This research is concerned with how exposure to a diverse range of lived and personal experiences and then guided reflection of teaching episodes can be harnessed to assist student teachers in making meaningful connections with their diverse and complex learners. These strategies were used in a bid to promote critical perspectives and approaches by inviting student teachers to entertain alternative possibilities in teaching primary school health and physical education. The research draws on the past experiences of a group of generalist primary student teachers that revealed considerable diversity in subjectivities made and held around physical education, sport and physical activity. The breadth, contrast and contradiction in personal experiences and subjectivities provided an opportunity to problematise traditional practices and beliefs in the learning area. The cohort were then involved in a series of "lab school" experiences where they were encouraged to reflect on their teaching experiences. The findings indicate that for some student teachers the connections made with real life and "lived" experiences facilitated a more critical reflection and an enhanced desire to "do things differently". However for others, sporting discourses in physical education were firmly entrenched and served to limit their engagement with alternative approaches.