Power of movement capability

Abstract

ABSTRACT This conceptual paper takes a departure in the concept of powerful knowledge, developed by Young, M., & Muller, J. (2013. On the powers of powerful knowledge. Review of Education, 1(3), 229–250. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3017). Powerful knowledge can in short be described as knowledge that people need to understand and change the world. The aim is to examine when movement capability, as theorized through empirical research, becomes powerful. To delineate our perspective on knowledge, the concept of knowledge and knowing as theorized by Polanyi, M. (1962. Personal knowledge. University of Chicago Press) and (Carlgren, I. (2020). Powerful knowns and powerful knowings. Journal of Curriculum Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2020.1717634) is outlined, showing that movement capability comprises ways of knowing which are neither merely physical (the doing) nor mental (the thinking), but rather a fusion of both. With a widened understanding of powerful knowledge as including the knowing involved in the doings, we illustrate through empirical examples from previous and ongoing research, and how physical education can offer students possibilities to develop powerful movement capabilities.