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Using Group Concept Mapping to Conceptualize Meaningfulness in Physical Education with Secondary Students

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Title: Using Group Concept Mapping to Conceptualize Meaningfulness in Physical Education with Secondary Students
Language: English
Authors: Jodi Harding-Kuriger (ORCID 0000-0002-5643-5535), Douglas Gleddie (ORCID 0000-0002-0462-8546), Déirdre Ní Chróinín (ORCID 0000-0002-0920-980X), Sean Lessard (ORCID 0000-0003-3462-6979)
Source: Journal of Teaching in Physical Education. 2025 44(2):377-386.
Availability: Human Kinetics, Inc. 1607 North Market Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Tel: 800-474-4457; Fax: 217-351-1549; e-mail: info@hkusa.com; Web site: http://journals.humankinetics.com/journal/jtpe
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 10
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Descriptors: Concept Mapping, Group Activities, Physical Education, Secondary School Students, Foreign Countries, Brainstorming, Experience
Geographic Terms: Canada
DOI: 10.1123/jtpe.2023-0343
ISSN: 0273-5024
1543-2769
Abstract: Purpose: As a contribution to the ongoing Meaningful Physical Education (PE) research, this study seeks to understand secondary students' conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences, using Group Concept Mapping. Methods: Participants were secondary students (n = 55) in an urban sports academy. Conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences were derived through three main activities using Group Concept Mapping: (a) brainstorming, (b) sorting, and (c) rating for importance. Results: The meaningfulness in PE maps depict synthesized statements distributed across four clusters: kindness, physical activity, fun, and quality education. The most important ideas were: "being treated with respect," "working hard," "having fun," "being active," and "equality." Conclusions: The most significant Meaningful PE statements demonstrated the importance of blending the Meaningful PE features based on school context while making pedagogical decisions following the principles of autonomy and inclusivity.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1468821
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0183920137;0do01apr.25;2025Mar24.06:17;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0183920137-1">Using Group Concept Mapping to Conceptualize Meaningfulness in Physical Education With Secondary Students </title> <p>Purpose: As a contribution to the ongoing Meaningful Physical Education (PE) research, this study seeks to understand secondary students' conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences, using Group Concept Mapping. Methods: Participants were secondary students (n = 55) in an urban sports academy. Conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences were derived through three main activities using Group Concept Mapping: (a) brainstorming, (b) sorting, and (c) rating for importance. Results: The meaningfulness in PE maps depict synthesized statements distributed across four clusters: kindness, physical activity, fun, and quality education. The most important ideas were: "being treated with respect," "working hard," "having fun," "being active," and "equality." Conclusions: The most significant Meaningful PE statements demonstrated the importance of blending the Meaningful PE features based on school context while making pedagogical decisions following the principles of autonomy and inclusivity.</p> <p>Keywords: mixed method; Meaningful Physical Education; kindness</p> <p>Every-body was born to move in their own unique ways. In fact, we want to move ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref1">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref2">27</reflink>]) and youth commonly want to be involved in physical education (PE) and physical activity (PA) at school and in their communities ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref3">13</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref4">22</reflink>]). When students perceive PE as meaningful—incorporating the initial features of Meaningful PE: challenge, fun, social interaction, improved motor competence, and personally relevant learning ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref5">3</reflink>])—their desire for increased participation is likely to rise ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref6">10</reflink>]). The Meaningful PE framework is an ongoing collaboration aimed to help teachers understand meaningful movement experiences <emph>with</emph> their students, while acknowledging that the school context, and preferences that students bring to PE will vary ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref7">2</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref8">10</reflink>]). Our research paper presents novel and context-specific insights into sport academy students' conceptualizations of meaningful experiences in PE using group concept mapping (GCM; [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref9">18</reflink>]).</p> <p>Students possess insights into their educational experiences within their specific landscape; therefore, teachers and researchers should actively engage students in educational research tailored to their demographic. One avenue to accomplish this is through the utilization of GCM ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref10">18</reflink>]). GCM constitutes a systematic and rigorous methodology that capitalizes on the participants' ways of thinking. Within GCM, participants articulate their perspectives on a given topic in their own words. Subsequently, they collectively interpret the compiled responses by organizing and assessing a roster of ideas generated by the entire group, essentially engaging in data analysis ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref11">18</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref12">28</reflink>]). Incorporating students' perspectives and active engagement in educational research, through methods such as GCM, sets the stage for novel insights. Such a dedication to including student voice also aligns with the pedagogical principles of autonomy and inclusion within the Meaningful PE framework introduced by Fletcher and Ní Chróinín ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref13">10</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-2">Meaningful PE Overview</hd> <p>Fletcher and Ní Chróinín ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref14">10</reflink>]) position the Meaningful PE approach as an invitation to consider democratic and reflective PE principles. "Democratic principles include teachers fostering inclusive environments and helping pupils actively make authentic connections between their lived experiences inside and outside their classroom and communities" ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref15">10</reflink>], p. 1). Autonomy supporting experiences are those "where pupils are actively engaged, agentic, take ownership of their learning, and are willing and able to use their voices to advocate authentically for their own experiences and those of others" ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref16">10</reflink>], p. 5). The Meaningful PE approach is valuable for enhancing student engagement in PE, for example, the focus on autonomy through choice has been shown to increase student motivation and active participation ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref17">26</reflink>]). By focusing on meaningful movement experiences, teachers can create a more enriching and enjoyable environment for their students through pedagogical foci such as emphasizing positive social interactions and providing appropriate levels of challenge in physical activities, which can lead to greater participation ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref18">3</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref19">10</reflink>]). Educators seeking to implement the Meaningful PE framework can use the initial features—social interaction, personally relevant learning, improved motor competence, challenge, fun, and delight—identified in Beni et al.'s ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref20">3</reflink>]) literature review as a guide for facilitating meaningful experiences in PE. In her blog post about what Meaningful PE is and is not, Beni ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref21">1</reflink>]) begins with two important considerations. The first being that Meaningful PE is not a checklist, it is a framework that can be used to guide pedagogical decision making to co-create meaningful experiences in PE <emph>with</emph> students. Second, the features identified are not the end point of learning about Meaningful PE. The features provide a common language to discuss ways that students experience meaningfulness in PE and how teachers may begin to design PE experiences through a lens of meaningfulness. While the features do provide some guidance for physical educators, it is the students themselves who are the most knowledgeable about their own experiences of meaningfulness in PE.