Service-Learning in the training of preschool pre-service teachers: Movement-based intervention

Abstract

In recent years the Service-Learning methodology has been widely applied in the university environment (SLU) with the aim of connecting learning with the social needs in real-life context. The present work describes the application of a Movement-based intervention (MBI) in students with movement difficulties, in which the SLU methodology was used with the double objective of understand its impact on the learning of the service providers, as well as analyzing the impact of MP on children receiving the service. The study involved six students of the Degree in Early Childhood Education with specialized in Physical Education (Service providers; M_Age = 24; SD_age = .82), and 40 children form the third year of Early Childhood Education (service recipients; M_age = 4.84; SD_age = .48). A pre-experimental study with a mixed approach was designed in which a focus group was carried out and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) was administered to evaluate the impact of the Motor Competence. The results indicated that the female university students acquired social, academic, personal and citizenship learning. The students who receive the service improved their Motor Competence and increased interest in physical and sport activity. In conclusion, the SLU application seems to have benefits for all the agents involved in the teaching-learning process. Specifically, in this study, the university students became socially aware of the need to include motor content in Early Childhood Education, and a transfer of the improvement of Motor competence to other areas of non-structured physical activity was observed.