Gunn Nyberg
Biographic Data
| ID | 3747388 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gunn Nyberg |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gunn |
| FAMILY NAME | Nyberg |
| SIGNATURE | NYBERG G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Dalarna University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5656-6500 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 32 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Educational gymnastics as objectual practice
Background, purpose, and theoretical framework: According to Knorr-Cetina, the development of knowledge occurs in objectual practice within what she refers to as epistemic cultures. We assume this also applies to knowledge in movement. However, there is a lack of insight into the epistemic cultures of movement practices, which may be why physical education (PE) is sometimes reduced to recreational physical activity or ‘correct technique’ in prede…
How does physical education teacher education prepare preservice teachers to make practical judgements when teaching games? A case study
Background In the last 40 years, physical education (PE) scholars have developed an array of approaches for teaching games. This development is positive in that PE professionals now have a wealth of practically-oriented scholarship to help them teach games. Yet the widespread availability of prescriptions for teaching games potentially reduces both the need and opportunity for teachers to exercise their practical judgement when working with games…
Assessment for and of learning in nonlinear movement education practices
Background Principles such as instructional alignment and step-by-step progression are often seen as crucial features of good assessment practices in school physical education (PE). These features are problematic from nonlinear educational perspectives, which are based on the idea that movement learning cannot be expected to take place in the same manner for all students. Without some resolution of the contradiction between nonlinear pedagogies a…
What do you think you are doing? How physical education researchers make scientific contributions
Scholars have expressed concern about stagnation in physical education research. Specifically, they have claimed that physical education researchers have been investigating the same topics, presenting the same solutions, and at times fail to build on - or in some cases, even acknowledge - existing scientific findings. These are serious assertions that call into question the enterprise of researching in physical education. In this paper, we evalua…
Physical education teachers’ experiences of the meaning of feedback in PE
This study explores how newly qualified physical education (PE) teachers experience the meaning of feedback through reflections on their assessment practices. We focus on the use, purpose, and content of feedback in PE practice. Assessment practices in PE have generally been used for grading purposes, often with little connection to the preceding teaching and learning. The educational quality of feedback depends on teachers’ knowledge of what is …
Enacting a new physical education curriculum
Previous research shows that enacting a new curriculum is a complex process. Teachers can be enthusiastic and committed to new curricular objectives, but they can also experience frustration and disappointment. Scholars have suggested that teachers who perceive lack of support, or tensions between their personal philosophies and the educational principles underpinning a new curriculum, struggle to enact new curricula in line with their intent. Ou…
A PE teacher’s tale
As part of a longitudinal research project on the transition from physical education teacher education (PETE) to school physical education (PE) in Sweden and exploring whether and how PETE matters, this article uses narrative inquiry to 'represent' a PE teacher's professional journey from PETE to the induction phase of PE teaching. The study focuses on his use of, and reflections on, 'assessment for learning' (AfL) at different stages of his teac…
Exploring Movement Composition in the transition from physical education teacher education to school PE
Background Scholars have suggested that students’ views of what is important for them to know as Physical Education (PE) teachers are a result of what is assessed in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). Thus, there is a risk that students will reproduce content areas such as sports and assess sport-techniques without much critical consideration. In this study, however, the risk of reproducing what is prioritised in PETE is seen as an oppo…
Creative dance – practising and improving … what? A study in physical education teacher education
Creative dance, that is to say, movements, with or without music, which allow participants to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings, are sometimes accompanied by a ‘there is no right or wrong way to move’ rhetoric. This may reinforce the impression among physical education teacher education (PETE) students, who often have limited experience of (creative) dance, that there is nothing to practise in creative dance and that this activity is merely d…
How does physical education teacher education matter? A methodological approach to understanding transitions from Pete to school physical education
