EXPLORING SERVICE LEARNING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION

Year 2022, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 20 - 32, 30.06.2022

Chih-sheng Chen Wei Gu

https://doi.org/10.55020/iojpe.1076790

Abstract

Service learning has been stressed as an effective pedagogical approach to enhance students’ professional skills and citizenship for future development. However, service-learning research concerning early childhood pre-service teacher education has been rarely done. This study explored how undergraduate students in an early childhood pre-service teacher education program experienced in seven different service learning activities and discussed the meanings of their experiences from the perspective of early childhood pre-service teacher education. Participants in the study were 99 undergraduate students of early childcare and education. Their speech reflections, SL (Service learning) reports and verbal presentations during the course and service learning were analyzed qualitatively. The study revealed participants experienced emotion processes. In addition, participants learned professional skills and formed their teacher traits. How to balance the student choice and the goals of the course from SL activity needs to be taken into account.

Keywords

Service-learning, early childcare and education, pre-service teacher

References

• Akemoglu, Y., & Meadan, H. (2018). Parent-implemented language and communication interventions for children with developmental delays and disabilities: A scoping review. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 5(3), 294-309
• Akemoglu, Y., Meadan, H., & Towson, J. (2020). Embedding naturalistic communication teaching strategies during shared interactive book reading for preschoolers with developmental delays: A Guide for Caregivers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 48(6), 759-766. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01038-4
• Anderson, K. L., Boyd, M., Ariemma Marin, K., & McNamara, K. (2019). Reimagining service-learning: Deepening the impact of this high-impact practice. Journal of Experiential Education, 42(3), 229-248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825919837735
• Bach, T. (2016). Minding the gap: Teaching international climate change law through service learning. Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, 18(2), 173-193.
• Chen, T., Snell, R. S., & Wu, C. X. (2018). Comparing the effects of service-learning versus nonservice-learning project experiences on service leadership emergence and meaning schema transformation. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 17(4), 474–495. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2016.0309
• Cochran-Smith, M. (2003). Teaching quality matters. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(2), 95-98.
• Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4 ed.). Pearson Education.
• Deans, T. (2000). Writing partnerships: Service-learning in composition. NCTE.
• Dent, L., Karp, T., & Maloney, P. (2018). Self-efficacy development among students enrolled in an Engineering service-learning section. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, 13(2), 25–44. https://doi.org/10.24908/ijsle.v13i2.11483
• Dewey, J. (1900). School and society (2nd ed.). The University of Chicago Press.
• Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. The Free Press. Dewey, J. (1933). How we think. Heath. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Collier Books. Dewey, J. (1946a). Problems of men. Greenwood Press.
• Dewey, J. (1946b). The public and its problems (2nd ed.). Henry Holt and Company.
• Edmond, T., & Driskill, T. (2019). Gen Z: Exploring service learning projects in managerial accounting. Journal of Accounting and Finance, 19(4), 113-126. https://doi.org/10.33423/jaf.v19i4.2177
• Erickson, J. A., & Santmire, T. (2001). Psychological bases of effective service learning. In J. B. Anderson, K. J. Swick, & J. Joost (Eds.), Service learning in teacher education: Enhancing the growth of new teachers, their students, and communities (pp. 19–38). AACTE.
• Fertman, C. I., White, G. P., & White, L. J. (1996). Service learning in the middle school: Building a culture of service. National Middle School Association.
• Flecky, K. (2011). Foundations of service learning. In K. Flecky & L. Gitlow (Eds.), Service-learning in occupational therapy education: Philosophy and practice (pp. 1-12). Jones Bartlett.
• Fife, W. (2020). Counting as a qualitative method: Grappling with the reliability issue in ethnographic research. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34803-8
• Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. Seabury Press.
• Furness, R., & Paulson, E. J. (2018). Ideas in practice: Service learning to motivate college writers. Journal of Developmental Education, 42(1), 16–21.
• Gardner, P. (2021). Contemplative pedagogy: Fostering transformative learning in a critical service learning course. Journal of Experiential Education, 44(2), 152–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825920952086
• Giles, D., & Eyler, J. (1994). The theoretical roots of service-learning in John Dewey: Toward a theory of service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 1(1), 77-85.
• Goldstein, L. S., & Lake, V. E. (2000). Love, love and more love for children: Exploring pre-service Teachers’ understanding of caring. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16(8), 861–872. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00031-7
• Hannah, D. R., & Lautsch, B. A. (2011). Counting in qualitative research: Why to conduct it, when to avoid it, and when to closet it. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(1), 14-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492610375988
• Hart, P. D., & Teeter, R. M. (2002). A national priority: Americans speak on teacher quality. Educational Testing Service.
• Jacoby B. (1996). Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and practice. Jossey-Bass.
• Jones, C., Ratcliff, N., Sheehan, H., & Hunt, G. (2012). An analysis of teachers’ and paraeducators’ roles and responsibilities with implications for professional development. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40(1), 19–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0487-4
• Jones, I. (2017). Integrating Service Learning into Early Childhood Teacher Education: A Theoretical Perspective. In K.L. Heider (Ed.), Service Learning as Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education (pp. 1-14). Springer International Publishing.