</p> <p>In consideration of the foregoing, the Meaningful PE approach is "not a golden ticket" ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref22">2</reflink>], number 6) to meaningful experiences in PE for <emph>all</emph> students always. "Meaningfulness is experienced in subjective ways in transaction with others in a social environment which necessitates regular reflection and adjustment" ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref23">2</reflink>], number 6). To ensure that the Meaningful PE approach is effectively implemented, we feel that it is crucial to involve students in the process of identifying and shaping meaningful experiences in PE.</p> <p>Three teachers from a secondary school in Alberta recognized the value of thinking <emph>with</emph> students and sought "student voice" for improving youth participation and engagement ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref24">7</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref25">8</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref26">24</reflink>]) in PE. As a result, the teachers welcomed the opportunity to implement a systematic approach for inviting "students to participate in and influence the educational decisions" ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref27">16</reflink>], p. 704) in their PE classes. The objective of the project was to understand secondary students' conceptualizations of meaningful experiences within PE. GCM was used as a collaborative methodology for the students, teachers, and primary researcher to work together to conceptualize students' meaningful PE experiences. To better understand what secondary students find meaningful in PE, it is important to explore the concepts of "meaning" and "meaningful."</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-3">Understanding "Meaning" and "Meaningful"</hd> <p>While meaningfulness is individually constructed ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref28">3</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref29">6</reflink>]), physical educators can find common concepts of meaningfulness in PE based on their students' contexts which can then inform practice to facilitate meaningful experiences that inspire a lifelong commitment to PA ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref30">5</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref31">10</reflink>]). Students' own explanations of "meaningfulness" in PE are essential to avoid historically narrow views of PE. When inviting students to participate in this project, we shared two definitions using illustrative examples. "Meaning" was explained as a statement of the nature, description, or use of something. For example, the <emph>meaning</emph> of table is a flat surface with at least three legs that supports objects. "Meaningful" as an adjective was used to describe experiences as those moments or objects that hold personal significance ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref32">20</reflink>]) and necessitate a greater emphasis on the <emph>quality</emph> of an experience ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref33">21</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref34">25</reflink>]). Compared with a random table in a furniture store, a household kitchen table is more likely to invoke personal memories such as laughter, arguments, comfort, or perhaps even loneliness; it is more <emph>meaningful</emph>. These distinctions between "meaning" and "meaningful" were derived from the denotative (symbolic) meaning shared by Metheny ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref35">23</reflink>]) and the connotative (personal) explanation from Kretchmar ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref36">21</reflink>]) and Ní Chróinín et al. ([<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref37">25</reflink>]). As students have unique insights into what constitutes their meaningful experiences in PE, their voices bring new and important perspectives that may enhance our understanding of how teachers may facilitate the Meaningful PE approach in secondary schools.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-4">The Role of Student Perspectives in Meaningful Experiences</hd> <p>In alignment with the Meaningful PE pedagogical principles of democratic practices focusing on autonomy and inclusivity ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref38">10</reflink>]), to best understand meaningful experiences requires students to provide input. Secondary students have acquired years of lived experiences that contribute to their own subjective discernment of what constitutes meaningful experiences in PE. Their experiences can shed new and important insights that may enhance our understanding of how to better facilitate a contextually appropriate Meaningful PE approach in secondary schools. The central premise of student engagement is that students have a clear understanding of what is and is not working in their classrooms and schools. Therefore, anyone seeking to improve students' educational experiences must consider their perspectives, seek their ideas, and incorporate their suggestions into practice ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref39">7</reflink>]).</p> <p>To explore these insights, students (12–15 years old; <emph>n</emph> = 55) attending a secondary sport academy school in urban Alberta participated in GCM ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref40">18</reflink>]) to conceptualize the <emph>what</emph> and <emph>how</emph> of an approach aiming for meaningfulness in PE, with the intent that student voice informs future practice ([<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref41">9</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref42">24</reflink>]). The manuscript shares the resultant secondary students' conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences and the research processes that led to those results. The two aspects of our research, the process and findings, are inextricably linked as the former provides the foundation for the latter and informs the efficacy of the latter.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-5">Methods</hd> <p>Acknowledging the potential unfamiliarity of readers with GCM ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref43">18</reflink>]), a method not commonly employed in education research ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref44">19</reflink>]), we have diligently detailed the specific methodologies and procedures. We have taken extra care to outline the specific methods and processes involved as we assert their critical role in ensuring the integrity of the findings. Therefore, this section may be more detailed than typically found in this journal. GCM is a mixed method which utilizes consecutive phases for collecting qualitative data that then undergo quantitative, multivariate analysis to produce visual representations of the conceptualization of the topic of research ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref45">18</reflink>]). In alignment with the commitment to authentically including student voice, GCM incorporates the participants' perspectives throughout the process ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref46">18</reflink>]) by giving them the opportunity to share their ideas and opinions. As a methodology, GCM appreciates the fluidity of realities specific to individuals and their environment, making it a fitting choice for this project ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref47">18</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref48">31</reflink>]). Specifically, the goals of the study are to (a) generate student conceptualizations of meaningfulness in PE in this specific context and (b) distinguish which concepts have the most potential to provide these student participants with meaningful PE experiences based on importance. GCM is used as both a methodology and a set of methods ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref49">18</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref50">31</reflink>]). The methodology of GCM is a step-by-step process yielding conceptual details that can inform pedagogy ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref51">14</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref52">18</reflink>]), based on the premise that understanding is assembled <emph>with</emph> those who have experience with the subject of interest, in our case, the secondary student participants.