Background In this paper, we will address the question of how physical education teacher education (PETE) matters and suggest one way to explore the potential impact of PETE. A distinguishing feature of the studies of PETE's impact on physical education is that they either include perspectives from preservice teachers involved in PETE courses or perspectives from physical education teachers in schools looking back at their education. Longitudinal…
Moving online in physical education teacher education
In this paper, we consider the challenges for Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) that were presented during the COVID-19 pandemic in regard to preservice teachers’ knowledge in and about movement and their developing movement capability. Historically, learning about movement as well as learning in movement has always been central for physical education and PETE. The question this paper addresses is how the teaching and learning of moveme…
Learning in the educational landscapes of juggling, unicycling, and dancing
Background Movement learning has been thoroughly investigated in the area of motor learning research. Although existing studies have contributed to a substantial understanding of motor learning, many have been criticized for their reliance on experimental designs where learning is decontextualized, simplified, and investigated in laboratory settings. Researchers have claimed that motor learning theories emanating from such studies are grounded on…
Introduction to the Pesp special issue
Several years ago, one of us spent time working with a physical education teacher and his 9th-grade class (pupils aged 15 years) on the west coast of Sweden. The teacher was trialling a new module
Genuine Movement Learning Through a Deleuzian Approach
The purpose of the article is to outline how Deleuzian concepts, notably the notions of apprenticeship in signs based on a pedagogy of the concept, can stimulate thinking and understanding of movement learning, and provide insights about pedagogical implications in various movement educational settings. Methodologically, the article falls somewhere in between theoretical exposition and presentation of original empirical research, i.e., a “theoret…
Enacting assessment for learning in the induction phase of physical education teaching
In many countries, assessment for learning (AfL) is recommended in both policy and research as a concept that should be integrated into the teaching of physical education (PE) in schools. AfL is also part of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in several countries and, consequently, something future PE teachers are expected to practice in their teaching. In a previous study ( Tolgfors et al., 2021 ), we showed how AfL was transmi…
Journeying into the kinescape of unicycling
Movement learning has become a prominent issue in recent sport pedagogy research, including a particular concern about the new perspectives of movement learning. The turn towards new perspectives is partly spurred by discontent with the conventional perspectives of movement learning. The purpose of the article is to explore a journey into the kinescape of unicycling. The article can be seen as a case study of what it means to learn (how) to unicy…
Exploring the educational landscape of juggling – challenging notions of ability in physical education
Background: Research on physical education (PE) shows a prevalence of narrow and reductionist views on what counts as ability. These views tend to privilege certain students and marginalize others, and often equate ability with technique-based sport performance. A lot of research is still directed towards the above problem. However, very few have devoted time and energy to actually resolving this problem. If no alternatives to narrow and reductio…
Between ideal teaching and ‘what works’
The purpose of this study is to explore the recontextualisation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) as a particular content area in the transition between a university course and a school placement course within Swedish physical education teacher education (PETE). By combining Basil Bernstein’s pedagogic device and Stephen Ball’s performativity perspective, we alternately ask how AfL is constructed as a pedagogic discourse and what AfL becomes in di…
Juggling with gender. How gender promotes and prevents the learning of a specific movement activity among secondary school students
Research on motor learning frequently reports gender differences. However, there seems to be limited tools in the research with which to make use of these insights in educationally relevant ways. Movement learning and gender are intensely researched in movement education research, but the issues rarely intersect in the literature. The purpose of this article is to shed light on how movement learning and gender norms intersect when students learn …
Joy, fear and resignation
Emotional dimensions of physical education have garnered attention fromscholars in the last two decades. Many scholars claim that emotionssignificantly affect learning and that positive emotions such as joy andpleasure are necessary for continued participation in movementactivities beyond the classroom. Much of the existing literature,however, is based on the idea that emotions comprise internal mentalstates that are retrospectively oriented. In …
Exploring the meaning of movement capability in physical education teacher education through student voices
