Learning to Teach Students With Disabilities via Service-Learning: Preservice Physical Education Teachers' Perspectives

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Preservice Teachers Negotiate Learning Through Struggle

Abstract

This qualitative intrinsic case study was designed to explore how service-learning can serve as a medium for situated learning to learn about working with students with disabilities. Specifically this study examined two dimensions of the pre-service teachers’ learning: 1) Reconceptualizing the notion of disabilities, and 2) Transforming teaching practice through situated learning. Multiple data sources were used to capture the experiences of pre-service teachers: participant observation, field notes, semi-structured interview, reflection, and artifacts. Three themes were emerged: Challenging the status quo, developing teacher identities through reflecting on the intersections of personal narratives and professional confidence, and developing a pedagogy of possibility as opposed to the deficit model.

Authors

• Jihoun An, East Carolina University

• Minjeong Kim, University of Massachusetts - Lowell