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-6">Concept Mapping Procedures</hd> <p>Table 1 provides an overview of the GCM process. The resultant point rating map (Figure 1) and cluster rating map (Figure 2) provide visual conceptualizations of the specific topic with respect to their importance.</p> <p>Table 1 Overview of the GCM Process</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup span="1"><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">GCM phases</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Research activities</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">1. Project preparation</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Identify and select participants Ethical considerations and collection of consent<sup>a</sup> Development of the focus prompt Development of the rating criteria</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">2. Generation of ideas</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Collect participant demographic information Generation of ideas based on focus prompt</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3. Idea synthesis</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Researcher synthesizes participant generated statements</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">4. Structuring of ideas</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Participants sort statements into conceptual piles Participants rate the statements based on the rating criteria</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">5. Representation of ideas (statistical dataanalysis methods)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Create a similarity matrix from the sort data MDS of similarity matrix to locate each statement as a point on a two-dimensional (<italic>X,Y</italic>) map—the point map HCA</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">6. Interpretation</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Participant and researcher interpretation Identify and name the clusters Examine the cluster map, point rating map, and cluster rating map Examine pattern matches Examine Go-Zones</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">7. Utilization</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> Application of the results</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p> <emph>Note.</emph> Adapted from "<emph>Conceptualizing Meaningful Physical Education: A Secondary School Study</emph> (Doctoral dissertation)" by J. Harding-Kuriger, 2021, University of Alberta (Publication No. 9928574) and "<emph>Concept Mapping for Planning and Evaluation</emph>," by M. Kane and W.M.K. Trochim, 2007, SAGE. MDS = multidimensional scaling; HCA = hierarchical cluster analysis; GCM = Group Concept Mapping; ARISE = Alberta Research Information Services. <sups>a</sups>Consent and assent were acquired based on ethical protocols required for approval from the University of ARISE Board, Project Name: "Meaningful Physical Education: Testing a model for teaching and Learning," Nos. 00085341 and 00085341_AME2.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 1 —Meaningfulness in PE point rating map. PE = physical education.</p> <p>Graph: Figure 2 —Meaningfulness in PE cluster rating map. PE = physical education.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-7">Project Preparation</hd> <p>The purpose of the study was to understand specific secondary students' conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences using GCM ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref53">18</reflink>]). The focus prompt: "When I think of meaningful PE, one thing that matters to me is... " was developed to answer the question: What are secondary students' conceptualizations of meaningful PE in this school?</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-8">Participants</hd> <p>Fifty-five PE students (female = 20; male = 33; LGBTQ2S+ = 2; Grade 7 = 17; Grade 8 = 32; Grade 9 = 6) from an urban Alberta secondary (Grades 7–12) school shared their understandings of meaningfulness in PE. Teacher participants were chosen based on their interest in learning about experiences of meaningfulness in PE for their specific students. Student participants were from the three teachers' PE classes: Group 1—22 students enrolled in a soccer program, Group 2—eight students enrolled in a ringette program, and Group 3—25 students enrolled in a sport fitness and recreation program. The ringette and soccer students train for their sport three afternoons a week and attend curriculum-based PE two afternoons a week. The sport fitness and recreation students have curriculum-based PE five afternoons a week with extended out of school activities, such as curling, wall climbing, skating, and so on.</p> <p>Ethical protocols included approval from the Alberta Research Information Services. Ethics approval from this institution requires explicit statements within the consent/assent forms describing options to participate or not, and when they are able to withdraw from the study. Student participants provided personal assent and consent from their parents/guardians. Teachers also provided informed consent.</p> <p>Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the research was completed virtually using video conferencing via Google Meet with each of the three PE classes during which students and their teachers were present (all meetings were recorded and transcribed verbatim). Google Meets were held multiple times while students completed the online phases of brainstorming, sorting, and rating via the GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref54">12</reflink>]) platform.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-9">Generation of Ideas</hd> <p>The generation of ideas phase includes two activities: a participant questionnaire and brainstorming. The participant questionnaire gathers demographic information about the participants. The brainstorming activity is completed in response to a specific focus prompt based on the research question.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-10">Idea Synthesis</hd> <p>The focus prompt guides the brainstorming activity, and, ultimately, the results of the project ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref55">18</reflink>]). The online GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref56">12</reflink>]) platform is used to collect an entire set of qualitative statements that describe specific ideas on participants' individual preferences based on the focus prompt. The qualitative statements are then synthesized into final statements for sorting and rating. The purpose of the statement synthesis is to remove duplicate statements and finalize the statement set, it is <emph>not</emph> to prioritize ideas, or remove statements considered to be less important ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref57">18</reflink>]). Statement synthesis has three steps: (a) identifying keywords, (b) grouping the keywords, and (c) the writing of synthesized statements ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref58">18</reflink>]).</p> <p>Once keywords have been identified and listed, the next step includes grouping the keywords and amalgamating aligned ideas into one statement that would maintain both participant vocabulary and detail. Finally, Step 3 includes editing and paraphrasing statements to ensure clarity. While editing the final statement list, we considered the following: (a) Is the statement relevant to the focus prompt? (b) Is the statement unique? and (c) Is the statement understandable and clear to the participants? ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref59">18</reflink>]). The number of final statements should be no more than 100 ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref60">18</reflink>]); however, it is also important to provide a manageable number of statements for sorting and rating: age, time constraints, and accessibility should be thoughtfully factored into the final number ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref61">18</reflink>]). The resultant list of statements is then used in Activities 3 and 4: sorting and rating.