Scholars argue that movement content knowledge in physical education teacher education (PETE) needs to be revisited and problematised. In this paper we develop the concept of movement capability representing a widened view of movement content knowledge. If teacher educators want to teach movement capability as an intrinsic educational goal in PETE there is an apparent need to consider what to teach, how it is taught and also how movement capabili…
Moving beyond rigid orthodoxies in the teaching and assessment of movement in Swedish physical education teacher education
The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss physical education teacher education (PETE) students’ conceptions of teaching and assessment of movement capability as a part of content knowledge in aquatics, dance and ice-skating at a university in Sweden. The theoretical perspective involves Shulman’s concept of content knowledge, the further elaboration of content knowledge into common content knowledge, and the theoretical perspective unde…
Developing a ‘somatic velocimeter’ – the practical knowledge of freeskiers
The aim of this paper is to explore what it means to know complex movements, from the perspective of the mover. The paper discusses the potential of the findings for providing ideas for both teaching and learning capability to move in the context of physical education. The knowing involved in moving is explored in the practice of freeskiing, characterised by a tradition of learning movements where practitioners have a strong commitment to learnin…
Developing a ‘somatic velocimeter’
The aim of this paper is to explore what it means to know how to move and how this kind of knowing could be understood and articulated. As an example, this study explores what it means to know complex movements, from the perspective of the mover. The paper discusses the potential of the findings for providing ideas for both teaching and learning capability to move in the context of physical education (PE). The knowing involved in moving is explor…
Exploring “knowings” in human movement
The aim of this paper is to explore and develop ways to describe what there is to know, from the perspective of the one who knows, when knowing how to carry out a complex movement. The paper will challenge the distinction between mental and physical skills, drawing on theories of tacit knowing (Polanyi, 1969), knowing how ( Ryle, 1949 ) and knowing-in-action (Schön, 1991), together with empirical data from the context of elite sport. One assumpti…
Between ideal teaching and ‘what works’
The purpose of this study is to explore the recontextualisation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) as a particular content area in the transition between a university course and a school placement course within Swedish physical education teacher education (PETE). By combining Basil Bernstein’s pedagogic device and Stephen Ball’s performativity perspective, we alternately ask how AfL is constructed as a pedagogic discourse and what AfL becomes in di…
Enacting assessment for learning in the induction phase of physical education teaching
In many countries, assessment for learning (AfL) is recommended in both policy and research as a concept that should be integrated into the teaching of physical education (PE) in schools. AfL is also part of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in several countries and, consequently, something future PE teachers are expected to practice in their teaching. In a previous study ( Tolgfors et al., 2021 ), we showed how AfL was transmi…
Juggling with gender. How gender promotes and prevents the learning of a specific movement activity among secondary school students
Research on motor learning frequently reports gender differences. However, there seems to be limited tools in the research with which to make use of these insights in educationally relevant ways. Movement learning and gender are intensely researched in movement education research, but the issues rarely intersect in the literature. The purpose of this article is to shed light on how movement learning and gender norms intersect when students learn …
Moving beyond rigid orthodoxies in the teaching and assessment of movement in Swedish physical education teacher education
The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss physical education teacher education (PETE) students’ conceptions of teaching and assessment of movement capability as a part of content knowledge in aquatics, dance and ice-skating at a university in Sweden. The theoretical perspective involves Shulman’s concept of content knowledge, the further elaboration of content knowledge into common content knowledge, and the theoretical perspective unde…
Exploring “knowings” in human movement
The aim of this paper is to explore and develop ways to describe what there is to know, from the perspective of the one who knows, when knowing how to carry out a complex movement. The paper will challenge the distinction between mental and physical skills, drawing on theories of tacit knowing (Polanyi, 1969), knowing how ( Ryle, 1949 ) and knowing-in-action (Schön, 1991), together with empirical data from the context of elite sport. One assumpti…
Joy, fear and resignation
Emotional dimensions of physical education have garnered attention fromscholars in the last two decades. Many scholars claim that emotionssignificantly affect learning and that positive emotions such as joy andpleasure are necessary for continued participation in movementactivities beyond the classroom. Much of the existing literature,however, is based on the idea that emotions comprise internal mentalstates that are retrospectively oriented. In …
Exploring the meaning of movement capability in physical education teacher education through student voices
Scholars argue that movement content knowledge in physical education teacher education (PETE) needs to be revisited and problematised. In this paper we develop the concept of movement capability representing a widened view of movement content knowledge. If teacher educators want to teach movement capability as an intrinsic educational goal in PETE there is an apparent need to consider what to teach, how it is taught and also how movement capabili…
What do you think you are doing? How physical education researchers make scientific contributions
Scholars have expressed concern about stagnation in physical education research. Specifically, they have claimed that physical education researchers have been investigating the same topics, presenting the same solutions, and at times fail to build on - or in some cases, even acknowledge - existing scientific findings. These are serious assertions that call into question the enterprise of researching in physical education. In this paper, we evalua…
A PE teacher’s tale
As part of a longitudinal research project on the transition from physical education teacher education (PETE) to school physical education (PE) in Sweden and exploring whether and how PETE matters, this article uses narrative inquiry to 'represent' a PE teacher's professional journey from PETE to the induction phase of PE teaching. The study focuses on his use of, and reflections on, 'assessment for learning' (AfL) at different stages of his teac…
Moving online in physical education teacher education
In this paper, we consider the challenges for Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) that were presented during the COVID-19 pandemic in regard to preservice teachers’ knowledge in and about movement and their developing movement capability. Historically, learning about movement as well as learning in movement has always been central for physical education and PETE. The question this paper addresses is how the teaching and learning of moveme…
Journeying into the kinescape of unicycling
Movement learning has become a prominent issue in recent sport pedagogy research, including a particular concern about the new perspectives of movement learning. The turn towards new perspectives is partly spurred by discontent with the conventional perspectives of movement learning. The purpose of the article is to explore a journey into the kinescape of unicycling. The article can be seen as a case study of what it means to learn (how) to unicy…
Exploring “knowings” in human movement
The aim of this paper is to explore and develop ways to describe what there is to know, from the perspective of the one who knows, when knowing how to carry out a complex movement. The paper will challenge the distinction between mental and physical skills, drawing on theories of tacit knowing (Polanyi, 1969), knowing how ( Ryle, 1949 ) and knowing-in-action (Schön, 1991), together with empirical data from the context of elite sport. One assumpti…
Developing a ‘somatic velocimeter’ – the practical knowledge of freeskiers
The aim of this paper is to explore what it means to know complex movements, from the perspective of the mover. The paper discusses the potential of the findings for providing ideas for both teaching and learning capability to move in the context of physical education. The knowing involved in moving is explored in the practice of freeskiing, characterised by a tradition of learning movements where practitioners have a strong commitment to learnin…
Developing a ‘somatic velocimeter’
The aim of this paper is to explore what it means to know how to move and how this kind of knowing could be understood and articulated. As an example, this study explores what it means to know complex movements, from the perspective of the mover. The paper discusses the potential of the findings for providing ideas for both teaching and learning capability to move in the context of physical education (PE). The knowing involved in moving is explor…
Joy, fear and resignation
Emotional dimensions of physical education have garnered attention fromscholars in the last two decades. Many scholars claim that emotionssignificantly affect learning and that positive emotions such as joy andpleasure are necessary for continued participation in movementactivities beyond the classroom. Much of the existing literature,however, is based on the idea that emotions comprise internal mentalstates that are retrospectively oriented. In …
Exploring the meaning of movement capability in physical education teacher education through student voices
Scholars argue that movement content knowledge in physical education teacher education (PETE) needs to be revisited and problematised. In this paper we develop the concept of movement capability representing a widened view of movement content knowledge. If teacher educators want to teach movement capability as an intrinsic educational goal in PETE there is an apparent need to consider what to teach, how it is taught and also how movement capabili…
