those activities the majority of the responses were “occasionally” or “always” “positive or

cooperative”. Instances of poor sportsmanship and poor cooperation became most apparent with

the older grades during the activities that provided opportunity to compete and keep score. These

situations also led to instances of students “cheating” and “not following the rules” in order to

gain advantages in the games. While these were not observed in significant amount by the non-

participant observer, and were also not significant in the survey results, there were numerous

references in my journals concerning these types of behaviours and planning to address and

mitigate them.

Table 10: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – SOCIAL INTERACTIONS



4 Corner Soccer Intro to Golf

Tchoukball Gymnastics Floor

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Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of their social interactions with peers in the

groupings and activities this spring.

Challenge.

Challenge is an interesting concept to discuss and get feedback on from

elementary students. The survey results listed in Table 7 seem to imply that the majority of the

activity done this past spring was relatively easy for the majority of the students who responded

to the survey. As the survey was conducted anonymously it is difficult to say whether or not

these perceptions of the students reflect my own perceptions. However, in my reflections on

three of the activities I was critical of my planning due to the difficulty that almost every student

had grasping the game play concepts of 4 Corner Tag Tchoukball, the poorly developed striking

skills and cooperation required for Spikeball and the poor striking skills required for golf.

Similarly, the four gymnastics activities were overwhelmingly rated as very easy to easy, yet the

skill level of students with only minor exceptions is at the beginner levels of development and in

my mind should be reflected as a good challenge for almost every student in the school.

Created with the concept of challenge in mind, 4 Corner Tag Tchoukball proved to

be a great experiment during this research. The game was created as a modified form of

Tchoukball (using the rebounders and scoring system) that allowed running with the ball until

Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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tagged, at which point the player would have to attack a rebounder or pass to their teammate.

Eight players moved about the gym as attackers (2 per team) while the remaining team members

remained in their corner as defenders at the rebounder. The game was introduced in steps (similar

to a Teaching Games for Understanding build) to help understanding of the Tchoukball scoring

concepts, the moving/tagging concept, and the attacking/defending roles. It was interesting to see

the survey results indicate 44% found it easy or very easy, while 39% found it to be a good

challenge or too hard. Given the frustrations I and many students experienced during the first

couple days of this activity and the limited overall success of students I was anticipating a much

higher response for it being too hard.

Table 11: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – CHALLENGE




Tchoukball

Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of how easy to hard the students found it to

be successful in the activities this spring.

Skill development.

As a teacher focused on the educational aspects of a PE program, I often have skill

development as a critical focus in lessons, though rarely does it encompass a majority of time.

Kicking skills this spring was a focus and while we played Rounders (a kicking game) and 4

corner soccer (a kicking game) I decided to spend a couple lessons entirely focused on

developing the kicking skills. With these lessons I tried to keep the concept of fun and delight

alive by have energetic and popular warmup games, then would focus in on the skill

development of kicking, drop kicks and ball control with the feet. Reflecting on these lessons I

was encouraged by a couple things, firstly, the commitment of students to stay on task and

practice the skills, and secondly, the persistence of the younger students who would ask to have a

ball to practice kicking in future lessons.

Survey results of skill development consistently show a majority of students indicate that

they perceived their effort to be high and their skills to have improved. I find it interesting that all

four gymnastics activities have very high responses of “I am much better now”. It is also positive

to note that in only a few cases did students indicate that they “did not work to improve my

skills”. This helps to confirm the non-participant observations that activities were appropriately

planned so that students were able to be successful practicing their skills and could improve their

performance.

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Table 12: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – SKILL DEVELOPMENT



Delight.

The concept of delight was a tough one to have students fully comprehend during our

discussions at the outset of this research. After a couple of attempts and reflections on the

wording I was using I came up with the idea of “a memory to last a lifetime” as representing the

ultimate in a delightful experience. From there student understanding seemed to increase and

they were able to share examples during discussions about favorite activities and fondest

memories. In reviewing reflections, the most common theme to emerge from fondest memories



4 Corner Soccer Intro to Golf Tchoukball

Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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was tag games, specifically ones that had some meaning to the students. Grinch Tag, Pokemon

Tag and Raptor Tag were consistently mentioned as favorites by the younger and older students

alike. In each case the game has a story to it and is more involved than a simple freeze tag style

game.

Early on in this process I planned an activity specifically focused on delight as the

goal. Shortly after the Winter Olympics had ended I introduced the students to the sled sports

with a highlight reel of bobsled, luge and skeleton along with some basics about each sport. We

then created our own sleds using scooter boards and gymnastics mats and tried out bobsled style

racing, luge style racing and skeleton style racing on our “sleds”. This lesson was easily the most

energetic, engaged and exuberant activity of the season. In fact, the one-off lesson turned into

two or even three lessons for some classes as they simply had to keep playing it!