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-11">Structuring of Ideas—Sorting and Rating</hd> <p>Participants are asked to sort and rate the synthesized statements independently. The online GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref62">12</reflink>]) platform automatically saves all the participant generated piles. Participants can be provided with personal login credentials should sorting need to be completed asynchronously. Rating, the fourth and final activity, invites participants to rate each synthesized statements, typically utilizing a Likert-type scale ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref63">18</reflink>]).</p> <p>For quality control purposes, the sorting and rating data sets for each participant are reviewed individually by the researcher. This process includes removing piles sorted into and/or titled "other" or "I don't know." If a participant completes a dichotomous sort, these are also removed from the overall data set. Rating data are also examined. For example, if statements are only partially rated (e.g., only 17/44 statements were rated) then only those completed are approved for analysis. Or if a participant only answered 4s (most important) throughout, their data were removed. The manual approval process assists with meeting reliability and validity criterion prior to the statistical data analysis ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref64">29</reflink>]). In the next phase, the combined multidimensional scaling analysis of the rating data is used to create the conceptual maps.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-12">Representation of Ideas—Statistical Analysis</hd> <p>Statistical analysis via the GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref65">12</reflink>]) platform uses multidimensional scaling proceeded by hierarchical cluster analysis to identify common conceptual features also known as clusters. The process begins with the construction of a similarity matrix based on the sorting data followed by multidimensional scaling to create a two-dimensional (<emph>x</emph>, <emph>y</emph>) point map of the synthesized statements (Figure 1). The placement of each point indicates its relationship to all the other statement points. Those more proximal were sorted together more frequently by participants, and points more distal indicate statements that were sorted together less frequently. The point map is the first visual depiction created from quantitative statistical analysis and forms the basis from which all other maps will be created; thus, the validity of its construction is of utmost importance.</p> <p>GCM refers to validity as "the degree to which the conceptualized model reflects the judgements made by the participants in organizing information to produce the model" ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref66">29</reflink>], p. 237) and is indicated by the upper most stress value of 0.39 ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref67">29</reflink>]). This measure safeguards the validity of the data in that the point map and the accompanying maps accurately represent the sorting results of the participants with a <1% chance that the map generated was a random configuration ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref68">29</reflink>]).</p> <p>Hierarchical cluster analysis is then completed to create iterations of the cluster map which are finalized with participant input. Using the GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref69">12</reflink>]) platform to visually display the cluster map solutions, participants are invited to provide feedback on the number of clusters that best fit their collective conceptions of the research prompt. Criteria for a cluster amalgamation are, "stop when you disagree with a cluster merger." The final cluster solution should describe participants' collective ideas about the focus prompt.</p> <p>GCM methodology does not conform to typical social sciences' definitions of reliability ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref70">29</reflink>]) because the repeatability of unique datasets in unique contexts based on assumed correct responses is not in alignment with the goal of understanding a specific phenomenon with a specific group of participants. Reliability is supported based on six measures unique to GCM: (a) the number of participants, (b) sorting and rating completion rates, (c) the quantity of synthesized statements, (d) sorting and cluster results, (e) sorting reliability, and finally, (f) the rating reliability as presented in Table 2.</p> <p>Table 2 Reliability Evaluation of the Meaningfulness in PE Data Sets</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup span="1"><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">GCM reliability measures</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Acceptable values</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Meaningful PE data</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Participant number</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Between 15 and 30 participants (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr17">Jackson & Trochim, 2002</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr29">Rosas & Kane, 2012</xref>)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Three teacher participants55 student participantsTotal <italic>n</italic> = 58</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Completion rates for sorting and rating</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">>50% (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr29">Rosas & Kane, 2012</xref>)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Overall 69%(<italic>n</italic> = 40/58)</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Synthesize statements</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><100 (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr18">Kane & Trochim, 2007</xref>)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">44 synthesized statements</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Sorting and cluster results</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Final cluster solution is close to the average number of piles sorted by participants (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr29">Rosas & Kane, 2012</xref>)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Average number: 4.7Final cluster solution: 4</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Sorting reliability</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Minimum completion percentage 44% (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr29">Rosas & Kane, 2012</xref>)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">66% completion</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Rating reliability</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Minimum of 44% completion yields higher reliability (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="bibr29">Rosas & Kane, 2012</xref>)</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Rating completion for Importance: 71%Frequency: 57%Possibility: 50%</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p> <emph>Note.</emph> GCM = Group Concept Mapping; PE = physical education.</p> <p>With confidence in the reliability and validity of the sorting and rating results, statistical analysis continues. The point rating map (Figure 1) and cluster rating map (Figure 2) are created from the statistical analysis of the rating activity. The point rating map begins with the original point map and overlays the average rating out of 4 on each point. Points with longer "tails" had higher ratings for importance. For example, Statement 16 was not rated as important, whereas Statement 15 was considered very important (Figure 1). The cluster rating map (Figure 2) uses layers to depict the cluster's relative importance. The number of layers is calculated using the aggregate mean scores of the points within the cluster. Visually, the height of the cluster is directly related to the importance based on participant data.