Sustainable Service-Learning in Physical Education Teacher Education: Examining Postural Control to Promote ASD Children’s Well-Being

Teresa Valverde-Esteve, Celina Salvador-Garcia, Jesús Gil-Gómez and María Maravé-Vivas
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Teresa Valverde-Esteve: Department of Didactics of Music, Visual and Body Expression, University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Celina Salvador-Garcia: Faculty of Education, Universidad Internacional de la Rioja, Avenida de la Paz, 137, 26006 Logroño, Spain
Jesús Gil-Gómez: Department of Education and Specific Didactics, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University Jaume I, 12071 Castellón, Spain
María Maravé-Vivas: Department of Education and Specific Didactics, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University Jaume I, 12071 Castellón, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: As classrooms become more and more diverse, it is imperative to provide physical education teacher education (PETE) students with opportunities to develop competencies that promote quality education for all students. In this study, PETE students applied a physical education service-learning (SL) program aimed at enhancing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children’s motor domain and general well-being—objectives that are connected to the third focus of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Traditionally, research on SL has focused on students’ outcomes, and there is a call to examine SL’s effects on service receivers, which is the gap this paper aspires to fill. The aim of this study was to measure the postural control of children with ASD who were involved in a 6-month SL program in comparison to ASD peers in a control group. A quasi-experimental design was used in which a total of 29 children with ASD participated. The results of the experimental group showed a significant improvement in the vestibular pathways, an improvement trend in the somatosensorial and visual pathways and improvements in the dynamic tests. This study provides valuable feedback about how SL programs can benefit ASD children to improve their postural control, thus contributing to the third SDG concerned with well-being promotion.

Keywords: service learning; physical education teacher education; Autism Spectrum Disorder; physical education; postural control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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