Integrating physical activity research approaches into teaching
Members of the National Evaluation and Learning Partnership (NELP) team have been spending time with undergraduate students studying physical activity and public health at Collegiate Campus.
Module Leader and AWRC Co-Locator, Kim Longbon, invited Harriet Wingfield, James Woodward, and Thomas Harper to bring their research into the classroom, connecting the latest work on whole systems approaches to module content through two guest lectures.
On Friday 9th October, Harriet discussed systems thinking, physical activity, and public health policy, drawing on insights from her ongoing international comparative study exploring how systems approaches are understood and translated into policy and practice across different countries.
Harriet said, ‘it was great to share some emerging reflections from the research and encourage students to think about the complexity of addressing physical activity inequalities.’
The following Friday (16th October), James and Tom spent the afternoon with the group putting whole systems thinking into practice with a scenario-based session that encouraged students to tackle physical activity in place. James and Tom walked students through whole systems thinking for physical activity, developing an understanding of people, context, and complexity grounded in the place-based work conducted at the AWRC.
James said: ‘The students were great sports, and it was an exciting challenge to translate our work in such an interactive way. The group produced some thoughtful strategies for physical activity in our fictional city which really brought home the value of the research to the group.’
The collaboration – fostered by the ECR Network hosted by Harriet, Tom, and Elysa Ioannou – better connected the research and teaching work conducted across the university but it represents part of a wider strategy to bring research closer to teaching.
Thomas said: ‘Personally, I relish the opportunity to connect our work to the classroom, especially when Kim gives us scope to make the work come to life through interactive scenario-based sessions like Friday. Hopefully, this collaboration will become an increasingly visible and productive part of our university culture and research integration.’
Thanks to Kim, the Physical Activity and Public Health students, and the wider Physical Activity, Sport, and Health team for welcoming the NELP team.