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-13">Interpretation—Researcher as Participant1</hd> <p>As I articulate my teacher-researcher experience of this study with PE students and their teachers, I acknowledge that I played an active role in creating the focus prompt, synthesizing the brainstormed statements, and developing the rating criteria. To consciously not allow bias or preexisting notions to influence the data collection, I chose not to complete the GCM activities with the participants. Furthermore, having previously engaged with Meaningful PE literature and research, it required a conscious effort on my part to not filter the synthesis of the statements only through the initial features of Meaningful PE ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref71">3</reflink>]). A recent paper that compared interviewing and GCM for efficacy in identifying goals of patients (Rising, et al., 2023) confirmed our approach and stated, "... GCM also engages participants to do the next step of data analysis in which individual ideas are organized into higher domains, thus eliminating a significant portion of researcher bias in the data analysis phase" (p. 2). The final number of clusters can be determined solely by the researcher with the goal of each cluster representing multiple clear topics ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref72">15</reflink>]). However, I wanted to maintain the authenticity of the students' ideas even if it meant that each cluster may contain a variety of statements that did or did not connect directly to the initial Meaningful PE features ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref73">3</reflink>]). The initial features were also not shared with the students to avoid influencing their conceptualizations of meaningfulness in PE. As such, the results are representative of the students' ideas of meaningful PE experiences and were not adjusted manually to optimally represent clear topics.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-14">Research Processes</hd> <p>The purpose of the study was to understand students' conceptualizations of meaningful experiences in PE and distinguish which concepts have the most potential to provide students with meaningful PE experiences based on importance.</p> <p>It is important to note that there was no hypothesis to be proven or disproven in this project. Students' qualitative data were used to conceptualize experiences of meaningfulness in PE that are most important in this specific context. The results include the meaningful PE point rating map (Figure 1) and the cluster rating map (Figure 2). The resultant data are presented in the sequential order of the three main activities used in GCM: brainstorming, sorting, and finally, rating.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-15">Brainstorming: Describing Meaningfulness in PE</hd> <p>The participant questionnaire gathered demographic information about the participants, such as grade, group (1-soccer, 2-ringette, or 3-sportfit), and gender identity. The brainstorming activity was completed in response to the focus prompt: "When I think of meaningful PE, one thing that matters to me is...." Brainstorming occurred virtually with each teacher and their class for an average of 32 min. Prior to beginning Activities 1 and 2, the teachers, their students, and I[<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref74">2</reflink>] had met twice synchronously via Google Meets to become familiar with each other and the project. An introduction video was also provided via YouTube for those who wanted to participate but required asynchronous content. During Google Meet #3, the same script was read to all the participants prior to commencing Activities 1 and 2 and included a detailed description of the difference between the words "meaning" and "meaningful." Following the explanation, each participant used the online GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref75">12</reflink>]) platform to generate a total of 196 qualitative statements that described specific ideas about experiences of meaningfulness in PE based on participants' individual preferences.</p> <p>The 196 qualitative statements were then synthesized into 44 final statements for sorting and rating. The three synthesis steps were organized within a Google sheet. Each of the 196 statements was copied into a single spreadsheet, then they were sorted based on keywords. For example, "meaningful education to me means being with my friends" (Brainstormed Statement #7), resulted in the keywords "being with friends." Similarly, the statement "being with friends" (Brainstormed Statement #166) was also synthesized to "being with friends." Whereas the statement: "It is not necessarily the activity that is meaningful it is the group that matters and it really helps if you like the activity just a heads up" (Brainstormed Statement #112), resulted in the keywords "group" and "like the activity."</p> <p>Identified keywords were put into an adjacent column on the spreadsheet in preparation for the next step, grouping the keywords and amalgamating aligned ideas into one statement. For example, all statements containing a specific sport such as "soccer" (Brainstormed Statements 53, 70, 75, and 80); "I want to play basketball" (Brainstormed Statement #137), were all amalgamated under the keyword "sports" in column two of the spreadsheet. Finally, Step 3 included editing and paraphrasing the amalgamated statements to ensure clarity. Of note, nonsensical statements such as "Cobra Kai" (Brainstormed Statement #17) and "Fortnite funny" (Brainstormed Statement #84) were removed entirely. A total of 44 statements (Table 3) were synthesized from the brainstormed statements provided by the 55 student participants. The statements are listed within each of the respective clusters along with the statements' importance rating and bridging index (BI). The resultant list was then used in Activities 3 and 4: sorting and rating.</p> <p>Table 3 Importance Ratings and Bridging Values Organized by Cluster</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><colgroup span="1"><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /><col align="left" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /><col align="center" span="1" /></colgroup><thead><tr><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Cluster name and no.</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Statement no.</th><th align="left" rowspan="1" colspan="1">Synthesized statement</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Importance rating</th><th rowspan="1" colspan="1">Bridging value</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Kindness</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.65</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Avg 0.43</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">12610193234402127</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Being treated with respectHaving funEqualityBeing treated with kindnessBeing happy in classHaving my thoughts and opinions heardDoing activities that I lovePracticing leadershipMaking positive memories</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.853.793.783.733.613.533.553.463.38</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">0.370.430.650.460.490.470.230.290.38</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Physical activity</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.49</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Avg 0.13</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">7111729354238131525222864136123</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Working hardBeing activeExercisingDemonstrating sports-personshipImproving my skillsTrying my hardest/demonstrating effortPlaying sportsFocusing on the activityBeing challengedParticipating in a variety of activitiesPracticing strategies & tacticsDemonstrating athleticismTrying new activitiesCompetitionBeing competitiveBeing outdoorsWinning</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.803.783.763.703.733.693.733.643.463.443.413.413.383.263.153.102.85</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">0.140.030.030.2200.090.020.130.10.240.090.060.210.090.060.20.47</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Fun</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.46</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Avg 0.32</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18830539923244337</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Including everyone in the activitiesGetting along with othersShowing support for my classmatesEveryone demonstrating teamworkGroup participationBeing with friendsWorking with othersLaughing with my classmates & teachersBeing with peersGetting to