Artificial Intelligence in Physical Education Pedagogy: A Bibliometric and Thematic Review of Pedagogical Applications and Emerging Concerns (2015–2025)

Abstract

Objectives. As artificial intelligence increasingly enters educational practice, PE pedagogy faces a distinct question that extends beyond online, blended, or technology-enhanced delivery. This study mapped research on artificial intelligence in PE pedagogy from 2015 to 2025, focusing on publication growth, conceptual structure, interdisciplinary foundations, pedagogical applications, and emerging concerns. Materials and Methods. Using a bibliometric and thematic review design, bibliographic data were retrieved from Scopus and analyzed through Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny and VOSviewer. After filtering and data cleaning, the final corpus comprised 1,000 documents published across 389 sources. Results. The results revealed a marked post-2020 expansion, indicating growing scholarly attention to AI-related pedagogical applications in PE. The field was strongly interdisciplinary, spanning PE, educational technology, computer science, engineering, and health-related domains. Conceptual and thematic analyses showed that the literature is anchored in PE, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, data mining, physical education teaching, virtual reality, and movement-related analytics. Bibliographic coupling and co-citation analyses further indicated that the field is developing through the convergence of computational innovation and pedagogical application rather than within a single disciplinary tradition. Conclusions. The study positions AI in PE pedagogy as an emerging computational-pedagogical research domain. The evidence should be interpreted as structural and thematic mapping, not as proof of instructional effectiveness. As a conceptual contribution, the review advances a Pedagogically Accountable AI in PE Framework centered on computational function, pedagogical translation, embodied movement learning, human agency, and ethical accountability. Keywords: artificial intelligence, bibliometric analysis, emerging concerns, pedagogical applications, physical education.