Physical Education Teachers’ Use of Digital Game Design Principles

Abstract

Purpose: The research applies a multidisciplinary perspective to create knowledge and insight about the opportunities that digital game design principles offer to physical education (PE) pedagogy. Methods: Data were initially collected through an appreciative inquiry (AI). AI offers an alternative research perspective to critical theory that has dominated the investigation of the work of PE teachers. This study uniquely used AI with a narrative approach and multidisciplinary analysis to examine two teachers’ use of digital game design pedagogy in PE. Results: It was found that the teachers were motivated to use digital game design principles to provide students with means to solve problems, manage learning motivations, evaluate progress, and gain control over their learning in ways that are not normally associated with the common PE method. Conclusion: The two examples provided illustrate the generative potential of AI research combined with a multidisciplinary perspective directed at examples of pedagogical change in PE.