Applications of Nonlinear Pedagogy in Physical Education and Sport Skill Learning: A Scoping Review
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: This scoping review aims to map the application of nonlinear pedagogy in physical education and sport skill learning. Nonlinear pedagogy emphasizes the dynamic interactions between learners, tasks, environments, and individual constraints, and is commonly operationalised through task constraints, modified rules, scaling of equipment or playing areas, representative learning design, and exploratory practice. Although this pedagogical approach has increasingly been applied in school physical education, sport-specific instruction, and youth sport training, the existing evidence remains dispersed across learner populations, educational and sport contexts, movement tasks, pedagogical designs, and outcome indicators. A scoping review is therefore needed to clarify the scope of application, the main ways nonlinear pedagogy has been operationalised, the learning outcomes that have been examined, and the gaps that remain for future research. This review will be guided by the PCC framework. The Population includes ordinary physical education learners and sport skill learners, such as children, adolescents, school students, university students, healthy novices, general sport participants, student-athletes, and youth athletes. The Concept refers to physical education, sport skill learning, or training applications explicitly framed around nonlinear pedagogy, non-linear pedagogy, nonlinear pedagogical approach, or non-linear pedagogical approach. The Context includes school physical education, university physical education, physical education curricula, sport-specific instruction, youth sport training, and ordinary sport skill learning settings. The review will address the following questions: (1) in which learner populations and educational or sport contexts has nonlinear pedagogy been applied? (2) in which sports, movement tasks, or physical education activities has nonlinear pedagogy been implemented? (3) how has nonlinear pedagogy been operationalised in existing studies, for example through task constraints, modified rules, scaling of equipment or playing areas, representative learning design, varied practice, or learner exploration? (4) what outcomes have been examined, including movement skill competence, sport skill performance, tactical behaviour, decision-making, physical activity, physical literacy, motivation, engagement, executive function, transfer, and retention? and (5) what gaps remain in the current evidence base? The formal database search and screening process will be conducted after OSF registration. Before registration, a preliminary exploratory search and title/abstract pilot screening were conducted to familiarise the reviewers with the field, refine the search strategy, calibrate the PCC framework, and develop the eligibility criteria. These preliminary records will not be treated as the final data for the PRISMA flow diagram. The formal search will be conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed without a lower date limit. The final search date, complete search strategy for each database, and number of records retrieved will be documented after the formal search is completed. Records will be imported into Rayyan for deduplication, title/abstract screening, and full-text eligibility assessment. Eligible studies will include empirical studies that apply nonlinear pedagogy to physical education, sport-specific instruction, youth sport training, or ordinary sport skill learning. Participants must be ordinary physical education learners or sport skill learners. Studies will be excluded if they focus primarily on teachers, coaches, pre-service teachers, coach education, special or clinical populations, rehabilitation contexts, or non-sport contexts. Theoretical papers without empirical application, reviews, protocols, and studies that do not explicitly frame the intervention, pedagogical design, or training design around nonlinear pedagogy will also be excluded. Data will be charted on study characteristics, participant characteristics, educational or sport context, sport or movement task, pedagogical design, comparator or control condition, intervention or teaching duration, outcome indicators, measurement tools, and main findings. The final review will use descriptive statistics and narrative synthesis. Descriptive statistics will summarise the distribution of studies by publication year, population, context, sport or movement task, pedagogical application, and outcome indicators. Narrative synthesis will be used to identify the main operational pathways of nonlinear pedagogy, the learning outcomes most commonly examined, the consistency and heterogeneity of existing evidence, and priorities for future research.
Source: OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints)
Authors: QI-KAI TANG, ZHUANG YANG
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222909932