Service-learning (SL) is a pedagogical approach used in academic courses to connect discipline specific theory to practice (Richards, Andrew, Wilson, & Eubank, 2012). A growing amount of research has focused on the educational and attitudinal benefits associated with integration of SL in adapted physical education (APE) coursework (Sherrill, 2004; Roper & Santiago, 2014). Although the use of SL in APE courses has increased (Richards et al., 2012), there are few experimental studies examining its effects on students’ attitudes toward children with disabilities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of SL on undergraduate kinesiology students’ attitudes toward children with disabilities.
Method:
Twenty-nine kinesiology undergraduate students (males = 17; females = 12, mean age = 22.2) enrolled in an APE course completed the Attitudes toward Disabled Persons Scale (ATDP; Yuker, Block, & Young, 1970)−Form O at the following three periods: (1) before SL, (2) during SL, and (3) after SL. The SL component of the course consisted of six 50-min on-campus adapted physical activity sessions for school age children with a variety of disabilities. Kinesiology students were responsible for teaching the children developmentally appropriate gross motor skills while creating positive and meaningful interactions.
Analysis/Results: A 2 x 3 mixed design ANOVA was used to examine the effects of the gender and periods on the on total ATDP-Form O scores. No significant main effects or interactions were found. The gender x periods (F(2,54) = 1.84, p > .05), the main effect for gender (F(1,27) = .47, p > .05, and the main effect for periods (F(2,54) = .07, p > .05) were not statistically significant. ATDP-Form O scores were not influenced by either gender or periods. Cronbach’s alpha yielded a reliability coefficient of .79 for the ATDP-Form O.
Conclusions: Results of the present study indicate that completion of a SL component in an APE course does not result in favorable attitude change toward children with disabilities when measured by the ATDP. The lack of significant improvement in positive attitudes may be attributed to the insufficient contact time and structure of the SL component not specifically aiming to change students’ attitudes. The SL component in an APE course may need to be carefully designed and with a specifically structured environment when aiming to promote positive attitude change toward children with disabilities.