Table 13: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – DELIGHT




Tchoukball Gymnastics Floor

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Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of memorable and delightful the activities

were this spring.

Personal relevance.

Personal relevance was another concept that took a little effort to get

understanding from the students. While I do include lesson goals, “I can” statements and “talking

circle time” in most lessons the idea of PE being educational still eludes many of the students.

Often the question “when are we going to start?” comes up from the younger students 5 minutes

into a mini-lesson on a skill or concept. Consequently, I related personal relevance simply to

importance rather than the why we are learning and how it applies to life outside the gym.

Planning for personal relevance was rather difficult, as every student has differing

ideas of what might be relevant to their lives. However, on reflection it became apparent that the

tag games most enjoyed by the students seemed to result from personal relevance rather than

challenge, fun, delight, social interaction, or skill development. By creating a narrative and

building the game through a story these four tag games became the most popular at my school.

An example is Pokémon Tag, it is a story-based tag game that involves characters from the

Pokémon world, along with training, battling and pretending to be a Pokémon. This game grew

out of the constant talk of Pokémon and the playing of the card game at school and when first

Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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introduced was an instant hit with the students. This and the other tag games are used as

warmups and are played often, generally by request of a student or group of students.

Table 14: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – PERSONAL RELEVANCE

Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of how important or relevant the activities

were this spring.




Tchoukball

Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Section 4: Discussion

The understanding of my approach that can be derived from this research on

meaningfulness for the students is critical in creating and program that can meet the needs of the

students. As Ennis (2017) points out, “Effective teachers plan carefully, create an engaging

environment, provide clear instruction, and support students with learning cues and formative

assessments.” (p.241) Therefore, in order to be an effective or quality educator using this data to

inform my curricular choices is critical. Ennis goes on to discuss the three types of PE programs

happening in the gymnasiums of America today; the recreational approach, the public health

approach and the educational approach. By working with the findings in this research and using

the current structures in my program I will be continuing on the path to offering a high quality,

meaningful physical education program using an educational approach. By valuing and explicitly

planning for the concepts of meaningful physical education, while continuing to pursue the

educational approaches and content that work to develop the students understanding and ability

to apply learning in multiple contexts and situations. With this lofty goal, I am left with some

emerging questions, (1) Can I create meaningfulness in every lesson, for every student? (2) How

will I explicitly plan for meaningfulness in the future? And (3) What can I do to ensure the

quality of the educational program given the constraints of limited instructional time and a

multitude of outcomes to cover.

Creating Meaningfulness in Every Lesson, for Every Student?

Throughout the spring while this research was taking place my thoughts

constantly revolved around this question. How can every lesson be meaningful for every student?

Is this even possible? How would I plan for all of these concepts to be approached and covered?

Then while reading an educational blog I came across the idea of a sound board. The educator

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was using the concept of the sliding buttons of the sound board to each represent an aspect of his

program. That made sense to me and I began thinking of the six concepts of meaningfulness as

each being one of a group that needed to be arranged differently every lesson and for every

student. So, moving on with this approach, by planning a lesson based on my knowledge of the

students, my knowledge of the curriculum and outcomes, and my understanding of meaningful

experiences and quality teaching I will allow for every concept to have its own degree or level of

priority. Fun may be high, while challenge is low… or a focus on skill development means it is

high as would be challenge while fun and social interactions are lower. This idea answered the

first part of my questioning about creating meaning in every lesson, but what about the second

part, creating meaning for every student?

It was not until discussions with a critical friend (an elementary PE specialist in

the HRCE and PEPLC member) that I realized it may not be that difficult of a problem to solve.

His point was that given the six concepts that create meaningful experiences, a well-planned and

prepared lesson ought to be able to hit one of the six for every child. He was also of the mindset

that creating meaning was not an all or nothing event and when it occurred in a lesson it wasn’t

for the entire lesson but happened in short bursts or episodes. These feelings about creating

meaningfulness in every lesson for every student opened my eyes to the possibilities. If

meaningfulness could be episodic, then planning for it to happen was not necessarily required. A

“teachable moment” is a common term in education for when you can stop everything and

refocus on what just happened to “teach something else”. His point about meaningful

experiences being like a “teachable moment” was critical in my understandings moving forward

in the research and with planning for meaningful PE in the future.

