Education Commons^™

Service Learning In Medical Education: Project Description And Evaluation, Nicole J. Borges, Paul J. Hartung

Service Learning, General

Although medical education has long recognized the importance of community service, most medical schools have not formally nor fully incorporated service learning into their curricula. To address this problem, we describe the initial design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a service-learning project within a first-year medical school course. Medical students (eight women, eight men) screened clients of a community agency for high blood pressure and educated them about the effects of hypertension on health. Results of the project indicated significant increases in students' attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to community health, resources, and service. Infusing medical education with service-learning activities …

Service-Learning Projects Enhance Student Learning In Strategic Management Courses, John Angelidis, Igor Tomic, Nabil A. Ibrahim

Service Learning, General

Academia has been criticized for Its supposed isolation from society and its lack of emphasis on practical applications and hands-on experience. Institutions of higher education are responding to this criticism by incorporating experiential service-learning in their curricula. One business course which is particularly appropriate for integrating service-learning into the curriculum is Strategic Management.

Three-Year Longitudinal Service-Learning Research Study: Preliminary Findings, Frank D. Aquila, L. Richard Bradley, Jennifer Dodd, Charlotte Jones-Ward

Service Learning, General

Using an experimental design, this study examines the contributions of service-learning to decreased at-risk behaviors, student cognitive, social, and personal development, and academic achievement over a three-year period. During the pilot phase and Years One and Two, teachers and students from eleven different Ohio schools have been surveyed. Preliminary findings are presented.

Meeting Ncate Standards Through Service-Learning: Dispositions, National Service-Learning In Teacher Education Partnership

Service Learning, General

The University of Idaho, Division of Teacher Education, is refocusing its teacher certification program to reflect national standards and place P-12 students at the center of preservice learning. The integration of service-learning into course work throughout the program ensures that a community of learners will be developed both in academic settings and in society.

Meeting Ncate Standards Through Service-Learning: Professional Knowledge & Skills, National Service-Learning In Teacher Education Partnership

Service Learning, General

Community service has a long-standing tradition in the mission and purpose of California Lutheran University. Believing that the adoption of academic service-learning as an innovative and effective instructional strategy can enhance and enrich the teaching and learning experiences of both Faculty and students, in 1994, the School of Education included service-learning as a required assignment in several courses in the Teacher Preparation Program.

Institutionalized Service-Learniing In The 50 States, Kathy Anthes

Service Learning, General

Service-learning is a teaching method that combines service to the community with classroom curriculum. Service-learning is more than merely community service. It is a hands-on approach to mastering subject material while fostering civic responsibility. On a programmatic level, service-learning in America is thriving. Through funds from the Corporation for National Service, almost every state has resources and some level of a service-learning program. Although practitioners and other service-learning advocates have long regarded service-learning as a way to increase student achievement and student civic engagement and decrease a host of problems, such as drop-out rates and school crime and violence, there …

Community Service Learning In Culturally Diverse Stettings As A Springboard For Student Constructed Case Studies, Viviana Alexandrowicz

Service Learning, General

This article describes the process of incorporating case study development by students in a teacher education methods course. The students weekly and final reflections, in addition to the high quality of their case studies, suggested that case study development by teacher candidates is an effective approach to increase their understanding of and competence to work with second language and culturally diverse people.

Principles Of Good Practice For Service-Learning In Preservice Teacher Education, Jeffrey B. Anderson, Don Hill

Service Learning, General

The purpose of this document is to provide principles to guide the integration of service-learning into the preservice teacher education curriculum. The ten principles included here were developed by a group of over 80 teacher educators and service-learning practitioners from all regions of the U.S. who contributed their ideas and feedback in order to achieve consensus. (Contributors are listed in Appendix B). These principles of good practice can be used by teacher educators to design and assess their service-teaming activities, and by policy makers to guide decisions regarding resource allocation and program development.