know peopleMaking new friends</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.723.643.633.603.593.453.403.253.283.213.18</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">0.290.20.290.390.490.280.410.210.280.240.31</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Quality education</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.45</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Avg 0.81</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1" /><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">44203314312416</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Following COVID-19 safety precautionsPaying attention to the instructionsSafetyBeing taught by quality teachersHaving the proper equipmentLearningUsing technology in class</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">3.853.753.723.623.543.472.25</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">10.690.980.740.690.640.9</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0183920137-16">Sorting: Conceptualizing Meaningfulness in PE</hd> <p>During the sorting phase, live demonstrations and detailed instructions for sorting were provided to the participants via Google Meet #4 (averaging 40 min per class), an instructional YouTube video was also available. These instructions and demonstrations described how participants were to categorize the 44 statements into their own piles according to their individual view of the statement. Step-by-step, student friendly, instructions were provided as the sorting activity progressed during class time. The online GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref76">12</reflink>]) platform automatically saved all the participant generated piles. For those who were not in attendance, they could use their personal login credentials via the online GroupWisdom Concept Mapping ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref77">12</reflink>]) platform to complete the activities on their own time. Only two of the student participants used this option, the remainder participated during class time.</p> <p>The results of the sorting activity provided the blueprint for the meaningful PE point rating map (Figure 1). To determine the most appropriate number of clusters, I first presented to the teachers several cluster solutions for two reasons: (a) so they could aid in describing each of the maps to the students in the classroom and (b) to confirm the purpose for our next round of Google Meets—finding a cluster solution that best fit each of their classes. The teachers agreed to act as facilitators and moderators during class discussions because they understood that the intention was to have students recommend the final cluster solution. The role of the teacher was to answer clarifying questions, assist with identifying and inviting students to speak when they raised their hands, ensure that all students were invited to speak, repeat any statements made that I could not hear, and set up the Smart Board screen and projector—all for the distinct purpose of amplifying student voice in the research results.</p> <p>The aim of the fifth set of meetings—the preliminary cluster meeting, was for each class to recommend the cluster number that best described them. Together, the students and I looked at iterations containing 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3 clusters, respectively. Throughout the discussion, I would repeat the prompt "When I think of meaningful PE, one thing that matters to me is... " to remind them of the overall intention of the cluster solutions was to provide direction for future PE planning and implementation.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-17">Strengths and Limitations</hd> <p>The focus on secondary students is a strength of this study as they are aware of their own preferences and therefore can best describe meaningful PE experiences for themselves. The choice to not manually adjust the sorted cluster to align directly with the Meaningful PE features ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref78">3</reflink>]) further strengthens this study as new descriptions such as kindness were brought to our attention. In addition, five of the six reliability measures unique to the mixed method, GCM, were well above the acceptable values: Sorting and rating completion rates were 69%, the quantity of synthesized statements was within the recommended number, the final four sorting and cluster results were very close to the average number of 4.7 piles sorted by the participants, sorting reliability was met because 66% of the participants completed all sorting activities well above the required 44%, and finally, >44% (<emph>n</emph> = 71%) of the participants completed the rating activities (Table 2). While this paper has shown that GCM can be used both quantitively and qualitatively with secondary students, the limitation with the study is that the meaningful PE maps are context-specific to this urban Alberta secondary sport school. Thus, the findings may not necessarily be relevant to all secondary PE students.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-18">Results</hd> <p>During the sixth and final set of Google Meets, students provided the final feedback for the label titles based on their examination of the statements contained within each cluster. This collaboration identified four distinct clusters containing conceptually similar statements of meaningful experiences in PE: (a) kindness, (b) PA, (c) fun, and (d) quality education (Table 3).</p> <p>Within the kindness cluster, students sorted the following statements[<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref79">3</reflink>]: being treated with respect (#1), having fun (#26), equality (#10), being treated with kindness (#19), being happy in class (#32), having my thoughts and feelings heard (#34), doing activities that I love (#40), practicing leadership (#21), and making positive memories (#27).</p> <p>The PA cluster included: working hard (#7), being active (#11), exercising (#17), demonstrating sports-personship (#29), improving my skills (#35), trying my hardest/demonstrating effort (#42), playing sports (#38), focusing on the activity (#13), being challenged (#15), participating in a variety of activities (#25), practicing strategies and tactics (#22), demonstrating athleticism (#28), trying new activities (#6), competition (#41), being competitive (#36), being outdoors (#12), and winning (#3).</p> <p>Participants conceptualized fun as: including everyone (#18), getting along with others (#8), showing support for my classmates (#30), everyone demonstrating teamwork (#5), group participation (#39), being with friends (#9), working with others (#23), laughing with my classmates and teachers (#2), being with peers (#4), getting to know people (#43), and making new friends (#37).</p> <p>The quality education cluster included: following COVID-19 safety precautions (#44), paying attention to the instructions (#20), safety (#33), being taught by quality teachers (#14), having the proper equipment (#31), learning (#24), and using technology in class (#16).</p> <p>Student feedback alongside BI values provided support that each cluster was conceptually similar (Table 3; [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref80">18</reflink>]) and that specific statements for the implementation of meaningful PE experiences had been articulated. Clusters 1, 2, and 3 had BI values below 0.50, indicating a high level of consensus and little variability during the sorting activity. Alternatively, the smallest cluster, quality education, contained only seven statements, including the Bridging Statement 44—following COVID-19 safety precautions. This statement had a BI value of 1, meaning that it had been frequently sorted with statements from <emph>other</emph> areas. The BI average for "quality education" was 0.81 (Table 3) which indicates a less conceptually similar group of statements. Overall, three of the four clusters are qualitatively and quantitatively representative of the research participants.