Walking a Mile in Their Shoes

Abstract

This study examined the impact of a poverty simulation project, an experiential learning procedure on preservice teachers' perception of elementary students living in poverty. Thirty undergraduate preservice teachers from two cohorts in a public university in the southern part of the United States were asked to participate in a poverty simulation activity to expose them to the lived experiences of people living in poverty. An early analysis of the debriefing session after the simulation project showed that students viewed this simulation project as an engaging learning experience. Means and standard deviations of scores in relation to pre-test and post-test personal bias toward poverty, understanding individuals in poverty, effort in teaching students living in poverty, and responsibility for students living in poverty were obtained. While there was no significant difference from the paired sample t-tests, there was a slight difference in three of the four areas measured.