Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Denna licentiatuppsats har studerat kommunikationsmönster och beslutsfattande i relation till lärarens undervisningsmetoder med ambitionen om att undervisa från ett mer frågebaserat och elevcentreratperspektiv. Studien är genomförd enligt principerna för en självstudie.

Resultatet av kommunikationen i min undervisning bestäms av vem som ska fatta de olika besluten. Om jag äger alla beslut kommer det också att leda till att jag äger nästan all kommunikation med och feedback till mina elever. Det leder också till mer lärarcentrerade undervisningsmetoder.

Resultatet av möjligheterna att förändra en praktik är att det inte finns något motstånd bland eleverna att undervisa på ett mer elevcentrerat och frågebaserat sätt. Normer är föränderliga och genom att undervisa på ett mer varieratsätt finns även möjligheter att fortsätta ett yrkesspråk inom idrott.

Knowledge is expressed in different forms – such as facts, understanding, skills, and familiarity – which require and interact with each other. Therefore, teachers cannot unilaterally emphasize one or the other form of knowledge, which means that teachers are challenged to master a variety of possible ways of teaching. The dominant language in physical education teaching comes from sports, and there is no language that puts into words the goals that teaching in school should have. Research in Sweden also emphasizes that when the institutions of school and sport meet, it is sport that sets the agenda. This means that physical education teaching has a way of being organized that is similar to club sport activities and its content with different sports. Today's curriculum is too multidimensional to use only one teaching method (Ferry & Olofsson, 2009; Schenker, 2011; Hedberg, 2014; Nyberg & Larsson, 2014, 2016; SueSee & Barker, 2019).

The aim of the study is to use self-study as a method and student-centered and question-based teaching strategies in combination with the teacher-centered and instruction-based teaching methods that dominate today.

Which communication patterns and which decision-making can be discerned in relation to the chosen teaching methods?How do the students describe the experience from the course with a focus on the teacher’s communication and the design of the teaching?The study took place in a course in physical education and health specialization in ice hockey in Sweden during eight months. The students in the study were all boys between 16 and 19 years old and were interviewed before and after the observed teaching. During the course, the teacher’s communication during the lessons was recorded with a microphone.

All teaching in the study has been categorized according to Kirk’s (1996) five teaching methods in order to distinguish who makes decisions, how the teaching is organized and what kind of communication and feedback that dominates. The empirical material has been analyzed using the theory of practice architecture. This theory is about understanding the practice and its changes, and what enables or hinders the development of the practice (Kemmis et al., 2014).

The outcome of the communication in my teaching is determined by who makes the different decisions. If I as a teacher own all decisions, it will also lead to me owning almost all communication with and feedback to my students. It also leads to more teacher-centered teaching methods. When I plan the teaching based on the fact that the students should also decide, I also invite them to communicate more. This communication can be between me and the students or between the students.

The study indicated that there was no resistance among students to a more student-centered and inquiry-based teaching. Norms are changeable, and by teaching in a more varied way there are also opportunities to develop a professional language in physical education.

To grasp what learning, teaching and knowing health might be in relation to a physical activity, the study explores what ninth grade students find difficult, and what they need to discern in teaching to experience the knowing of participation and evaluation of street dance classes through the concepts comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. These concepts are brought from Aron Antonovsky perspective of salutogenic health by Sense of Coherence (SOC). However I do not claim to embrace the complete SOC since it relates to life as a whole (Antonovsky, 1991; 2005).

The aim of the study is to investigate how to deal with the content of teaching making the students develop the ability to participate and evaluate physical activity in relation to the concepts mentioned. Furthermore by using the onset of phenomenography and theory of variation the study explores ways for teachers and students to discern critical features of the content of teaching.

The study design used is Learning study. It is a cyclic, pedagogical design aiming for making it possible for teachers to scientifically explore the quality of their own teaching in relation to a specific content being taught. In a Learning study teachers are collaborating with content of teaching, trying to discern critical features of the content to make these aspects come clear for the students in renewed teaching. A phenomenographic perspective is used to discern how the students’ experiences of the teaching content vary. The theory of variation is used for planning and carrying out lessons and evaluating them in order to make the critical aspects discernable for the students.

Three lessons within one Learning study cycle were staged. They were videotaped and field notes were taken. The sample consisted of three groups of ninth grade students, 15 to 16 years of age (n=52) and three teachers.

Three critical aspects according to the object of learning were discerned in the study:

• Experiences of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness within the context of street dance.
• Experiences of different forms of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness within different situations of the context of street dance.
• Within the context of street dance experience how the actions and experiences of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness by oneself simultane-ously relates to actions and experiences of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness of others.

The study shows how young students’ ability to carry through and evaluate street dance with point of departure in the meaning of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness may be improved when the students are offered a variation in the critical features of the subject content.