An Activist Approach to Physical Education and Physical Activity: Imagining What Might Be

This timely and diverse collection offers perspectives on engaging people in physical activity utilizing the Activist Approach. This approach facilitates interest, motivation, and learning in physical education by focusing on student-centered pedagogy, embodiment, inquiry-based education, and listening and responding to students over time. The resource collates experts and beginners who have used the Activist Approach to incorporate participants’ interests, motivation, and learning needs and maintain student voices in physical activity environments.

Chapters center around three broad areas of the Activist Approach: (1) physical education settings, (2) physical activity settings, and (3) teachers’ experiences of learning to use an Activist Approach in physical education and physical activity. Contributors from around the world discuss challenges and benefits experienced, issues of equity and justice, and what people gained and gave up by using the approach. Focusing on key areas in physical education settings, dance, sport, and physical activity settings, and PE teacher education and professional development, this book offers crucial, critical perspectives on how to meet people’s physical activity needs.

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).