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Explicitly Planning for Meaningfulness

A variety of strategies on how to plan for meaningfulness have presented themselves

along this journey. One of the more challenging concepts to plan for has been personally relevant

learning. In Walseth et. al. (2018) they discussed the use of goals for every lesson that are

explicitly clarified to the students at the beginning of every lesson and how their students found

this to be motivating and made the activities more meaningful to them. They also discussed the

importance of including the students in the planning process, especially those students that

dislike PE. Walseth and colleagues stated that they found these students to be more engaged and

interested in PE when they had a say in the program creation.

Planning for fun, on the other hand should be no trouble at all. As Garn and

Cothran (2006) point out fun is a primary goal of both teachers and students. With the knowledge

of our students we can then design engaging activities and lessons that will promote student

enjoyment while also addressing curricular outcomes. They do go on to indicate that when

teachers are planning for fun, they must also account for the social interactions that will be

taking place, whether they are student-student or teacher-student.

Utilising reflection during lessons is an especially important strategy for including

the concepts of challenge and personally relevant learning. Although they can be planned,

specific modifications to activities and games that ensure appropriate levels of challenge can be

difficult to predict for each student. For this reason, modifications in the moment can be more

useful because they were based on direct observations of students’ engagement and experience.

As for personally relevant learning, during talking circle times it is possible to find ways to help

students make connections to their lives outside the classroom. For example, this spring the

hottest new thing was Fortnite, an online first-person shooter game. Needless to say, not

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elementary school appropriate, but nonetheless discussed constantly. An aspect of the game that

kept rearing its ugly head was the taunting that avatars do after a kill – they dance over their

victim. Well there are a few different dances and more than a few times I had to stop classes to

discuss why I was not allowing these dances to be done in the gym. We would discuss why the

characters danced in the game and what it meant. Then we would reflect on what that would be

like in real life. These discussions fortuitously evolved at the same time I was focusing my life

skills sessions on what “A Good Sport in PE understands”.

Providing choice in activities is a key method of encouraging the engagement of

students in activities that they find meaningful to them. There are a variety of ways to provide

choice during a lesson, each allowing a focus on a different aspect of meaningfulness. This can

be as simple as allowing students to select from a variety of equipment options (bean bag, tennis

ball, foam ball or juggling ring to practice juggling) allowing choice regarding skill

development, to choosing partners or groupings which addresses social interactions, to having

choice in the level of challenge in an activity (foul shots vs three point shots), or even between

different activities (personal relevance). However, to be meaningful and truly effective creating

autonomy in PE needs to include the students in said creation. Using an activist approach to co-

create curriculum that fits the needs and interests of every student by focusing on what can be

changed in order to improve engagement. Walseth, Engebretsen, & Elvebakk (2018) detail how

to use the activist approach. The work in this research has provided a vision into the minds of the

students and has given me a foundation to build upon. I now know the students better, their

opinions, their like and dislikes in PE, their fondest memories in PE. This represents the first

phase of an activist approach. Next is the development of a thematic program or unit, teaching

principles and a teaching plan. A thematic unit focuses on learning around a central theme and

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may use a variety of sports and physical activities to reach this goal. Including the student

opinions and input in this process is crucial. Therefore, involving the students in the program

planning process is of great importance to their experiences of meaningfulness in PE. Walseth et

al. (2018) show that to listen to students and broaden students’ understanding of what PE can be

has the potential to empower students, and to contribute to meaningful experiences in PE.

What I want to be able to create and accomplish after this research into my

teaching practice can be summed up nicely by the words of Prithwi Raj Subramaniam (2010),

A learning environment that provides high cognitive engagement, meaningful

content, instant enjoyment, exploration opportunities, novelty and challenge, and

active-learning experiences—and that is vested in a mastery climate employing

developmentally appropriate activities and using a variety of instructional

approaches that empower students. (p. 41)

Section 5: Final Reflection

Throughout the last two years I have been exposed to many new ideas about

education that have transformed how I think about physical education. The reading and research

I have done has opened my eyes to the vast variety of approaches and models for teaching PE.

The process of planning, preparing, teaching and reflecting on my practice has become a more

thoughtful activity for me. How I interact with my students; knowing their needs, likes, dislikes

and values with regard to PE, developing more depth, consideration, and understanding of them

as people. What I value in terms of curriculum, leadership, and change in the realm of education,

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in my school and in my gymnasium has grown to be more inclusive, relevant, and appropriate.

Ultimately what all of this learning and research has led to is a new understanding of what I need

to move forward in my teaching, to be the best physical educator possible.

