Background/Purpose While public health reports have raised concerns about physically inactive lifestyles among specific youth populations (Nazroo, 2003), some literature also suggests that ethnic minorities, overweight young people, and girls and boys whose bodies do not conform to societal norms of size, shape, and muscularity, face social stigmatization and discrimination (Puhl & Latner, 2007; Tiggermann, 2005). This study aimed to develop and implement a Body Curriculum into a fitness unit in a secondary school and to conduct research on the extent to which this curriculum enhances students' critical embodied learning.
Method To address the purpose of this research, the researchers conducted qualitative action research using visual methods to raise students' critical awareness about body issues. The participants were 11 high school students, aged 15 and 16 (i.e., 4 white females; 6 white males, 1 black male). Data was collected from a number of data sources: participants' visual diaries and written reflections on body issues, multiple formal interviews using photo elicitation, and extensive field notes.
Analysis/Results The researchers conducted an inductive and deductive analysis of the students' discourses articulated through class discussions, formal interviews, written reflection, and visual images that centered on critical body issues (Rose, 2007).
Conclusions This study's findings demonstrate that a Body Curriculum, using visual pedagogies integrated into a fitness unit, holds the potential to enhance young people's agency in the learning process by providing them with tools to critically reflect on body issues and express their subjective experiences.