1. PEDAGOGIES FOR MEANING-MAKING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Learning to teach fundamental movement skills
Tim Fletcher Brock University
Déirdre Ní Chróinín Mary Immaculate College, Ireland
Mary O’Sullivan University of Limerick, Ireland

2. Theoretical frames Pedagogy of teacher education (Loughran, 2006)
Meaning-making (Metheny, 1968; Polanyi, 1961)

3. WHY MEANING?

4. Contexts
Developing an approach that prioritized personal physical activity-related meaning-making (Blankenship & Ayers, 2010; Kretchmar, 2000)
Pre-service teachers in Ireland and Canada

5. Kretchmar’s criteria for a meaningful physical activity experience
Social interaction
Challenge (‘just right’)
Increased motor competence
Fun
Delight

6. Our research question:
What are the pedagogies of PETE that support teaching and learning of fundamental motor skills (FMS) in ways that prioritise meaning-making?

7. Self-study in PE

8. DATA SOURCE APPROX. DATA (2 yrs.)
Teacher educator journal entries
wds
Critical friend responses
wds
Recorded audio conversations
14 hrs
Naturalistic observations
75 hrs
Individual interviews with students*
n = 23
Focus group interviews with 4-5 students* 2
Student artifacts
~ 400 individual submissions

9. Analysis Turning points (Bullock & Ritter, 2011) Trustworthiness:
Expert member check
Self-study criterion of resonance (LaBoskey, 2004)

10. Findings and insights
Teacher educators modelled contrasting pedagogical approaches which allowed student teachers to evaluate the merits of each

11. Findings and insights
Pedagogies to access meanings included pair and small group discussion and reflective writing using guiding questions focused on affective and experiential aspects of participation

12. Findings and insights
Teacher educators and student teachers developed a vocabulary of meaning-making and made it the filter through which they make pedagogical decisions.

13. Findings and insights
Student teachers explored how assessment of FMS might support children accessing the meanings they find in physical education contexts.

15. Discussion
Having prospective teachers learn how to teach for meaning requires teacher educators to explicitly invite:
Reflection on the meaning students derived from experiences as learners/participants
Reflection on the meaning students derived from experiences as prospective teachers

16. Conclusion
Teaching for meaning requires planning and assessing for meaning, not just hoping it happens