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-19">Rating: Quantifying Meaningful PE</hd> <p>The fourth and final activity invited participants to rate each of the 44 synthesized statements using a 1–4 Likert-type scale for importance from 1 (<emph>relatively unimportant</emph>) to 4 (<emph>very important</emph>). Figure 2 offers a numerical and pictorial representation of the average cluster ratings for importance. The more layers, the higher the overall rating out of 4. The cluster rating results show that kindness (3.65 out of 4) was the most important meaningful PE concept for participants. PA (3.48) was the second most important feature, followed by fun and quality education (both at 3.45). The average values of perceived importance for the 44 meaningful PE statements are in Table 3. The discussions during our sixth and final research conversations provided qualitative support for the final cluster solution presented in Table 3. The final cluster solution provides an understanding of <emph>what</emph> secondary students in this context consider to be the most important meaningful PE concepts: kindness, PA, fun, and quality education. The five most important statements were: being treated with respect (#1–3.85—kindness cluster), working hard (#7–3.80—PA cluster), having fun (#26–3.79—kindness cluster), and being active (#11–3.78—PA cluster) tied with equality (#10–3.78—kindness cluster).</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-20">Discussion and Conclusions</hd> <p>This GCM project shares secondary students' unique ideas that contribute to the understandings of context-specific meaningful experiences in PE via four clusters: kindness, PA, fun, and quality education. The most important actionable ideas were sorted within the kindness and PA clusters. Through the GCM processes and group discussions, students provided detailed and actionable descriptions of what meaningful PE is for them.</p> <p>Social interactions as a feature ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref81">3</reflink>]) can be interpreted quite broadly. The most important insight gleamed from this study was the students' explanation of (and value for) kindness. Student participants described kindness as[<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref82">4</reflink>]: "being treated with respect; having fun; equality; being treated with kindness; being happy in class; having my thoughts and feelings heard; doing activities that I love; practicing leadership; and making positive memories." Together, these descriptions provided the teachers and the researcher with a clear outline of social interactions these secondary students want to experience in PE.</p> <p>The students also specified important ideas that support challenge and motor competence such as "working hard" (#7), "being active" (#11), "improving my skills" (#35), and "trying my hardest/demonstrating effort" (#42). The importance of PA does not come as a considerable surprise given that the participants attend a sport academy school, results could likely be different in a less activity-driven school setting. The flexibility to respond to specific student interpretations of meaningfulness in PE is encouraged and remains a part of the democratic principles of autonomy and inclusivity ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref83">4</reflink>]).</p> <p>Among the top five important ideas, "having fun" (ranked #26 with a score of 3.79, in the kindness cluster) highlights the importance of the fun feature ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref84">3</reflink>]). Students' most important statements for fun were including everyone (#18), getting along with others (#8), and showing support for my classmates (#30). Each of these statements shares students' ideas which can then guide their teachers' facilitation of meaningful PE opportunities whereby fun is intertwined with kind social interactions.</p> <p>The most important meaningful PE clusters identified were kindness and PA as described by student preferences for: being treated with respect (#1), working hard (#7), having fun (#26), being active (#11), and equality (#10). The significance of the students' statements overlapping across the clusters supports Beni et al. ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref85">4</reflink>]) recommendation that the initial features of Meaningful PE ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref86">3</reflink>]) can and should be prioritized based on students' shared interests and recommendations when enacting democratic pedagogical decision making. The kindness and PA clusters contained statements that align directly with both social interaction—being treated with respect (#1) and equality (#10) along with statements supporting challenge and motor competence—working hard (#7) and being active (#11).</p> <p>Given the overlap of the Meaningful PE features ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref87">3</reflink>]) across the clusters, these conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences can not only be discussed alongside the features but also through the lens of Fletcher and Ní Chróinín ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref88">10</reflink>]) democratic principles of autonomy and inclusivity. Student examples of autonomy supportive ideas were described as "having my thoughts and feelings heard" (#34), and "doing activities that I love" (#40). The teacher participants purposefully volunteered to be participants in this research project so that they could intentionally and systematically engage with the ideas that their students have about meaningful PE experiences. Teachers shared with the students that the results from this project would be considered in the planning and implementation of PE lessons, reinforcing the autonomy of the class.</p> <p>GCM offered a further democratic approach to understanding meaningful PE experiences because it emphasized the importance of including everyone's brainstormed ideas, sorting results and rating results. GCM provided the students with individual opportunities to contribute their own ideas about meaningful PE experiences, individual activities in GCM aim to avoid the "hive brain" where the larger group can sway the personal preference of the individual. It was imperative that individual students from each class be included in the GCM activities so that the results were owned by the individuals and the collective.</p> <p>The maps provide evidence-based depictions of students' statements describing meaningful PE experiences in this specific school community—the <emph>what</emph> included kindness, PA, fun and quality education, and the <emph>how</emph> was described as a blend of positive social interactions (Statements 1, 26, 10, and 34), appropriate levels of challenge (Statements 42, 15, 41, and 36), improved motor competence (Statements 24, 35, 13, and 28), fun (Statements 18, 8, and 30), and personally relevant learning (Statements 40, 22, and 13).</p> <p>The original features of the Meaningful PE framework ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref89">3</reflink>]) were not shared with the student participants. Rather, we used concept mapping to obtain context-specific and original ideas directly from the students. The synthesized statements and the final maps <emph>add to</emph> and support the recurring Meaningful PE features ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref90">3</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref91">11</reflink>]; [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref92">25</reflink>]). In particular, the kindness cluster, as conceptualized by the student participants, further defines social interactions as respectful, equitable, and autonomy supportive. Each of the clusters provides specific student preferences detailing and further refining the original features ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref93">3</reflink>]). The fun cluster describes experiences that potentially inspire fun, such as cooperation, laughter, and comradery. Statements detailing the need for trained teachers and the opportunity to be active and work hard speak to the students' conceptualization of personally relevant learning, improved motor competence and challenge. Overall, GCM is a useful tool to encourage student engagement when conceptualizing vague ideas such as meaningfulness in PE. The qualitative and quantitative depictions can then be used by students and teachers alike to aim for meaningful experiences in PE in their specific learning environments.</p> <p>Our study contributes to the field of PE research in three significant ways: (a) context-specific statements about meaningful PE experiences for secondary students enhance our understanding of what to aim for during PE, (b) the interplay between the Meaningful PE features ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref94">3</reflink>]) and the democratic principles of autonomy and inclusivity ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref95">10</reflink>]) is supported by secondary students' preferences for inclusion and autonomy in PE, and (c) GCM with secondary students is an effective method for conceptualizing ideas and providing practical statements that can inform pedagogical decision making.