Shifting Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Impairment through Disability-Related Simulations

Authors

  • Scott Douglas
  • Jennifer M. Krause
  • Hillary M. Franks

Keywords:

Perceptions of disability, teacher education and development, narrative, physical education, adapted physical education

Abstract

Simulation of disability has been used as a pedagogical tool to provide preservice teachers in physical education with opportunities for experiential learning (Leo & Goodwin, 2013). Disagreement exists, however, about their effectiveness and authenticity in simulating the experience of having a disability (French, 1992). The purpose of the current study was to explore the meaning that disability-related simulations had on preservice teachers’ perceptions of individuals with disabilities and to what extent these experiences changed their beliefs and values about teaching students with disabilities in physical education. A narrative research approach was utilized to collect stories from a convenience sample of 10 preservice physical education teachers (two female and eight male) enrolled in a required undergraduate adapted physical education (APE) class. Data from reflective participant narratives and a semi-structured focus-group interview were collected, transcribed and thematically analyzed to reveal five themes: perceived treatment, mobility challenges, meta-perceptions, changes in perceptions of impairment, and future impact on teaching students with disabilities. The findings present profiles of preservice teachers’ perceptions of disability and learning outcomes, and highlight the potential impact disability-related simulations can have for preservice teachers to gain empathy for impairment, and the resulting development of more thoughtful approaches to teaching students with disabilities in physical education. 

Subscribe to PALAESTRA

Downloads

Published

2019-05-23

Issue

Vol. 33 No. 2 (2019)

Section

Feature Articles

License

Sagamore Publishing LLC (hereinafter the “Copyright Owner”)

Journal Publishing Copyright Agreement for Authors

PLEASE REVIEW OUR POLICIES AND THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT, AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS BY CHECKING THE ‘AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE’ CHECKBOX BELOW.

I understand that by submitting an article to PALAESTRA, I am granting the copyright to the article submitted for consideration for publication in PALAESTRA to the Copyright Owner. If after consideration of the Editor of the PALAESTRA, the article is not accepted for publication, all copyright covered under this agreement will be automatically returned to the Author(s).

THE PUBLISHING AGREEMENT

Assignment of Copyright

I hereby assign to the Copyright Owner the copyright in the manuscript I am submitting in this online procedure and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when the article is accepted for publication.

Reversion of Rights

Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later be rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the Author.

Retention of Rights for Scholarly Purposes

I understand that I retain or am hereby granted the Retained Rights. The Retained Rights include the right to use the Preprint, Accepted Manuscript, and the Published Journal Article for Personal Use and Internal Institutional Use.

All journal material is under a 12 month embargo. Authors who would like to have their articles available as open access should contact Sagamore-Venture for further information.

In the case of the Accepted Manuscript and the Published Journal Article, the Retained Rights exclude Commercial Use, other than use by the author in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works or to extend the Article to book length form or re-use by the author of portions or excerpts in other works.

Published Journal Article: the author may share a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI.

Author Representations

  • The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated author(s) and has not been published elsewhere.
  • The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
  • The Article contains no libelous or other unlawful statements and does not contain any materials that violate any personal or proprietary rights of any other person or entity.
  • I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article.
  • If the Article was prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this Journal Publishing Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.