• Kaye, C. B. (2010). The complete guide to service learning. Free Spirit.
• Kennedy, M. (2006). From teacher quality to quality teaching. Educational Leadership, 63(6), 14-19.
• Kiely, R. (2005). Transformative international service learning. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 9(1), 275-281.
• Kleine, M., Goetz, T., Pekrun R., & Hall, N. (2005). The structure of students' emotions experienced during a mathematical achievement test. ZDM Mathematics Education, 37(3), 221-225.
• Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Prentice Hall.
• Krippendorff, K. (1989). Content analysis. In E. Barnouw, G. Gerbner, W. Schramm, T. L. Worth, & L. Gross (Eds.), International encyclopedia of communication (Vol. 1, pp. 403-407). Oxford University Press.
• Lee, J.-Y., & Chei, M. J. (2020). Latent profile analysis of Korean undergraduates’ academic emotions in e-learning environment. Educational Technology Research & Development, 68(3), 1521–1546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09715-x
• Leon, K., Pinkert, L. A., & Taylor, K. T. (2017). Developing accounts of instructor learning: Recognizing the impacts of service-learning pedagogies on writing teachers. Composition Studies, 45(1), 39-58.
• Liang, C. C., Seet, C., Jupri, N. F., Nasir, S. F. B. M., Masduki, N. A. B., Hambali, S. N. S. B., & Sahri, N. A. B. M. (2019). Hearing the voices of the voiceless: Service-learning and its impact on aspects of social awareness amongst nursing and optometry students. Citizenship Teaching & Learning, 14(2), 143–160. https://doi.org/10.1386/ctl_00002_1
• Lincoln, Y. S. & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage Publications.
• Lincoln, Y. S., Lynham, S. A., & Guba, E. G. (2011). Paradigmatic controversies, contra-dictions, and emerging confluences, revisited. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (eds), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (4th ed.; pp. 97–128). Sage Publications.
• Lovat, T., & Clement, N. (2016). Service learning as holistic values pedagogy. Journal of Experiential Education, 39(2), 115-129. doi:10.1177/1053825916628548
• Lowery, B. S., Unzueta, M. M., Knowles, E. D., & Goff, P. A. (2006). Concern for the in-group and opposition to affirmative action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(6), 961-974.
• Matheson, B., & Petersen, E. J. (2020). Engaging US students in culturally aware content creation and interactive technology design through service learning. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 63(2), 188-200. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPC.2020.2982253
• Myers, A. (2016). Building bridges to the world: Utilizing service learning during the senior year to develop participatory citizenship. American Secondary Education, 44(3), 4-12.
• Pascualy Cabo, D., Prada, J., & Lowther Pereira, K. (2017). Effects of community service-learning on heritage language learners' attitudes toward their language and culture. Foreign Language Annals, 50(1), 71-83.
• Patterson, G. C., & Dunston, Y. L., & Daniels, K. N. (2017). HBCUs to the rescue: Utilizing service-learning pedagogy to improve teacher preparation in early childhood education. In K.L. Heider(Ed.), Service Learning as pedagogy in early childhood education (pp. 81-92). Springer International Publishing.
• Pertersen, N., & Petker G. (2017). Teacher education students’ struggles with group work in service learning. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 7(1), a479. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v7i1.479
• Polk, J. A. (2006). Traits of effective teachers. Arts Education Policy Review, 107(4), 23–29. https://doi.org/10.3200/AEPR.107.4.23-29
• Popovich, D., & Brooks-Hurst, E. (2019). Assessing the perceived effectiveness of a marketing research service learning project: The MR-SL scale. Marketing Education Review, 29 (3), 164-181. https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.2019.1621679
• Pratt, Y. P., & Danyluk, P. J. (2017). Learning what schooling left out: Making an indigenous case for critical service-learning and reconciliatory pedagogy within teacher education. Canadian Journal of Education, 40(1), 1-29.
• Rodríguez-Nogueira, Ó., Moreno-Poyato, A. R., Álvarez-Álvarez, M. J., & Pinto-Carral, A. (2020). Significant socio-emotional learning and improvement of empathy in physiotherapy students through service learning methodology: A mixed methods research. Nurse education today, 90, 104437. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104437
• Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Sage Publications.
• Schön, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. Jossey-Bass.
• Shor, I. (Ed.). (1987). Freire for the classroom: A sourcebook for liberatory teaching. Heinemann Press.
• Sornson, B. (2015). The effects of using the essential skills inventory on teacher perception of high-quality classroom instruction. Preventing School Failure, 59(3), 161–167. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2014.886551
• Steinke, P., Fitch, P., Johnson, C., & Waldstein, F. (2002). An interdisciplinary study of service-learning predictors and outcomes among college students. In S. H. Billing & A. Furco (Eds.), Advances in service-learning research, Vol 2: Service-learning research through a multidisciplinary lens, (pp. 73-102). Information Age.
• Strait, J., & Sauer, T. (2004). Constructing experiential learning for online courses: The birth of E-service. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, 27(1), 62-65.
• Tokke, C. (2017). Academic service learning using affinity groups outside the box of business: A pedagogy model for community college business students. Community College Enterprise, 23(1), 26-42.
• UNESCO (2006). Teachers and educational quality: monitoring global needs for 2015. Oxford University Press. Volunteer Service Act, M.O.H.W. § 1-25 (2001 & rev. 2020). https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0050131
• Vogelgesang, L. J., & Astin, A. N. (2000). Toward a theory of engagement: A cognitive mapping of service-learning experiences, Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 7(1), 14–25.
• Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Harvard University Press.
• Weiler, K. (1991). Freire and a feminist pedagogy of difference. Harvard Educational Review, 61(4), 449-475.
• Wilkinson, I. A. G., Doepker, G. M., & Morbitt, D. (2012). Bringing service learning to scale in an undergraduate reading foundations course: A quasi-experimental study. Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 23(2), 93-122.