Examining Service-Learning in a Graduate Physical Education Teacher Education Course
Main Article Content
Abstract
This study was designed to explore the impact of service-learning on graduate physical education teacher education students. Social-Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986; 1999) served as the framework to examine graduate student’s experiences in a service-learning program. Participants were graduate students (N =16) enrolled in a curriculum and instruction in physical education course at a major university in the southwest United States. The course’s service-learning component provided graduate students opportunities to teach physical activity to Hispanic-American and African-American children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. Participant’s described their experiences through weekly reflections and discussions. Content analysis of data sources indicated that participation in the service-learning program strengthened graduate student’s efficacy for teaching, contributed to their acquisition of varied teaching strategies, and enhanced graduate students understanding of children living in low-income, minority households. Findings suggest service-learning can be a valuable pedagogy to infuse into graduate teacher education programs.
Downloads
Article Details
- Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL) right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC-BY) 4.0 International, allowing others to share the work with proper acknowledgement and citation of the work's authorship and initial publication in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
- Authors are able to enter separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
- In pursuit of manuscripts of the highest quality, multiple opportunities for mentoring, and greater reach and citation of JoSoTL publications, JoSoTL encourages authors to share their drafts to seek feedback from relevant communities unless the manuscript is already under review or in the publication queue after being accepted. In other words, to be eligible for publication in JoSoTL, manuscripts should not be shared publicly (e.g., online), while under review (after being initially submitted, or after being revised and resubmitted for reconsideration), or upon notice of acceptance and before publication. Once published, authors are strongly encouraged to share the published version widely, with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
References
American Council on Education (2005). College Students Today: A National Portrait. Washington, DC: American College of Education.
Anderson, J.B., Swick, K.J., and Yff, J. (Eds.). (2001). Service-Learning in Teacher Education: Enhancing the Growth of New Teachers, Their Students, and Communities. Washington, DC: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
Ashton, P.T., and Webb, R.,B. (1986). Making a Difference: Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy and Student Achievement. New York: Longman.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2, 21-41.
Berman, P., McLaughlin, M., Bass, G., Pauly, E., and Zellman, G. (1977). Federal programs supporting educational changes: Vol. VII. Factors affecting implementation and continuation (Rep. No. R-1589/7-HEW). Santa Monica, CA: RAND. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 140 432.
Bolshakova, V., Johnson, C., and Czerniak, C. (2011). “It depends on what teacher you got”: Urban science self-efficacy from teacher and student voices. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 6(4), 961-997.
Brescia, W., Mullins, C., and Miller, M. (2009). Project-based service-learning in an instructional technology graduate program. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(2), 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl.
Coladarci, T. (1992). Teacher’s sense of efficacy and commitment to teaching. Journal of Experiential Education, 60(4), 323-337.
Corbin, C.B., and Lindsey, R. (2007). Fitness for Life. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Cress, C.M. (2005). What is service-learning? In C. M. Cress, P. J. Collier, V.L. Reitenauer (eds.) Learning Through Serving: A Student Guidebook for Service-Learning Across Disciplines. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Cutforth, N.J. (2000). Connecting school physical education to the community through servicelearning. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 71, 39-45.
Denzin, N.K. (1970). The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. Chicago: Aldine.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education. New York: MacMillan.
Domangue, E., and Carson, R.L. (2008). Preparing culturally competent teachers: Servicelearning and physical education teacher education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 27, 347-367.
Eyler, J.S., Giles, D.E., Stenson, C.M., and Gray, C.J. (2003). What we know about the effects of service-learning on college students, faculty, institutions and the community, 1993-2000, Third Edition. Introduction to Service-Learning Toolkit: Readings and Resources for Faculty, (2nd ed.), pp. 15-19. Providence, RI: Campus Compact.
Graham, G., Holt/Hale, S., and Parker, M.A. (2009). Children Moving: A Reflective Approach to Teaching Physical Education (8th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill.
Green, J., Dalton, R., and Wilson, B. (1994). Implementation and evaluation of TEACH: A service-learning program for teacher education. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Teacher Education, Atlanta GA.
Griffin, L.L. and Butler, J.I. (2005). Teaching Games for Understanding: Theory, Research, and Practice (Eds.) Chicago: Human Kinetics.
Gurvitch, R., and Metzler, M.W. (2008). The effects f laboratory – based and field-based practicum experience in pre-service-teachers self-efficacy. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(3) 437-443.
Illovsky, M.E. (2010). Psychological comparison of undergraduate and graduate College of Education students. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 23(30, 238-245). Retrieved from http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe.
Kahan, D. (1998). When everyone gets what they want: A description of a physical education teacher education service-learning project. Action in Teacher Education, 19, 43-60.
Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
LaMaster, K.J. (2001). Enhancing pre-service teachers field experiences through the addition of a service-learning component. Journal of Experiential Education, 24, 27-33.
Lincoln, Y.S., and Guba, E.G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Liu, Y., and Lambright, K.T. (2010). Looking beyond the undergraduate classroom: Factors influencing service-learning’s effectiveness at improving graduate students’ professional skills. College Teaching, 58, 118-126.