‘The sweetness of struggle’: innovation in physical education teacher education through student-centered inquiry as curriculum in a physical education methods course

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges and benefits that emerged while using an innovative field-based student-centered inquiry as curriculum model in a secondary physical education methods course.Participants and setting: This study took place in the Southwest USA. Participants included 11 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a secondary physical education methods class, the instructor of the course and a faculty member from another department within the College of Education.Data collection/analysis: Data were collected during the 2009–2010 school year. Data included (a) all pre-service teachers' generated coursework; (b) 32 instructor's lesson plans; (c) 32 observations with field notes; (d) debriefing notes from conversations with colleagues, pre-service teachers, and high school youth; (e) transcripts from three formal 2-hour interviews with each pre-service teacher; and (f) the transcript of a professional conference presentation given by the professor and 8 of the 11 p...