Novel research approaches to gauge global teacher familiarity with game-based teaching in physical education: an exploratory #Twitter analysis

What is it about?

This paper examines the use of the microblogging platform Twitter as a tool for research in physical education. The research examined teacher use of the Tactical Games Model (TGM). Data was gathered using a rolling Twitter conversation hosted over the course of twelve hours. Participants were predominantly male, from 18 countries and they contributed on average 11.80 Tweets, and the Twitter conversation had a reach of 110,000 people. Two types of data analysis occurred. The first involved quantitative analysis using Twitter metrics. The second involved qualitative analysis using Leximancer software. The analysis showed ‘teacher’ and ‘questions’ as prominent themes. The impression we were left with is that the TGM is used by the teachers because of how it made them feel as teachers. These feelings may be generated by the results they perceived as achieved by using a TGM compared to other pedagogical models they have used; but none-the-less, although the TGM is proposed as student-centred the teacher remains the pedagogical gate-keeper. Research has reported a distinct need to investigate the use and familiarity of TGM with PE teachers worldwide. The present study showcases a unique contribution to the literature by sharing a process of mixed method research using a contemporary communication platform.

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Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash