Integrating the Project-Based Learning and the Inclusive Teaching Style: An Innovation to Improve Freestyle Swimming Skills

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of the integration of the project-based learning (P-BL) model and the inclusive teaching style on freestyle swimming skills. This research is an experiment with a nonequivalent control group design. A total of 73 students were involved in the study and were divided into two groups, namely the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group was given a learning treatment using the integration of the P-BL teaching model and an inclusive teaching style, while the control group used traditional learning or Direct Instruction (DI). The intervention was carried out for eight weeks with face-to-face meetings between lecturers and students once a week according to the lecture schedule. Both experimental and control groups received 100 minutes of face-to-face teaching, 120 minutes of independent assignments, and 120 minutes of structured assignments. There are two instruments used to measure freestyle swimming skills, namely the 50-meter freestyle swimming test and the observation sheet of the experimental process. Descriptive analysis, data requirement test, and t-test were used to analyze research data. The findings of the study show that teaching by using the P-BL and inclusive teaching models and teaching that uses traditional methods (DI) have a positive effect and can improve students' freestyle swimming skills (p <0.05). Even so, there is a significant difference between the experimental and control groups as evidenced by the Z-value of -5.275 and the Sig. 0.000 (p < 0.05). The experimental group that was taught by using the integration of the P-BL and inclusive teaching models appeared to have higher learning outcomes.