Toward Understanding Community Field Experiences as Hybrid Spaces in Teacher Education

• In Event: Engagement With Youth in the Community

Abstract

This mixed methods study builds upon previous research in delineating more clearly how service-learning fosters confidence and factors that seem to play a role as prospective teachers worked with marginalized youth through an after-school soccer program. Findings revealed that prospective teachers who engaged in a service-learning project did experience substantial gains in efficacy beliefs if they worked with a community partner/site coordinator considered supportive. At the completion of a service-learning project, pre-service teachers shared their perceptions of their participation through written reflections. Analysis of the pre-service teachers’ reflections yielded understanding of the variation in gains in efficacy and uncovered sources of efficacy, providing guidance for planning service-learning in teacher education.

Authors

• Kathleen Tice, The University of Texas - Arlington

• Larry Nelson, The University of Texas - Arlington