Katie Stanton-Nichols, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Adapted Physical Activity
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
History of service learning at IUPUI
1. Urban University with Center of Service and Learning
which supports faculty development of service
learning in multiple ways
2. I have been a Boyer’s Scholar and am currently a
faculty service learning liaison in our school
3. Our school has six service learning campuscommunity partnerships—mine focus on the
disability community (family, children, and adults)
4. Faculty are highly engaged in service learning and
we are currently evaluating our overall service
learning “impact” (school/community)
5. Service learning is part of our School’s strategic plan
Courses/Service Learning Settings
1.
Two upper division undergraduate courses
 Pre-service teacher education physical education majors
 Pre-professional physical/occupational therapy students
2.
Approximately 15-35 students per course
3.
Lectures 2 times/week 75 minutes
4.
Two hour service learning setting one day a week
5.
Two service learning settings: one with children with
disabilities ages 3-15 (motor development focus); the
other physical fitness setting with adults with disabilities
Central question, issue, or problem
to explore
1. Students experiencing disability within the context
of physical activity are faced with the challenge to
look past what individuals cannot do and focus on
what individuals can do…..building upon one’s
ability versus disability
2. As students begin to appreciate ability versus
disability, they seem to change their perception of
disability and deepen their understanding of the
term.
How do students deepen their understanding of
disability through reflection and participation in
service learning programs?
So…what is disability?
1.
Webster’s
 “a physical or mental condition that limits a person's movements,
senses, or activities”
2.
Thesaurus
 “disablement, incapacity, impairment, infirmity, defect,
abnormality; condition, disorder, affliction”
3.
Antonym:
 talent, skill, expertise, adeptness, aptitude, skillfulness, savoir faire,
prowess, mastery, accomplishment; competence, proficiency;
dexterity, adroitness, deftness, cleverness, flair, finesse, gift, knack,
genius
4.
So is it any wonder that student’s question what a person can
do or how they can do “it” if labeled with a disability?
Question relevance/importance
1.
If we can prepare pre-service professionals to have more than confined
knowledge of disability characteristics but a “method” of broadening their
basis of disability, it could:
• Ascertain if contextual understanding of disability enables student’s
to appropriately plan for activity
• assist in understanding what students learn as they participate in a
physical activity service learning program,
• enable faculty in assessing certain values and ethics in the service
learning programs,
• understanding how to develop a civic-minded graduate,
• contribute to the knowledge base related to service learning
experience and course content knowledge, and
• understand if difference in setting impacts what students learn or
understand about disability and physical activity
2.
Interested audiences:
 Faculty in adapted physical activity, special education, and related
services
 Faculty who are interested in assessing student reflection
Service Learning Settings
Motor Activity Clinic
1.
Gym/pool setting for children with varying disability
categories ages 3-15
2.
Focus to improve overall motor skill ability and swimming
skill
Ability Fitness Clinic
1.
Physical fitness setting for young and older adults with
disabilities (acquired, etc.)
2.
Focus to improve overall mobility, function, and
independence
Setting is similar (contextually) & struggle tends to be the
same for all students (understanding ability within
disability); for most this is their first working experience
with disability and for some it is their first large scale
service learning experience
Service Learning reflection
1. Students participate choose to participate in either
service learning setting when registering for the
class.
2. Students participate in half day training/orientation
one week prior to the start of clinic; in class
discussions occur from the beginning of semester
3. Students will “reflect” differently depending upon
the setting (accounting for setting)
4. Submit weekly reflections in addition to plans
5. Current analysis was taken from students
participating in Ability Fitness Clinic-midterm
reflection (different from weekly reflection)
Specific to this project…..
1. Midterm reflection that asks the following:
“List and describe at least five things that you have
learned from this experience. In your description,
include how you have learned, how the learning
has helped you in class, and if you think the
practicum is a vital part of your learning.”
2. Unprompted, students have responded to the “five
things” in such a manner that suggests that they
change their understanding of “disability”
3. Reviewed 12 student responses to date (fall 2009
and spring 2010); 8 seem to have similar
themes/domains
Evidence to suggest their
understanding
1.
“I have also learned to always focus on one’s abilities instead of their disabilities. I
feel that is the most important think I have learned in this class because I will take
that with me in life and I can help educate others in the fitness industry to be more
accommodating and successful when working with PWD”
2.
