Sociology Commons^™

Project Animate: Promoting Student Civic Participation Through Latino Voter Mobilization, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado

Faculty Books and Monographs

This project sought to expand voter outreach and mobilization of new registered and Latino voters through a series of activities to be undertaken in winter of 2007 leading up to the 2008 General Election in the greater Omaha metropolitan area. Following the successful development of a voter mobilization project undertaken in the 2006 election cycle, this project conducted a series of door-to-door canvassing activities utilizing University of Nebraska at Omaha students to distribute nonpartisan voter information, and engage in “get out the vote” activities with new Latino registered voters in Ward 4 of Douglas County, Nebraska and among Southeast Omaha’s …

Youth Helping America - Educating For Active Citizenship: Service-Learning, School-Based Service And Youth Civic Engagement, Kimberly Spring, Nathan Dietz, Robert Grimm Jr.

Civic Engagement

This brief is the second in the Youth Helping America Series, a series of reports based on data from the Youth Volunteering and Civic Engagement Survey, a national survey of 3,178 American youth between the ages of 12 and 18 that was conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service in 2005 in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau and the nonprofit coalition Independent Sector.

The survey collected information on teen volunteering habits, experiences with school-based service-learning, and other forms of civic engagement. While the first brief in the Youth Helping America Series focused on youth volunteering and social …

Md. Service Learning: Classroom Link Weak?, Michelle Galley

School K-12

Maryland students are mucking out horse stalls, dancing in ballets, answering telephones, and ladling soup for the homeless in order to graduate from high school.

Eleven years after the legislature passed a first-of-its-kind state law requiring all public school students to complete 75 hours of service learning, young people are fulfilling the requirement with varying degrees of success.

A Meta-Analysis Of Service Learning Research In Middle And High Schools, Amy E. White

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study examines the relationship between service learning innovations and improved academics, self-concept, and social or personal growth in middle and high school students. Meta-Analysis is employed to arrive at effect-size estimates for each construct. A historical overview of service learning is presented and a detailed description of the study selection process is provided. The data revealed a moderate relationship between service learning participation and academics, self-concept and social or personal growth in middle and high school students. The findings are presented, and some appropriate conclusions are drawn. A discussion of the implications of these findings and recommendations for future …

The Impacts Of Service Learning On Youth, Schools And Communities: Research On K-12 School-Based Service Learning, 1990 To 1999, Shelley H. Billig

Special Topics, General

This is an excellent review of literature on the outcomes of service-learning for all involved by a respected author. Contents: Prevalence of Service Learning I Rationale for Use in K-12 Public Schools I Evidence of Impact /Impact on Personal and Social Development /Impact on Civic Responsibility /Impact on Student Academic Learning /Impact on Career Exploration and Aspirations /Impact on Schools /Impact on Communities. Includes five-page bibliography of all sources cited.

Youth Service-Learning And Community Service Among 6th- Through 12th-Grade Students In The United States: 1996 And 1999, Brian Kleiner, Chris Chapman

Special Topics, General

Involving America's students in community service activities is one of the objectives established under the third National Education Goal for the year 2000, which seeks to prepare students for responsible citizenship. Over the past 10 years, legislative initiatives have responded to and galvanized a growing national emphasis on increasing students' involvement with their local communities and linking this service to academic study through service-learning. Examples of initiatives that have mandated support for service-learning activities in elementary and secondary schools include the National and Community Service Act of 1990, the Serve America program and the National and Community Service Trust Act …

Make Sure It's Service Learning, Not Just Community Service, Leonard T. Burns

Special Topics, General

Service learning may be made more beneficial to communities by allowing students to participate aggressively in various learning activities, while keeping them abreast with their own social responsibilities. Students must also be given adequate opportunity to reflect on their service experiences.

The Effects Of Service Learning On Middle And High School Students With Emotional Disturbance, Arthur E. Brandt

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

A qualitative investigation into the efficacy of the integration of service-learning into the curriculum for emotionally disturbed students as a means of fostering social/emotional well-being was considered in this thesis. Two separate service-learning approaches were used to observe the effects of service-learning on (a) school related behaviors, (b) academic performance, (c) positive shifts in empathic feelings, (d) improved self-esteem, and (e) individual locus-of-control.

Two case studies, one group and one individual, were completed over an 11 month period in two different service-learning environments. Participants were 12-15 year old boys with emotional disturbance. Data were collected using formalized pre and post-test …

Is Service-Learning Really Better Than Community Service? A Study Of High School Service Program Outcomes, Andrew Furco

Service Learning, General

In their 1981 study, the Experiential Education Evaluation Project, Dan Conrad and Diane Hedin investigated the impact of a range of experiential education programs on secondary school students. The study, which involved more than 1000 secondary school students, compared the effects of five different types of experiential education programs-community service, internships, political action, community study, and adventure education on students' psychological, social, and intellectual development. The study found that the various programmatic forms of experiential education showed significant, positive effects in all three student outcome areas. It also revealed that certain programmatic features, such as clearly articulated program goals and …