Interestingly it has been the final courses that have really brought clarity to my

reflections concerning my teaching. Leadership, change and meaningful experiences in PE

represent much of the content I have reflected on, read and absorbed and focused on over the

past few months. What I have finally realized is that creating change in any culture is a

challenging and long-term process and within my teaching practice, the culture I need to lead in

change is that of the classroom environment. In order to effectively address the problem, I

needed to gather information and create a new vision for my classroom. With that in mind I

proceeded to address the question of meaningfulness of the physical education program. Through

a variety of data collection methods (non-participant observer, student voice, and reflection) I

endeavoured to understand what the students were thinking about their experiences in the gym.

Would I find a correlation between their interpretation of the program and the increase in

misbehaviours? Would their feelings about the PE program reflect my feelings about it?

At the same time, it is important for me to understand where I am coming from as

an educator and leader of change. What leadership styles do I use? Which would be best suited

for this change plan? What skills do I have or need to develop? Additionally, I believe that

reflecting on what I value as a physical educator is also very important to understanding what I

have to do to create a change in the culture in the gymnasium.

“Moral purpose means acting with the intention of making a positive difference in

the lives of individuals” This quote from the 7th slide of the Chapter 1/2 presentation by

Professor Berg in EDUC 533 – Dynamics of Change, speaks volumes to me. My intention is

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now to create and embrace meaningful experiences for the students in PE that help to alleviate

the off-task behaviours. As a leader moral purpose needs to guide my decision making and I

believe that my goal to make PE more meaningful for the students through the planning process

fits. I have the trust of the students and am working to build on that through giving them voice in

their programs, I have a fine-tuned focus I am working toward and will develop it with the

students and other teachers. I must persevere through this change until it becomes my go to

practice in teaching and thereby is second nature. My plan for teaching explicitly for meaningful

experiences in physical education is slowly developing the coherence needed to take hold. The

critical difference with this change in my practice, is my moral purpose. By discovering

Meaningful PE as a "thing", I found research that spoke to my feelings, values and beliefs about

PE and gave language and direction to much of what I have been doing over the years.

Coherence is all about mindsets, creating a shared mindset among all the

stakeholders involved. It is critical that only a small number of goals are established, with the

focus on student achievement in PE. My strategy to building coherence will focus on creating an

excitement over student ownership of the PE program by making it meaningful to as many

students as possible as often as possible. I have begun the process and have a focused direction in

which I am moving my practice. I have also started to create the collaborative culture with the

students through investigating their likes, dislikes and opinions about the PE program. The next

steps are deepening the learning through creating goals and shifting my practice to meet the

goals. Ultimately through building coherence my hope is to create a sustained focus on improved

practice, more consistency in behaviours and improved student performance in PE.

Another focus with respect to change is to address the marginalization of physical

education as a program in school. This begins with simple steps like getting people to use proper

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terminology. "Gym class" and "Gym" need to become Physical Education, PE, or Phys. Ed.

Secondly, more work with the other staff to view PE not as prep time but rather as an integral

aspect of the curriculum is needed.

Throughout this journey I have worked at reflecting in, on and about action (or as

I described it using level 1,2 and 3 reflections). I continue to take risks with my teaching,

searching for the most meaningful and instructive ways to bring the information and skills alive

for my students. Working with others in the PE community and my school is a critical aspect of

driving the changes in culture I am hoping to achieve. Finally, my professional development has

impacted my teaching and student achievement continually over the past couple years in this

MED program. The connection between the quality of my teaching and the quality of the student

experiences has definitely strengthened.

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Footnotes

1[Add footnotes, if any, on their own page following references. For APA formatting

requirements, it’s easy to just type your own footnote references and notes. To format a footnote

reference, select the number and then apply the Footnote Reference. The body of a footnote,

such as this example, uses the Normal text style. (Note: If you delete this sample footnote, don’t

forget to delete its in-text reference as well.)]

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Tables

Table 1

A brief description of the five value orientations

Orientation Description

Discipline Mastery (DM) a teacher who emphasizes knowledge and skills.

Learning Process (LP) a teacher who emphasizes the development of process skills for

independent learning regardless of content.

Self-Actualization (SA) a teacher who emphasizes the continual development of an

individual’s autonomy

Social Responsibility (SR) a teacher who encourages pupils to respect and cooperate with

others

Ecological Integration (EI) a teacher who promotes personal meaning for students via

collaboratively developed curricular experiences to achieve

personal and social goals

(Chen et.al., 2017)

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Table 2. Framework-for-inquiry analytic tool

Topic Questions focused on the self…

Purpose What is the purpose of the study?