“I have learned that almost any exercise can be modified in some way to suit the
client’s needs…..I have also learned that you can never judge a book by the
cover. Someone may look like they have a disability and not be able to do
something but they may surprise you and do everything you ask of them just
because they are determined”
3.
“I have learned several things from this class. I learned so much about function
from my client. It’s hard to read something from notes and a textbook and really
understand it. Honestly, I did not realize that I was applying these concepts until
Dr. Stanton mentioned them to me during a training session. I guess that was the
moment when everything clicked and I was not so intimidated by planning
exercises for my client. I understood what my client needed based upon studying
his movements, trying different exercises and then focusing on the exercises that
seemed to improve his performance most. Now, instead of focusing on my clients’
functional limitations, I am implementing exercises that will hopefully increase his
function as well as other things”
4.
“Not letting your own conclusions get in the way is important and I kind of hit on
this in the first question. You can really limit your client if you assume they can’t do
something, you need to focus on what they can do”
Continued…
5.
“I have learned to respect people with disabilities as I would respect
everyone else. ……it is through trial and error that I had to make
modifications. Sometimes the exercise worked and other times it needed to
be changed”(alludes to function vs. disability)
6.
“I hate to say this but ‘xyz’ showed me that people with disabilities are just
like everyone else. They can be rude, mean, sarcastic, funny, sweet, and
bossy. ‘XYZ’ showed me each of those characteristics our first visit which I
found quite overwhelming. There were times when ‘xyz’ would say
something inappropriate and I tell her that isn’t right to say with a firm voice.
I would have never done that unless Dr. Stanton said it was okay. I would let
her continue to say inappropriate things and rationalize it by saying it’s
because she has Down syndrome.”
7.
I’ve learned that people with disabilities are motivated in different ways just
like able-bodied people. Another thing that I’ve noticed is that parents or
siblings of the people who come to clinic. I’ve never heard any of them talk
about their son’s/daughter’s disability. I didn’t expect them to dwell on it, but
I think that it is so normal to them that it’s just like any other day”
8.
“By the second week, I began to adjust my perspective on ABC’s condition.
Instead of focusing on what he can’t do, it quickly became second nature to
choose a series of exercises that I know he’s capable of performing”
Initial Domains
1. Ability focus
2. Function vs. disability
3. Recognition of perceived ability by disability
category
Altering the questions garnered similar
responses….
1. Instead of asking “list five things….”, in their final
paper (called personal growth statement), I asked
them to respond to the four prompts (Ash, Clayton,
& Moses, 2009)




What did I learn?
How did I learn it?
Why is it important?
What will I do in light of the learning?
2. These questions garnered similar comments but
student’s seem to struggle more with identifying
what they learned (have not analyzed the
content/domains)
What aspects of the design and character of this work are you not yet
fully prepared to describe? What questions do you have and what do
you still need to know?
1.
How frequently should students reflect on the concept of disability?
2.
Are video reflections a more appropriate means to evaluate understanding
disability particularly if students struggle to express themselves through writing?
3.
Should their reflection be graded? (will it hinder what they say or how they say it)
4.
Because students are participating in lecture where we engage in discussing
disability, culture, and bias how do I account for lecture influences?
5.
There are several theories that influence behavior or attitudinal change (e.g.,
Theory of Planned Behavior; Contact Theory) but neither “explain” how
understanding of disability is changed through service learning. I am struggling
to find a theoretical model to support asking my central question.
6.
My instinct and knowledge tells me that I should account for their previous
experience with disability, but should it be qualified or quantified?
7.
On the other end of the continuum, some students will struggle because of lack
of preparation, understanding of behavior management, and no previous
experience with disability. It is possible these students will have much large gains
in their perception than others who have previous experience. Do I separate
these students in research methodology?
References
Ash, S.L., Clayton, P.H., & Moses, M.G. (2009). Learning through critical
reflection: A tutorial for service-learning students.
Drum, C.E., Peterson, J., Culley, C., Krahn, G., Heller, T., Kimpton, T.,
McCubbin, J., Rimmer, J., Seekins, T., Suzuki, R., & White, G.W.
(2009). Guidelines and criteria for the implementation of
community-based health promotion programs for individuals with
disabilities. American Journal of Health Promotion, V. 24(2), 93101.
Welch, M., Liese, L.H., & Bergerson, B. (2004). A qualitative assessment
project comparing and contrasting faculty and administrators’
perspectives on service learning. Journal of Higher Education
Outreach and Engagement, V. 9(2), 23-42.