An Activist Approach to Physical Education and Physical Activity

Jackie Beth Shilcutt has performed, collaborated, and choreographed with various dance projects both stateside and abroad in venues from Texas to New York to Brazil and Kenya. Dr Shilcutt is an assistant professor at Utah Tech University and affiliate faculty at New Mexico State University. Her research focuses on implementing an Activist Approach to teaching in dance settings including after-school dance clubs for middle school youth, dance content courses for physical education teacher candidates, community programming, and university dance technique classes. Kimberly L. Oliver is a professor of physical education pedagogy and directs the Physical Education Teacher Education Concentration at New Mexico State University. Dr Oliver’s line of inquiry investigates student-centered pedagogy, producing qualitative research both independently and collaboratively with students, colleagues, and international peers. She has developed the Activist Approach to teaching physical education (Oliver & Kirk, 2015), and she has shared this approach worldwide. Carla Nascimento Luguetti has ten years of experience doing activist approaches in a variety of settings (community sport and physical education and teacher education programs). Carla has demonstrated the ability to design and conduct research with a strong commitment to reducing social inequalities and promoting positive and sustainable social change in and through sport. Collaboratively and in partnership with communities, her line of research aims at co-designing curricula and/or programs with diverse youth (from socially vulnerable backgrounds, CALD, and refugee backgrounds).

1. Introduction; 2. Theoretical perspectives and features of the Activist Approach; Part I: An Activist Approach in Physical Education; 3. The Joys and Challenges of Engaging in an Activist Approach with Adolescent Girls in a Physical Education Setting; 4. Opening Our Eyes to Student-Centered Practice: Learning from Preservice Teachers’ Experiences; 5. "Teaching Faceless Students": Exploring the Possibilities of an Activist Approach in Remote Health and Physical Education Teacher Education; Part II: An Activist Approach in Physical Activity Settings; 6. "We Wanted to Choreograph It, Not BE in It!": Listening and Responding to Youth in a Middle School Dance Club; 7. An Activist Approach in Sport for Development Programs; 8. Enhancing Athlete Engagement: The Impact of Student-Centered Pedagogy in Strength and Conditioning Coaching; 9. Youth Researchers: Engaging Young People in Research Through an Activist Approach; 10. "It’s MoreAabout Sharing the Weight": An Activist Approach to Community Programs; Part III: Teachers’ Experiences of Learning to Use an Activist Approach in Physical Education and Physical Activity; 11. "Thinking More Broadly Than Sport": A PE Teacher's Journey from Sports Towards Student-Centered Learning; 12. Changing a Teaching Identity: Negotiating Cultural Influences in Becoming an Activist Teacher; 13. Exploring the Activist Approach in Camp Settings: A Sensory (Auto)Ethnography in a Firefighting Camp for Girls; 14. Conclusion: Imagining What Might Be