</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-21">Next Steps</hd> <p>In her blog post, Beni ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref96">2</reflink>]) encourages teachers and researchers to continue to explore the Meaningful PE approach as part of an ongoing and growing collective project. GCM is a useful methodology that could contribute more conceptualized and validated Meaningful PE maps longitudinally across a variety of school contexts to look for commonalities and differences among students. Ideally, this would occur as a project supporting democratic principles ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref97">10</reflink>]) whereby students and teachers co-create a project for the purposes of improving overall PE experiences. The GCM methodology and resultant data have the capability to uplift student experiences and inform pedagogical decisions about PE lessons and activities. Furthermore, longitudinal GCM studies should be done with a cohort of secondary students (ages 12–17 years) every year from Grade 7 through to Grade 12 to deepen our understanding of meaningful PE experiences as students age. This would be especially beneficial as it could facilitate teachers and students experiencing their conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences followed by individual and collaborative reflection ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref98">10</reflink>]) to support or refute the GCM findings. Continued study of meaningful PE experiences through GCM has the potential to further identify features which can enhance and inform the ongoing Meaningful PE project and its implementation in schools across the globe.</p> <p>Gleddie https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0462-8546</p> <p>Ní Chróinín https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0920-980X</p> <p>Lessard https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3462-6979</p> <p>Harding-Kuriger (jlhardin@ualberta.ca) is corresponding author, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5643-5535</p> <hd id="AN0183920137-22">Acknowledgment</hd> <p>Finally, a very special thank you to the student and teacher participants for sticking with this project especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. You cannot have knowledge without relationships (Steinhauer, 2002 ; Wilson 2008)—I am forever grateful for researching alongside you.</p> <ref id="AN0183920137-23"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref21" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Author 1 was the primary researcher on site. Author 2 supported the study and the writing of this paper.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref7" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> The focus prompt uses "I" to refer to the student participants. Direct statement quotes from students also include the use of "I." Remaining uses of "I" refers to Author 1.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref5" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Listed with their statement number in order of importance as rated by participants.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" idref="ref82" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> Listed in order of importance as rated by students.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0183920137-24"> <title> REFERENCES </title> <blist> <bibtext> Beni, S. (2021a, November8). What meaningful pe is...and is not: part one. LAMPE. https://meaningfulpe.wordpress.com/2021/11/08/what-meaningful-pe-isand-is-not-part-one/</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Beni, S. (2021b, November23). What meaningful pe is...and is not: part two. LAMPE. https://meaningfulpe.wordpress.com/2021/11/23/what-meaningful-pe-isand-is-not-part-two/</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Beni, S., Fletcher, T., & Ní Chróinín, D. (2017). 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  Group: Ti
  Data: Using Group Concept Mapping to Conceptualize Meaningfulness in Physical Education with Secondary Students
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  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jodi+Harding-Kuriger%22">Jodi Harding-Kuriger</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5643-5535">0000-0002-5643-5535</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Douglas+Gleddie%22">Douglas Gleddie</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0462-8546">0000-0002-0462-8546</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Déirdre+Ní+Chróinín%22">Déirdre Ní Chróinín</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0920-980X">0000-0002-0920-980X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sean+Lessard%22">Sean Lessard</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3462-6979">0000-0003-3462-6979</externalLink>)
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  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Teaching+in+Physical+Education%22"><i>Journal of Teaching in Physical Education</i></searchLink>. 2025 44(2):377-386.
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  Data: Human Kinetics, Inc. 1607 North Market Street, Champaign, IL 61820. Tel: 800-474-4457; Fax: 217-351-1549; e-mail: info@hkusa.com; Web site: http://journals.humankinetics.com/journal/jtpe
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  Label: Peer Reviewed
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  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 10
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Concept+Mapping%22">Concept Mapping</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Group+Activities%22">Group Activities</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Physical+Education%22">Physical Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+School+Students%22">Secondary School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Brainstorming%22">Brainstorming</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Experience%22">Experience</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Canada%22">Canada</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1123/jtpe.2023-0343
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0273-5024<br />1543-2769
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Purpose: As a contribution to the ongoing Meaningful Physical Education (PE) research, this study seeks to understand secondary students' conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences, using Group Concept Mapping. Methods: Participants were secondary students (n = 55) in an urban sports academy. Conceptualizations of meaningful PE experiences were derived through three main activities using Group Concept Mapping: (a) brainstorming, (b) sorting, and (c) rating for importance. Results: The meaningfulness in PE maps depict synthesized statements distributed across four clusters: kindness, physical activity, fun, and quality education. The most important ideas were: "being treated with respect," "working hard," "having fun," "being active," and "equality." Conclusions: The most significant Meaningful PE statements demonstrated the importance of blending the Meaningful PE features based on school context while making pedagogical decisions following the principles of autonomy and inclusivity.
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  Data: 2025
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  Data: EJ1468821
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1468821
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      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 10
        StartPage: 377
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      – SubjectFull: Concept Mapping
        Type: general
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        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Physical Education
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Secondary School Students
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      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
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      – TitleFull: Using Group Concept Mapping to Conceptualize Meaningfulness in Physical Education with Secondary Students
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