Lab

Embodiment, Movement and Physical Education

Institution: Independent Researcher

About the lab

The lab explores the various ways physical education and movement can be experienced. Embodied and subjective dimensions is crucial but often neglected dimensions in the characterization of physical activity. Physical activity does not derive its meaning from measurable effects and instrumental rationality alone. (Inter-)Subjective feelings and experiences are important sources of meaning.
The lab carries out empirical and qualitative investigations of movement and physical education in primarily schools and day-care centres. Theoretically, the research are inspired by a wide range of philosophical, sociological and psychological works, such as R.S. Kretchmar, P. Sloterdijk, Merleau-Ponty, S. Gallagher, J. Dewey, R. Sennett.
https://www.via.dk/forskning/paedagogik-og-dannelse/krop-idraet

Featured research (2)

Scholars regard educational action research as contributing to change and developing sustainable teaching practices. The theoretical framework revolves around the idea that changes stem from human actions and draws inspiration from several philosophical traditions. However, the dynamo of transformation in the different approaches is generally a systematic self-reflective inquiry. In this study, we examine how changes of practice through educational action research emerge when the process is understood through the enactive theory of participatory sense-making. The point of departure for our methodological examination is an action research project on Movement Integration in Danish primary and secondary schools. Our analysis underscores that the process of dialogue and participation in action research gains impact by embracing joint movement-based actions. The study highlights that pre-reflective and movement-based inquiries may be a significant dynamo in the action research project’s effort to become deeply meaningful for the participants, to empower their participation and to make sustainable practice transformations possible. Applying the enactive framework in action research brings forward a methodological awareness about unnoticed dimensions of how participants make sense of action research processes, and the significance of being attentive to and working actively with 1) relation-making, i.e. how participants participate in each other’s sense-making by how they move in relation to each other; 2) time-making, i.e. how participants’ past experiences and future possibilities interblend with how they grasp a given matter; and 3) space-making, i.e. how sense-making is extended into space through the body’s location and actions in a given environment.
I mange år har fokus på bevægelse ligget på den fysiske del og i mindre grad på, at bevægelse også indeholder en sanselig, følelsesmæssig og relationel dimension. Sans for bevægelse undersøger ud fra et fænomenologisk og eksistentielt perspektiv, hvordan bevægelse og pædagogik er tæt sammenvævet. Den inspirerer til, hvordan pædagoger og lærere kan forstå og arbejde med bevægelse og de erfaringer og meningsforståelser, som følger med bevægelse. Bogen behandler en række pædagogiske temaer gennem en nær anknytning til praksis. Forfatterne kommer blandt andet ind på: Leg, Empati, Lidenskab, Bevægelsesglæde, Handicap, Energi osv. Bogen henvender sig primært til pædagoger, pædagogstuderende og undervisere på pædagoguddannelser, og alle med interesse for bevægelse og pædagogik.

Lab head

Jens-Ole Jensen

Members (8)

Ole Lund
  • VIA University College, Aarhus, Denmark
Esben Stilund Volshøj
  • VIA University College
Kasper Lasthein Madsen
  • VIA University College
Lars Dahl Pedersen
  • University College Absalon
Mette Munk
  • VIA University College
Lise Réol
  • VIA UC, læreruddannelsen i Aarhus, Denmark
Henrik Taarsted Jørgensen
  • VIA University College
Michael Blume
  • VIA University College