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Topic

Motivating movement: Exploring educators’ perspectives on supporting preservice teachers to be prepared to

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Date & location

• Thursday, December 5, 2024

• 8:30 A.M.

• Clearihue Building

• Room B017 and Virtual

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Michelle Wiebe, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

• Dr. Deborah Begoray, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, UVic (Member)

• Dr. Carol Rees, Thompson Rivers University, (Outside Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Ash Casey, School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University 

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Monique Auger, School of Public Health and Social Policy, UVic 

Abstract

The pandemic of physical inactivity is a critical health issue; one that is negatively impacting the health of children worldwide. The continued decrease of children engaging in physical activity is not only negatively impacting their physical health but is seriously impacting their overall wellbeing (Government of Canada, 2023a). Digital technology is a means that has shown to be useful in promoting physical activity in all ages of people, including children in grades K – 7 (Lewis et al., 2017; Parker et al., 2017). Teachers have been both entrusted with finding effective ways of addressing the crucial need for their students to be more physically active (Armour & Harris, 2013; Cale et al., 2016; Government of British Columbia, 2022; Government of British Columbia, 2023e) and tasked with integrating digital technology into all courses, including physical education (Government of British Columbia, 2023b). Despite the need for Education programs to be preparing preservice teachers to integrate digital technology for physical activity promotion, there exists limited research on how preservice teachers are being prepared (Armour et al., 2017; Baek et al., 2018b; Kretschmann, 2015; Krause, O’Neil & Jones, 2020; Wyant et al., 2015). This study used a multi-case descriptive case study research design to explore the perspectives of teacher-educators on supporting preservice teachers to be prepared to integrate digital technology into their future classes for the goal of promoting physical activity. Three teacher-educators participated in this study, all of whom teach physical education to preservice teachers in Education programs at three different universities in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and direct observation. The theoretical foundation of this study was Mishra & Koehler’s TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and Vygotsky's Social Constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978). The TPACK framework describes the connection and complexity between the various knowledge areas (technological, pedagogical, and content) needed by teachers to integrate digital technology (Koehler et al., 2014). Vygotsky’s theory of Social Constructivism provided insight into the significance of social context in technology integration. In addition, Armour (2011) and Casey et al. (2017a) provide the conceptualization of pedagogy that informs this study. Findings generated from this study brought to the forefront factors that are impacting teacher-educators’ ability to prepare preservice teachers to integrate digital technology. Specifically, the external factors of university resources, program structure, and sociocultural influence; and the internal factors of beliefs, willingness to vulnerably explore, and embracing the facilitator role emerged as impactful. Teacher-educators fostered pedagogical integration through two main strategies: 1) exposing preservice teachers to various digital technologies and 2) providing preservice teachers with guided exploration time. Teacher-educators aimed to encourage preservice teachers to critically consider how technology is impacting their students’ physical education and activity within and beyond the walls the classroom and to encourage them to respond to what is occurring in society to keep education relevant. Further, teacher-educators noted that digital technology is fully integrated into society and that this needs to be reflected in education to keep education relevant. The implications of these findings to theory are that as well as supporting the importance of the TPACK framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006), they highlight the importance of the social and cultural context (Vygotsky, 1978) and the need to focus on good pedagogy (Casey et al., 2017a). The implications of these findings to practice are that teacher-educators need to constantly adapt and grow to support preservice teachers so that they remain socially relevant and maintain credibility in the lives of 21st century children.