Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Study Of Community Interaction, Ernst W. Stromsdorfer, Grant Forsyth, Richard Oxley

Partnerships/Community

This study analyses selected aspects of the community impact of the Kitsap Community Action Program projects entitled ''The Public Awareness of Kitsap" (PACK). PACK was initiated as a response to a downsizing of Department of Defense activities in Kitsap County. With PACK, the Kitsap Community Action Program (KCAP) joined hands with the Washington Service Corps in an effort funded by the Defense Conversion Assistance program to revitalize the local Bremerton and Kitsap County economies.

A Paradigm Change In Higher Education?, Goodwin Liu

Higher Education

In the past decade we have witnessed steady progress in the development of service-learning programs on college campuses across the nation. As the director of a federal program that supports these initiatives, I was often" asked to describe the national context in which these initiatives take place. The national context can be sketched in many ways. Sometimes I used a historical perspective to explain how the service-leaming movement came to be. With other audiences, I used a policy perspective to explain how the Corporation for National Service and other national organizations are working to expand and sustain the movement.

Writing The Ties That Bind: Service-Learning In The Writing Classroom, David D. Cooper, Laura Julier

Higher Education

Recognizing, as John Dewey observed, that democracy begins in conversation, the Service-Learning Writing Project views the writing classroom as a place where rhetorical processes and democratic practices naturally converge. Informed by complementary disciplinary conversations in public culture studies and composition research, the project's interdisciplinary curriculum and pedagogical methods seek to shape habits of heart and mind that advance the development of critical discourse skills, the refinement of civic sensibility, and the promotion of students' ethical responsibility for the public good.

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 …

Experiential-Learning Activities In Undergraduate Developmental Psychology, Andrea D. Clements

Higher Education

In two studies, I examined student responses to an increased emphasis on experiential activities in a required undergraduate developmental psychology course. For four experiential sections (n=134), each class topic was related to a specific, real-world application. Four other sections (n=187) were taught primarily by lecture, with one out-of-class observation assignment. The experiential sections rated the value of and interest in the subject matter higher and the courtesy and consideration of the instructor significantly more positively than did the lecture sections. Students in the two types of sections did not differ significantly in achievement. A follow-up study identified the origin of …

The Contribution Of Religion To Volunteer Work, John Wilson, Thomas Janoski

Special Topics, General

The connection between church membership, church activism, and volunteering is explored using a three-wave panel study of young adults. Volunteering to help others solve community problems is more likely among members of churches that emphasize this-worldly social concerns, especially among those socially involved in these churches. Among Catholics, the connection between church involvement and volunteering is formed early and remains strong. Among liberal Protestants, the connection is made only in middle age. Among moderate and conservative Protestants there is little connection at all. Conservative Protestants who attend church regularly are less likely to be involved in secular volunteering and more …

Action Research In The Service Of Learning, Warren Everett

Special Topics, General

Alma High School has a 9th-12th grade student population of about 720 in a primarily rural setting in Michigan's middle-of-the-mitten. We are considered a low-economic area with more than 40% of the students qualifying for free or reduced lunches. Some light industry remains, but what was the national center of mobile home production is completely gone as well as the linking industries. Student enrollment has dropped by nearly half over the last 20 years. In 1990, 9% of the 0-17 year-olds were Latino, most of whom were poor academic achievers. While our community has a prominent small college and a …

Community Service Learning Is A Foregone Conclusion At The Lincoln Elementary School, Michelle Boorstein

Service Learning, General

For the staff at Lincoln Elementary School in Springfield, Massachusetts, articulating the many ways in which community service learning affects their school is nearly impossible. The principal says he doesn't require people to do community service. Yet, on any given day, students all over the school are learning through service projects.

Service Learning And Curriculum Transfusion, Irving H. Budchen

Service Learning, General

Newcomers to service learning, caught up by its initial successes, are frequently not aware that service learning is capable, with appropriate long-term structuring, of exhibiting developmental stages that feed into patterns of academic growth.

Inclusion And Community Service Learning: A Partnership, Mary Chamberlain

Service Learning, General

Teachers and students, already burdened by seemingly overwhelming curriculum demands, are seeing more areas of study moved into the schools as a result of today's societal needs. Community service learning must not be perceived as yet another burden, but as an integrated part of the curriculum, an enhancement to teaching and learning.

