Service-Learning: A Venue for Enhancing Pre-ServiceEducators’ Knowledge Base for Teaching

Abstract

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research examining the impact of service-learning on student’s personal qualities has shown positive results. Findings indicate that students participating in high quality service-learning programs show increases in their perceptions of self-efficacy, civic responsibility, social justice, and diversity awareness. Less information regarding the effect of participation in service-learning on student’s intellectual and knowledge outcomes is known. This case study examined the influence of participation in a service-learning program on pre-service educators’ knowledge base for teaching. Participants included 31 undergraduate physical education majors enrolled in a Motor Skill Development for Children course at a large state university in the southwestern United States. Findings from multiple data sources (i.e., journals, interviews, and observations of instruction) revealed that pre-service educators participating in a service-learning program enhanced their pedagogical content knowledge. Teacher education programs should consider implementing service-learning programs within the curriculum to benefit preservice educators’ knowledge base for teaching.