Learning In Deed: Service-Learning And Preservice Teacher Education, Jeffrey B. Anderson

Service Learning, General

Progressive teacher education programs face a pair of daunting yet crucial tasks. New teachers must be prepared to function effectively in schools as they exist today. They also must be educated to take a leadership role in the improvement and restructuring of P-12 education to meet students’ and society’s needs more fully. Service-learning appears to have considerable potential as a method to achieve both these goals.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation believes that meaningful service to the community, combined with curriculum-based learning, builds stronger academic skills, encourages lifelong civic commitment, and improves workplace and personal development skills among youth. Educators lead …

Introduction To Service-Learning, Augsburg College

Service Learning, General

Information for Education students making a difference in our community (EDU 265, EDU 210).

Service-Learning For Preservice Teachers: Ethical Dilemmas For Practice, David M. Donahue

Service Learning, General

Increasingly in the United States, service-learning is being used to educate preservice teachers. Service varies greatly in its ethical foundation, however, and service-learning presents new teachers with a variety of dilemmas revealing the moral and political nature of teaching and service. This article presents one case of four preservice teachers writing curriculum as a service to a community agency hoping to promote service geared toward social justice among high school students. The case highlights ethical dilemmas faced by teachers in the process and illustrates the potential of service-learning to educate teachers for the moral imperative of their profession.

The National Society For Experiential Education Research Collaborative, National Society For Experiential Education

Service Learning, General

The National Society for Experiential Education is embarking on a new endeavor to advance our understanding of how experiential education impacts learning, teaching, and schooling in various contexts and communities. This endeavor, called the NSEE Research Collaborative, will convene national and local researchers to collaborate on a large-scale, multifaceted research study that will investigate various issues in experiential education.

Service-Learning In Economics: A Detailed Application, Kimmarie Mcgoldrick

Service Learning, General

Over the past decade, a significant push has been made toward the adoption or development of alternative methods of disseminating economic concepts to students. Much of this work is grounded in the belief that we, as educators, must recognize who our students are as well as how they process information. Siegfried and colleagues ( 1991) have suggested that more needs to be done to teach students to think like economists. They outlined a number of approaches and changes that have the potential for improving undergraduate economic education by providing opportunities for students to practice thinking like economists.

De-Platonizing And Democratizing Education As The Bases Of Service Learning, Ira Harkavy, Lee Benson

Service Learning, General

The theoretical bases of academic service learning are examined, with particular attention to John Dewey’s contributions. The service learning movement is conceptualized as part of an ongoing—and still unsuccessful—effort to “de-Platonize” and democratize American higher education in particular and American schooling in general.

What Are Students Learning?: Assessing Service Learning And The Curriculum, Kathryn Blash Cumbo, Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur

Service Learning, General

Service learning, a method of learning and teaching, has the potential to move our educational system into the 21st century by providing a vehicle for integrating the needs of schools and communities while reflecting current reform agendas and providing meaningful learning experiences for students. In order for service learning to play a role in the transformation of our schools, however, educators must become successful at linking service to learning- making connections between service experiences and academic learning explicit. This paper explores the meaning of learning in service learning by explicating: a) how service learning links to current standards based reform …

Challenges And Strategies For Success With Service-Learning In Preservice Teacher Education, Jeffrey B. Anderson, Terry Pickeral

Service Learning, General

This study examined challenges to the use of service-learning in preservice teacher education and also strategies used to overcome those challenges. We surveyed 123 teacher educators, education deans, and state department of education service-learning coordinators to gain their perspective regarding challenges most critical to the use of service-learning in teacher education. We then interviewed 42 of the survey respondents to obtain detailed descriptions of specific strategies used to overcome challenges. Results indicate the most critical challenges relate to lack of time for teacher educators to plan and implement service-learning, an already overcrowded curriculum, and a lack of alignment of service-learning …

Service Learning And Teacher Education: Mapping The Territory, Carole Cook Freeman

Service Learning, General

Since the mid-1980's there has been a renewed interest in progressive approaches to the education of intending teachers¹. In the context of this progressive teacher education activity, several distinct, but related, ideas converge and become the theoretical base for teacher education practices involving (community) service learning.² Among these ideas are renewed interest in authentic field experiences, multicultural education, child advocacy, democratic education, social justice, school reform efforts, autobiography and teacher thinking, and an emphasis on community service in K-12 education. In addition, teacher educators increasingly recognize the gap between the backgrounds of those who intend to teach …