Definition of

S-STEP

What definition of S-STEP does the author use? Where is the self-

situated in this study?

Definition of

S-STEP

methodology

When the author describes methodology, how is it apparent that the

study is a S-STEP? How does the author describe the methodology?

Rigorous

research practice

What data collection and data analysis tools are used? How are the

aspects of the methodology described? How did the author make

apparent thoughtful research practice? As part of making a study

rigorous comes in the context selected for study, in what way or

ways do the context support the rigor of the study?

Explicit

evidence

In what ways does the author connect the data collected with the

assertions made in the study? For example, if they said that they

interviewed people, how is that displayed in the evidence? Does the

evidence collected allow for the insights the author claims?

Authority of

experience

How does the author situate the authority of her/his own experience

in the study? How do he/she situate themselves in the study so that

the readers will accept their work as trustworthy?

Story of self In what ways is the self-portrayed in the study? Where is the self in

relationship with others? How is the self-evident?

Situate in larger

literature

Within what research literatures does the author situate their work?

How do they bring depth to the understandings of their field of

focus?

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Table 3. Quality Indicators for Teacher Research

Indicator Questions to ponder

Context of

Study

o Have I considered all aspects of my context? Will others be able to

understand where my thoughts and wonderings emerge from based

on the description of the context?

Wonderings and

Purpose

o Have I effectively described my dilemma? Have I connected my

wonderings to related literature? Are my wonderings focused on me

and my personal practice?

Teacher-

Researcher

Design

o Have I considered all possible data sources and the number of data

sources used? Is my timeline flexible? Is it realistic?

Teacher-

Researcher

Learning

o How will I illustrate my findings? Am I confident my findings

emerged from the data rather than forcing the data to fit pre-

determined findings? Can I explain data that didn’t fit? Did these

findings resonate with me through my reflections?

Implications for

Practice

o Will these results lead to action within my practice? Are they logical

outgrowths of what I learned in my inquiry? Are there further

wonderings that can grow out of my inquiry?

(Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2014)

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Table 4. Data Sources and Prompts

Source Prompts

Documents Lesson topic? Lesson outcomes? What am I explicitly

attempting to do/teach/present in this lesson? In this unit?

What model is being used?

Written Reflections Do I feel that the students are getting what I want from the

lesson? Is my focus similar to what they are experiencing?

Non-participant

Observer

What do students seem to be doing during lesson? What are

you observing in their behaviours? Are they on task,

developing a skill? Interest in activity? Do they appear to be

having fun, experiencing joy or delight? Are they being

challenged appropriately? What social interactions are being

observed?

Critical Friend

Discussion

What resonated with me from our discussion was… I would

approach this lesson by…I suggest that you…

Student Voice Do you find this activity relevant to you? Is it challenging?

Would you describe it as fun or delightful? What is your

favorite activity, why?

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Table 5. A Priori Coding – potential codes and behaviours

Code Behaviours to observe

Fun and/or Delight Happiness, laughing, engagement, joy

Challenge Too easy, too hard, appropriate

Frustration, errors, off task

Interactions Positive, negative

o Student-student, student-teacher, teacher-student

Behaviour, social, critical,

constructive/corrective

Motor Competence Practicing skill

o Proper performance, uses feedback

Personally Relevant Engagement, interest

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Table 6: Value Orientation Instrument - Results

DM LP SA EI SR0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Apil 27th June 6th

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Table 7: Student voice in PE survey results

PE is Fun

A Goo

d Cha

lleng

e

Too Easy

Too H

ard

Positiv

e Soc

ial In

teract

ions

Enjoy S

kill D

evelo

pmen

t

I am im

provin

g

Releva

nt to

me

Life lo

ng m

emori

es0

24

6

810

12

1416

18

Grade 4 Grade 5

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Table 8: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey - FUN




Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Table 9: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – SOCIAL INTERACTIONS

Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of their social interactions with peers in the

groupings and activities this spring.




Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Table 10: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – CHALLENGE






Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Table 11: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – SKILL DEVELOPMENT






Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Table 12: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – DELIGHT

Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of memorable and delightful the activities

were this spring.




Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Table 13: Spring Physical Education Activities Survey – PERSONAL RELEVANCE

Note: Ratings are based on the student’s perception of how important or relevant the activities

were to the student this spring.




Gymnastics Bars

Gymnastics Floor

Gymnastics Beam

Gymnastics Vault

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Figures

Figure 1. Search Protocol Flowchart

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Figure 2: Non-participant observer – student grade, gender and ethnicity breakdown1600

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Figure 3: Meaningful Experiences Observed 1617

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