Inquiry based learning in physical education

The present project is a case study founded on the decreasing motivation and engagement in physical education. The project suggests inquiry based learning (IBL) as an educational methodology. This may help to turn the trend as IBL has shown to engage and motivate students at different educational levels and within different subjects. In this pilot research project performed at a physical education teacher education program, qualitative methods were chosen to investigate students’ motivation and engagement within an IBL-unit in physical education and to accentuate challenges, advantages and disadvantages within the IBL-methodology in relation to students’ motivation. Instructed in guided inquiry, 32 students of physical education in a teacher training college worked with inquiry based learning in physical education over a four week period. During the IBL-unit, qualitative data such as the students’ reflections and discussions (audio recorded), performance of practical exercises (video recorded) and the students’ written considerations were collected. Together with a focus group interview with six of the students, held at the end of the unit, all data were transcribed, coded and analysed in relation to the IBL and the motivation theory. The analysis revealed that the students found the method very motivating and engaging, but they also accentuated the difficulties experienced in the beginning of the inquiry work due to the degrees of freedom in the work. Besides, the students emphasised the learning potential of the method. Future qualitative studies are to focus on the learning potential of the IBL method: What did they learn and how?