Community Service Throughout A School System, Anne Bishop

Service Learning, General

Teachers crave moments when student interest is high, questions flow freely, and learning is vivid enough to be retained. One such moment occurred when an elementary student in an environmental service project with wetlands volunteers said, "I learned that there are different types of wetlands and ours is a freshwater wetland that we are helping to stay fresh." These moments happen more often when students actively engage in experiences that involve helping others than during lecture, pencil and paper exercises, or assigned reading. Combined, service and learning become uniquely powerful (Kendall 1990). Facts learned in the classroom become a springboard …

A Glipse Of A New Experiential Learning Theory Paradigm, John S. Duley

Service Learning, General

A pseudo NSIEE Occasional Paper printed as memorabilia for the Wingspread Service Learning History Project Conference, December 2-4, 1995. This was first presented as the closing Keynote address at the 1980 NSIEE conference in San Francisco. It was reworked on the basis of correspondence with Bob Sigmon and conversations with other illuminaries. I reworked it in its present form in June 1988 and submitted it to the then editor of Occasional Papers. For probably several good reasons of which I am not aware, it was not published. So on this occasion I have taken the liberty as a former editor …

Developing Active Citizens: Community Service Learning In Social Studies Teacher Education, Rahima C. Wade

Service Learning, General

How are social studies teacher educators to prepare teachers for working in a society fraught with social, environmental, and economic problems? If the true mission of our profession is active citizenship, we must help our students learn the value of engaging in long-term efforts to revitalize our democratic society and the skills to respond compassionately to those whose daily needs cannot wait for societal transformation. This article is based on the premise that social studies teacher educators are in a unique position to develop future teachers' commitment to giving their students opportunities for active involvement in the community and the …

Curriculum Integration And The Disciplines Of Knowledge, James A. Beane

Service Learning, General

At a conference on curriculum integration, a speaker who admitted that he had only recently been introduced to the concept said, "From a quick look at various readings, it seems that the disciplines of knowledge are the enemy of curriculum integration." Unwittingly or not, he had gone straight to the heart of perhaps the most contentious issue in current conversations about curriculum integration. Simply put, the issue is this: If we move away from the subject-centered approach to curriculum organization, will the disciplines of knowledge be abandoned or lost in the shuffle?

Service Learning, Diversity, And The Liberal Arts Curriculum, Richard Battistoni

Service Learning, General

In the many years I have been teaching, I have attempted to engage students in issues surrounding their place as citizens in a multicultural democracy. In my second year of involvement in AAC&U's American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy, and Liberal Learning project, I have become acquainted with the perspectives of faculty from different disciplines and institutions and with a wide array of excellent multicultural materials and curricula; but even the best of curricula tend to be somewhat abstract.

Field Experience And Cooperative Education; Similarities And Differences, Joyce K. Fletcher

Service Learning, General

Of all of the benefits associated with experiential education, those related to student development are of the most interest to educators. Those of us who work with students do not need to be convinced of the positive impact work experience has on participants. Anecdotally we share with one another our success stories - stories of individual students who have grown, matured, gained self-confidence or a new sense of direction and purpose because of exposure to what we like to call the real world. Yet, we recognize that these outcomes are not guaranteed, and that in fact, not all students achieve …

Applications Of Developmental Theory To The Design And Conduct Of Quality Field Experience Programs: Exercises For Educators, Michele Whitman, Albert Erdynast

Service Learning, General

Much has been made in experiential learning circles of the implications of empirical findings in developmental psychology for the formulation of a theoretically convincing rationale for field experience education programs of every kind. Of particular significance has been the identification of cognitive structural stages of intellectual, moral, social and ego development through which individuals have been shown to progress--structural transformations of the individual's intra- and interpersonal capacities which closely mirror the traditionally articulated goals of higher education for students' growth. Even as such concepts have been advanced, however, practitioners have voiced persistent reservations about the theory's seeming elitism, the values …