Innovation in physical education: Proprioception, periferical vision, self-awareness, and sustainability

In an era that increasingly emphasizes the importance of sustainable lifestyles, this study aims to explore the potential role of physical education in improving, through the training of proprioception and peripheral vision, self-awareness and attention, and to verify their possible correlation with virtuous behaviours. Utilizing applications of the Synchrony methodology within the context of embodied cognition, it is hypothesized that a greater sense of bodily awareness, achieved through targeted physical training, may promote behaviours oriented towards sustainability. This hypothesis is based on the idea that enhanced self-awareness and/or attention could lead to a better understanding of one's living space, personal choices, and their consequences, thereby increasing responsibility towards the shared living environment. A pilot observational study and a subsequent experimental study involving 84 high school students were conducted to outline these potential aspects of indirect connection between specific physical training and more responsible behaviours, with the aim of helping, in the future, young people to develop such qualities also through specially designed physical education methodologies.