Reflection and Research
REFLECTIONS
Before going to Morocco I thought through many ideas about topics to research and focus on while traveling and visiting schools. A few of my initial ideas are below...
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What is considered healthy living in Agadir and Philadelphia, does this vary by gender?
What is considered a healthy physical lifestyle in Agadir and Philadelphia does this vary by gender?
How is nutrition and physical activity valued and practiced in Agadir and Philadelphia are these values different by gender ?
What do you value about nutrition and physical activity in your community and does it change based on your gender ?
How is food/nutrition valued and how does gender impact a persons role?
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Through reflection and tweaking I settled on a broader approach to enable my conversations and thought process to have flexibility while also remaining relevant to my subject mater, physical education.
How do physical activity choices for high school students vary by gender and why?
Before going to Morocco I thought through many ideas about topics to research and focus on while traveling and visiting schools. A few of my initial ideas are below...
-----------
What is considered healthy living in Agadir and Philadelphia, does this vary by gender?
What is considered a healthy physical lifestyle in Agadir and Philadelphia does this vary by gender?
How is nutrition and physical activity valued and practiced in Agadir and Philadelphia are these values different by gender ?
What do you value about nutrition and physical activity in your community and does it change based on your gender ?
How is food/nutrition valued and how does gender impact a persons role?
------------
Through reflection and tweaking I settled on a broader approach to enable my conversations and thought process to have flexibility while also remaining relevant to my subject mater, physical education.
How do physical activity choices for high school students vary by gender and why?
Discoveries
I found that physical activity choices vary drastically in Morocco based on gender, location, and class with some crossovers. I found that volleyball and basketball were the crossover actives by gender, location and class. High schools focused on team sports with private high schools offer more of a variety of activities including swimming fitness and racquet sports. Location of the students also indicated changes in physical activity choices.
In school, especially the public high schools, students were divided into all male and all female teams during physical education classes. Most of the classes were focused on team sports such as basketball, soccer, team handball and volleyball. The classes involved basic skills and drills followed by small sided play. Talking to the girls most would choose some of the sports they were offered such as volleyball and basketball but many of them were also craving activities such as dance and Zumba. Talking to the girls they said at home they preferred to dance or go for walks with friend to be physically active. The girls I talked to in Aourir, the more rural public school, expressed interest in having dance and other non-sport focused physical activities in physical education classes. Unfortunately, either the teacher or the curriculum never introduced these activities into their classes. Some of the girls were on basketball and volleyball teams both with school and in local leagues. Most of the boys were very focused on playing soccer and basketball with some very much into team handball. In the private high schools, students had more opportunities for other activities such as racquet sports like tennis and also fitness activities such as Zumba, swimming and kickboxing.
Where students lived also effected the activity choices students made. For instance, in the south the students lived near the beach towns of Agadir and Taghazout. Students, both boys and girls, expressed interest in being at the beach. Many of the boys and wealthier/urban girls enjoyed surfing. The girls from the more rural and less well off towns discussed enjoying going to the beach but did not mention swimming or surfing. Meanwhile in Rabat some of the boys and few of the girls talked about skate boarding as a pastime. These students were mainly at high achieving and private high schools. We had minimal exposure to regular, read, less wealthy high school students in Rabat.
Reflections
In retrospect I found myself and the conversations I had focused on girls especially on their choices and options. Furthermore, when shadowing both the physical education teacher and Braheim's English classes the question of different spheres of gender was ever present in my thoughts. More, specifically what physical activities do teenage girls engage in in their own private spaces, usually at home and with friends and family. Due to the limited amount of time I was never able to explore this idea except for with brief conversations. A few girls expressed that at home they had more freedom of choice in physical activities such as dance, television based fitness classes and one even lifted weights on a regular basis.
Lingering Questions
Questions that keep circulating back to me are focused primarily on access to different physical activities.
If presented with more opportunities and choices would girls choose to participant in other physical activities?
How do cultural norms influence the choices of boys and girls for physical activities?
Will the current generation continue to have separate and common spaces for socializing as they grow older?
I found that physical activity choices vary drastically in Morocco based on gender, location, and class with some crossovers. I found that volleyball and basketball were the crossover actives by gender, location and class. High schools focused on team sports with private high schools offer more of a variety of activities including swimming fitness and racquet sports. Location of the students also indicated changes in physical activity choices.
In school, especially the public high schools, students were divided into all male and all female teams during physical education classes. Most of the classes were focused on team sports such as basketball, soccer, team handball and volleyball. The classes involved basic skills and drills followed by small sided play. Talking to the girls most would choose some of the sports they were offered such as volleyball and basketball but many of them were also craving activities such as dance and Zumba. Talking to the girls they said at home they preferred to dance or go for walks with friend to be physically active. The girls I talked to in Aourir, the more rural public school, expressed interest in having dance and other non-sport focused physical activities in physical education classes. Unfortunately, either the teacher or the curriculum never introduced these activities into their classes. Some of the girls were on basketball and volleyball teams both with school and in local leagues. Most of the boys were very focused on playing soccer and basketball with some very much into team handball. In the private high schools, students had more opportunities for other activities such as racquet sports like tennis and also fitness activities such as Zumba, swimming and kickboxing.
Where students lived also effected the activity choices students made. For instance, in the south the students lived near the beach towns of Agadir and Taghazout. Students, both boys and girls, expressed interest in being at the beach. Many of the boys and wealthier/urban girls enjoyed surfing. The girls from the more rural and less well off towns discussed enjoying going to the beach but did not mention swimming or surfing. Meanwhile in Rabat some of the boys and few of the girls talked about skate boarding as a pastime. These students were mainly at high achieving and private high schools. We had minimal exposure to regular, read, less wealthy high school students in Rabat.
Reflections
In retrospect I found myself and the conversations I had focused on girls especially on their choices and options. Furthermore, when shadowing both the physical education teacher and Braheim's English classes the question of different spheres of gender was ever present in my thoughts. More, specifically what physical activities do teenage girls engage in in their own private spaces, usually at home and with friends and family. Due to the limited amount of time I was never able to explore this idea except for with brief conversations. A few girls expressed that at home they had more freedom of choice in physical activities such as dance, television based fitness classes and one even lifted weights on a regular basis.
Lingering Questions
Questions that keep circulating back to me are focused primarily on access to different physical activities.
If presented with more opportunities and choices would girls choose to participant in other physical activities?
How do cultural norms influence the choices of boys and girls for physical activities?
Will the current generation continue to have separate and common spaces for socializing as they grow older?