Action Research as an Agent for Enhancing Teaching and Learning in Physical Education: A Physical Education Teacher’s Perspective

Abstract

Introduction: Action research is a useful method for implementing change through its spiral of plan, act, observe, and reflect, but little research has been published on it in the area of physical education. The purpose of this intervention was to assess the effectiveness of action research as an agent of change and its impact on enhancing my teaching and the learning experience of students in physical education. This was class-based research, which acted as a form of CPD to enhance my classroom practice. Method: I adopted a repeated spiral of plan, act, observe, and reflect to implement incremental changes through critical reflection. Results: Action research was effective in enhancing teaching and the learning of the students. Discussion: It became a collaborative and empowering approach between myself and the students, and it lent itself to creating, sharing, and generating knowledge, thus creating a community of practice between myself and my colleagues. Conclusion: Action research is a useful agent of change because it can be tailored to the needs of the teacher. It should be a compulsory component of teacher education courses, and it should be considered an essential skill for lifelong learning for teachers.

Exploring students’ perceptions of video-guided debates in a game-based basketball setting

“…In this respect, PE teachers can benefit even more from the findings in this study if they intend to use an action research approach in which they learn themselves to collect data, to handle the technology, and to understand the pedagogical didactical procedures and requirements (e.g. Keegan 2016).…”

The Effects of Team-Game-Tournaments Application towards Learning Motivation and Motor Skills in College Physical Education

“…Keegan [21] believed that action research is a useful method of teaching reform because it can be tailored to the needs of teachers and students, and should be considered a basic skill in teachers' lifelong learning. Collaboration with diverse team members is an important competency in society [22].…”

Educator as Researcher: The Use of Action Research to Explore Effects of Teachers’ Corrective Feedback on Students’ Microteaching Exercise in College of Education in Nigeria

“…Action research is a practical way of looking and checking teacher's corrective feedback to ascertain if it will bring the desired improvements, and as such, since it is a form of self-reflective study, perhaps contribute to the reflection on the teacher's experience during teacher training teaching practice exercise (McNiff, 2002;Brydon-Miller & Maguire, 2009). One would perhaps reason with Keegan's (2016) argument that action research is a flexible approach which gives room for continuous adaptations and changes as the intervention progresses. Keegan As a teacher, one can achieve these processes through actions, decisions, discussions, evaluations and revisions (Adelman, 1993) of teacher's corrective feedback to student teachers in microteaching practice exercises.…”

“…Action research is argued to be a collaborative practice that involves sharing responsibilities for learning (Keegan, 2016). This collaborative nature of action research will perhaps bring me closer to the students and increase my skills of listening to their contributions, as well as acting upon such contributions.…”