Moving beyond rigid orthodoxies in the teaching and assessment of movement in Swedish physical education teacher education
The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss physical education teacher education (PETE) students’ conceptions of teaching and assessment of movement capability as a part of content knowledge in aquatics, dance and ice-skating at a university in Sweden. The theoretical perspective involves Shulman’s concept of content knowledge, the further elaboration of content knowledge into common content knowledge, and the theoretical perspective unde…
Exploring the educational landscape of juggling – challenging notions of ability in physical education
Background: Research on physical education (PE) shows a prevalence of narrow and reductionist views on what counts as ability. These views tend to privilege certain students and marginalize others, and often equate ability with technique-based sport performance. A lot of research is still directed towards the above problem. However, very few have devoted time and energy to actually resolving this problem. If no alternatives to narrow and reductio…
Between ideal teaching and ‘what works’
The purpose of this study is to explore the recontextualisation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) as a particular content area in the transition between a university course and a school placement course within Swedish physical education teacher education (PETE). By combining Basil Bernstein’s pedagogic device and Stephen Ball’s performativity perspective, we alternately ask how AfL is constructed as a pedagogic discourse and what AfL becomes in di…
Juggling with gender. How gender promotes and prevents the learning of a specific movement activity among secondary school students
Research on motor learning frequently reports gender differences. However, there seems to be limited tools in the research with which to make use of these insights in educationally relevant ways. Movement learning and gender are intensely researched in movement education research, but the issues rarely intersect in the literature. The purpose of this article is to shed light on how movement learning and gender norms intersect when students learn …
Learning in the educational landscapes of juggling, unicycling, and dancing
Background Movement learning has been thoroughly investigated in the area of motor learning research. Although existing studies have contributed to a substantial understanding of motor learning, many have been criticized for their reliance on experimental designs where learning is decontextualized, simplified, and investigated in laboratory settings. Researchers have claimed that motor learning theories emanating from such studies are grounded on…
Introduction to the Pesp special issue
Several years ago, one of us spent time working with a physical education teacher and his 9th-grade class (pupils aged 15 years) on the west coast of Sweden. The teacher was trialling a new module
Genuine Movement Learning Through a Deleuzian Approach
The purpose of the article is to outline how Deleuzian concepts, notably the notions of apprenticeship in signs based on a pedagogy of the concept, can stimulate thinking and understanding of movement learning, and provide insights about pedagogical implications in various movement educational settings. Methodologically, the article falls somewhere in between theoretical exposition and presentation of original empirical research, i.e., a “theoret…
Enacting assessment for learning in the induction phase of physical education teaching
In many countries, assessment for learning (AfL) is recommended in both policy and research as a concept that should be integrated into the teaching of physical education (PE) in schools. AfL is also part of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in several countries and, consequently, something future PE teachers are expected to practice in their teaching. In a previous study ( Tolgfors et al., 2021 ), we showed how AfL was transmi…
Journeying into the kinescape of unicycling
Movement learning has become a prominent issue in recent sport pedagogy research, including a particular concern about the new perspectives of movement learning. The turn towards new perspectives is partly spurred by discontent with the conventional perspectives of movement learning. The purpose of the article is to explore a journey into the kinescape of unicycling. The article can be seen as a case study of what it means to learn (how) to unicy…
Moving online in physical education teacher education
In this paper, we consider the challenges for Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) that were presented during the COVID-19 pandemic in regard to preservice teachers’ knowledge in and about movement and their developing movement capability. Historically, learning about movement as well as learning in movement has always been central for physical education and PETE. The question this paper addresses is how the teaching and learning of moveme…
How does physical education teacher education matter? A methodological approach to understanding transitions from Pete to school physical education
