Research studies on girls' embodiment are at the beginning stages of developing strategies girls utilize to empower themselves. Recent studies have provided girls the opportunity to engage in discourse about their bodies, which proposes a framework for girls to engage in activist activities. There is a need for continued discourse-driven and activist-centered research that explores power relations present within physical education that influence how girls perceive and feel within their bodies and how these perceptions affect their engagement in physical education. This study draws upon Foucault's critical and post-structural theory on power and knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore the process of adolescent girls' small group exploratory projects in physical education.
Method
Participants were seven ninth and tenth grade girls from a coeducation class of ninth through twelfth graders. The class met for 82 minutes every other day for one full semester. Data were collected from activities and discussions conducted during focus group sessions. Data were analyzed using content analysis and open, axial, and selective coding.
Analysis/Results
Participants formulated small group exploratory projects to gain further insight on a topic they felt strongly about in physical education. Results of the focus groups' project development will be presented in five segments: (a) topic selection, (b) designing and planning, (c) survey and interview construction, (d) information gathering and synthesis, and (e) informational products. First, participants were asked to brainstorm salient topics they believed were frequently discussed throughout their focus group sessions. Group A chose gender issues and Group B selected embarrassment as the topics for their exploratory projects. Second, participants discussed and debated over what information to gather, how they were going to gather the information, and who were going to be their participants or where they would collect the information. Third, each group created survey and interview protocols based on their topic selection. Fourth, participants gathered and synthesized the information. Finally, Group A and Group B created a newsletter and wrote a newspaper article, respectively, to inform students and faculty of their project findings.
Conclusions
Girls' voices need to be heard so teachers and researchers can design physical education programs that are comfortable, meaningful, and enjoyable for all students. The girls in this study took a risk by exposing their thoughts, feelings, and project findings among the high school student body through their informational products. They demonstrated the power of student voice and action.
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