Including students with intellectual disabilities (ID) in primary school-based physical education (PE) is common practice. However, little is known about students' social participation in this environment and how it is related to PE teaching strategies. This multilevel study explored the relations between the teaching strategies teaching cooperative skills and using individual reference norm orientation (IRNO), taking into consideration students' social acceptance and interactions in inclusive PE. The results showed that IRNO is positively related to social acceptance and positive interactions in inclusive PE, and the special educational need (SEN) status of children with ID moderated both relationships. Hence, IRNO helps to decrease the gap in social participation between students with and without ID. Teaching cooperative skills were also positively related to social acceptance of all children in PE, but there was no cross-level interaction for SEN status, and no relationship with positive interactions in PE. Thus, teaching cooperative skills can be seen as an inclusive PE teaching strategy that fosters social participation and the well-being of all students. This study addresses an issue relevant in many countries where inclusive school settings are prioritized. In future research on social participation, teacher, student, and class characteristics should be acknowledged.
Inclusive education aims to give all children access to the general education system, regardless of their disposition, and thereby reduce social exclusion. The aim is to achieve equal participation in society called for in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In many countries, including Switzerland, this has led to the increased integration of children with special educational needs into mainstream schools in recent years. However, studies show that the social participation of children with special educational needs in inclusive classes is often accompanied by challenges. Compared to their peers, children with special educational needs have fewer interactions and friendships and are less accepted. In particular, children with intellectual disabilities are at risk of social exclusion. Regarding reduced social participation, inclusive physical education is seen as having a particular potential to promote this participation. However, joint teaching alone is no guarantee that children with and without special educational needs are equally involved in social processes in their class. In inclusive physical education, social exclusion can be particularly visible and tangible, as the learners' physicality is more in focus than in other subjects. In inclusion research, it is therefore of interest how social participation can be promoted. In the field of inclusive physical education with children with intellectual disabilities, however, there is hardly any empirical knowledge on this. This dissertation addresses this research gap and investigates how aspects of social participation of children with intellectual disabilities are shaped in inclusive physical education and which factors are related to them. The data for the three manuscripts submitted for the dissertation all come from the SoPariS research project, which focuses on inclusive physical education with children with intellectual disabilities. In 2019, a cross-sectional study with quantitative questionnaires was conducted for pupils and physical education teachers, surveying 109 primary school classes (3rd-6th grade). Multilevel regressions and social network analysis show that children with intellectual disabilities receive significantly less social interaction (Furrer et al., 2021, 2020) and are less accepted (Furrer et al., in press) than their peers without disability. At the same time, there are fewer social interactions in physical education than in classroom teaching (Furrer et al., in press). The individual reference norm orientation of the physical education teacher is positively related to social acceptance and social interactions, whereby these are particularly increased for children with intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, teaching cooperative norms is positively related to children's social acceptance (Furrer et al., 2020). However, social interactions are not related to the physical education teacher's attitude towards inclusive teaching (Furrer et al., 2021). Finally, social interactions in both physical education and classroom teaching are positively related to classroom climate (Furrer et al., in press). In summary, it can be stated that the investigated aspects of social participation of children with intellectual disabilities are significantly lower than those of children without intellectual disabilities, even in inclusive physical education at primary school level. Specifically, social interactions and acceptance are below average. However, factors could be identified that are positively related to social participation. The great challenge of integrating children with special educational needs is to make teachers aware of the importance of social processes in the classroom and to train and develop them in this area. While the manuscripts of this dissertation provide valuable insights into the promotion of social participation of children with special educational needs in inclusive classrooms, further longitudinal intervention studies are needed to investigate the direction of impact of these factors and to show change over time. References Furrer, V., Mumenthaler, F., Eckhart, M., Nagel, S., & Valkanover, S. (in press). Zum Zusammenhang von Klassenklima und sozialen Interaktionen. Ein Vergleich zwischen inklusivem Klassenzimmer- und Sportunterricht [On the relationship between classroom climate and social interactions. A comparison between inclusive classroom and physical education teaching]. Zeitschrift für sportpädagogische Forschung. Furrer, V., Mumenthaler, F., Valkanover, S., Eckhart, M., & Nagel, S. (2021). Zum Zusammenhang zwischen der Einstellung der Lehrkraft zu inklusivem Sportunterricht und sozialer Interaktionen von Kindern [On the relationship between teacher attitudes towards inclusive physical education and children's social interactions]. Zeitschrift für Grundschulforschung, 14, 237-256. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42278-021-00108-9 Furrer V., Valkanover S., Eckhart M., & Nagel S. (2020). The role of teaching strategies in social acceptance and interactions; Considering students with intellectual disabilities in inclusive physical education. Frontiers in Education, 5, Article 586960. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.586960
Lucid dreaming offers the chance to investigate dreams from within a dream and by real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. This state of consciousness opens a new experimental venue for dream research. However, laboratory study in this field is limited due to the rarity of lucid dreamers. In a previous study, we were able to induce in 50% of the participants a lucid dream in a single sleep laboratory night by combining a wake-up-back-to-bed (WBTB) sleep routine and a mnemonic method (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, MILD). In three experiments, we tried to replicate our earlier findings while we adapted our procedure in shortening (Exp1–3: 4.5 vs. 6 h of uninterrupted sleep in the first half of the night), simplifying (Exp2: time-based wakening vs. REM wakening in the second half of the night), and applying another induction technique (Exp3: reality testing vs. MILD). In the three conditions, four out of 15 (26%), zero out of 20 (0%), and three out of 15 (20%) participants reported a lucid dream. Compared to the original study, the earlier sleep interruption seems to reduce the lucid dream induction rate. Furthermore, without REM awakenings in the morning, lucid dream induction failed, whereas reality testing showed a lower success rate compared to MILD. Further systematic sleep laboratory studies are needed to develop reliable techniques for lucid dream research.
ZusammenfassungIm Zentrum des Beitrags stehen zwei Fragen: 1. Unterscheiden sich Kinder mit und ohne kognitive Beeinträchtigung im inklusiven Sportunterricht in ihren sozialen Interaktionen? 2. Besteht dabei ein Zusammenhang mit der Einstellung der Sportlehrkraft gegenüber inklusiver Bildung? Dazu wurden in einer Querschnittsanalyse 1502 Kinder und 84 Lehrkräfte auf Grundschulstufe befragt. Soziale Netzwerkanalysen zeigen, dass Kinder mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf (SPF) im Sportunterricht signifikant weniger soziale Interaktionen erhalten als Kinder ohne SPF, jedoch gleich viele ausgehende Interaktionen aufweisen. Die sozialen Interaktionen hängen jedoch nicht mit der Einstellung der Lehrkraft zusammen. Auf dieser Basis wird die Rolle der Lehrkraft für die sozialen Interaktionen der Kinder diskutiert.
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