Background In this paper, we will address the question of how physical education teacher education (PETE) matters and suggest one way to explore the potential impact of PETE. A distinguishing feature of the studies of PETE's impact on physical education is that they either include perspectives from preservice teachers involved in PETE courses or perspectives from physical education teachers in schools looking back at their education. Longitudinal…
Exploring Movement Composition in the transition from physical education teacher education to school PE
Background Scholars have suggested that students’ views of what is important for them to know as Physical Education (PE) teachers are a result of what is assessed in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). Thus, there is a risk that students will reproduce content areas such as sports and assess sport-techniques without much critical consideration. In this study, however, the risk of reproducing what is prioritised in PETE is seen as an oppo…
Creative dance – practising and improving … what? A study in physical education teacher education
Creative dance, that is to say, movements, with or without music, which allow participants to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings, are sometimes accompanied by a ‘there is no right or wrong way to move’ rhetoric. This may reinforce the impression among physical education teacher education (PETE) students, who often have limited experience of (creative) dance, that there is nothing to practise in creative dance and that this activity is merely d…
Assessment for and of learning in nonlinear movement education practices
Background Principles such as instructional alignment and step-by-step progression are often seen as crucial features of good assessment practices in school physical education (PE). These features are problematic from nonlinear educational perspectives, which are based on the idea that movement learning cannot be expected to take place in the same manner for all students. Without some resolution of the contradiction between nonlinear pedagogies a…
What do you think you are doing? How physical education researchers make scientific contributions
Scholars have expressed concern about stagnation in physical education research. Specifically, they have claimed that physical education researchers have been investigating the same topics, presenting the same solutions, and at times fail to build on - or in some cases, even acknowledge - existing scientific findings. These are serious assertions that call into question the enterprise of researching in physical education. In this paper, we evalua…
Physical education teachers’ experiences of the meaning of feedback in PE
This study explores how newly qualified physical education (PE) teachers experience the meaning of feedback through reflections on their assessment practices. We focus on the use, purpose, and content of feedback in PE practice. Assessment practices in PE have generally been used for grading purposes, often with little connection to the preceding teaching and learning. The educational quality of feedback depends on teachers’ knowledge of what is …
Enacting a new physical education curriculum
Previous research shows that enacting a new curriculum is a complex process. Teachers can be enthusiastic and committed to new curricular objectives, but they can also experience frustration and disappointment. Scholars have suggested that teachers who perceive lack of support, or tensions between their personal philosophies and the educational principles underpinning a new curriculum, struggle to enact new curricula in line with their intent. Ou…
A PE teacher’s tale
As part of a longitudinal research project on the transition from physical education teacher education (PETE) to school physical education (PE) in Sweden and exploring whether and how PETE matters, this article uses narrative inquiry to 'represent' a PE teacher's professional journey from PETE to the induction phase of PE teaching. The study focuses on his use of, and reflections on, 'assessment for learning' (AfL) at different stages of his teac…
Educational gymnastics as objectual practice
Background, purpose, and theoretical framework: According to Knorr-Cetina, the development of knowledge occurs in objectual practice within what she refers to as epistemic cultures. We assume this also applies to knowledge in movement. However, there is a lack of insight into the epistemic cultures of movement practices, which may be why physical education (PE) is sometimes reduced to recreational physical activity or ‘correct technique’ in prede…
How does physical education teacher education prepare preservice teachers to make practical judgements when teaching games? A case study
Background In the last 40 years, physical education (PE) scholars have developed an array of approaches for teaching games. This development is positive in that PE professionals now have a wealth of practically-oriented scholarship to help them teach games. Yet the widespread availability of prescriptions for teaching games potentially reduces both the need and opportunity for teachers to exercise their practical judgement when working with games…
Physical Education and Pedagogy (25 works) · Psychology (23 works) · Pedagogy (19 works) · Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport (18 works) · Mathematics education (17 works) · Physical education (17 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Epistemology (12 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Teacher education (8 works)