By The People: Citizenship And National Service, The Center For Democracy And Citizenship, Harry C. Boyt

Guides

As an AmeriCorps member, you are part of a national effort, a national movement, to address some of America's most pressing problems -- from education to violence, health care to the environment. AmeriCorps members demonstrate that citizens can be serious players in public life and can build the foundations for a healthy and flourishing society in the 21st century. AmeriCorps broadens our understanding of democracy and citizenship, returning us to our nation's wellsprings.

Students Trained In Advocacy And Community Service: Training Manual, Pennsylvania Campus Compact

Guides

A fundamental goal of the STACS program is to further develop students to become "community leaders" or "active citizens." Many historians, philosophers, and social scientists, after Witnessing a process of social disorganization and a decline in local community life, have concluded that the processes that fragment and change communities are inevitable. These processes have been called many things: progress, modernization, urbanization, industrialization, secularization, and "the great change" (Rollans Warren). Change itself has been measured in terms of loss, decline, and deterioration of traditional communities. In discussions that emerge as a result of the Citizenship Development component of the STACS workshops …

Random Acts Of Kindness, Martin Kimeldorf

Curriculum

Introducing the concept of random acts of kindness and compassion I recommend that you get a copy of the book " Random Acts Of Kindness.'' (Editors of Conari Press. 1993. Emeryville, CA). Set the stage by reading examples of the random acts of kindness illustrated in the book. This can be followed by a discussion of the following question and the background material related to volunteerism in America. Some background material follows, after this you'll find 4 exercises.

Schools And Business Benefit Mutually Through Service Learning, Mike Bookey

Partnerships/Community

Schools are modeled after the industrial factories of yesterday. The goal of the education process is to mass produce standardized, educated citizens and workers. In this factory model, we teach students the hierarchy of decision making, to follow orders, and to work individually. Businesses, however, need graduates who are self-directed, responsible employees, who can solve problems, who can handle computers and the latest technology, and who can work in teams. In this the information age, business can no longer continue to sidestep the need to reformulate the processes and goals of public education.

Students And Service-Learning: Planning Programs With Communities, Ruth A. Assell

Partnerships/Community

Project: "Improving the Health of Women and Children Through a Multidisciplinary Service-Learning System"

You are about to embark on an exciting journey--working with a population of homeless women and children, the agencies that serve them and the community in which they live. You, in partnership with these individuals and groups, will be assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating a service-learning program aimed at addressing mutually identified needs. This handbook is intended to assist you in that process. Although the handbook provides an overview of the entire process-assessment through evaluation, most attention is given to the needs assessment portion of the process. …

Service Learning With Student Organizations, Mary Anderson-Rowland

Higher Education

Recently, there has been an increased demand on fiscal accountability in all sectors, but perhaps even more so in the educational arena. Recruitment and retention have become very important in a time of shrinking engineering enrollments. This means that special efforts need to be made to attract new students to our engineering and applied sciences college, especially underrepresented minorities and women. At the same time, extra efforts need to be made to retain the students already recruited. All of this takes time and money.

The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) at Arizona State University (ASU) has a plan …

Faculty Guide To Service-Learning, David B. Johnson

Higher Education

Since you are reading this, you probably have an interest in service-learning. Perhaps you are presently a volunteer in your community or had a fulfilling experience with activism as a college student. Maybe you have been incorporating community service in your teaching and are looking for some new ideas. Possibly you are searching for a new approach to bring more life to the classroom or just recharge your batteries. Whatever the motive, the proven pedagogical strategy of service-learning may be for you.

Preparing The Way For Reform In Higher Education: Drawing Upon The Resources Of The Community-At-Large, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

Higher education is being asked to pay more attention to student learning and to contribute to the enhancement of the social and economic conditions of the community it serves. As a result, educational institutions will no longer be self-contained Community members and organizations have become not only critical partners inframing the goals and intentions of the educational reform movement, but they also have assets that must be tapped by educational institutions that wish to implement change and respond to social needs