iMOOW! - an action research program: an Enactive Approach to Movement Integration in Education

Movement Integration (MI) in Danish public schools is currently at a stage where distinguishable positions are manifesting in the attempts to integrate the initiative, and subsequently different didactical approaches are developing. In the context of MI, researchers and teachers struggle to define the relationship between movement and cognition, which influences the pedagogical practice. The dominating approach in Danish context is rooted in a concept of cognition informed by information theory. The consequences are that studies on the effect of physical activity in an educational context provide limited means for teachers to transform policy texts concerning movement and physical activity into pedagogical practice in the classroom. This study critically examine existing approaches and subsequently outline an alternative approach informed by recent developments in cognitive science concerning embodied cognition. We clarify philosophical differences between the epistemologies, which provides an analytical lens that helps analyzing their different accounts of movement, cognition, and the consequences for the pedagogical practice. The result of the study is an alternative approach to MI enriched by insights from the field of embodied cognition, which can be of educational value and inform new working methods for teachers in a school context.