Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Concern About... Connecting School-To-Work And Service Learning, Council Of Chief State School Officers

School K-12

As interest has grown in school-to-work transition programs and service learning, the commonalities between the two have become increasingly clear. Service learning and school-to-work are forms of experiential education that extend student learning into the community and the worksite. Both provide students with contextualized learning opportunities. Through service learning and school-to-work programs, students engage in learning experiences that help develop organizational, team, and problem-solving skills as well as the competencies and foundation skills identified as important for employability and responsible citizenship (SCANS, 1992; W.T. Grant Commission, 1988).

Service,Learning As An Integrated Experience In Middle School Education: An Introduction To Resources And Information, Dawn Wegter

School K-12

This resource guide outlines 18 service-learning projects throughout the United States focused on middle schools. Listed, in each case, are the project's description, sponsoring organization, the objectives, the project's framework, training information, materials, and ordering information.

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 …

Service Learning Standards: Draft Interim Content And Performance Standards, California Department Of Education

Special Topics, General

The Challenge School District Reform Initiative calls on California's educators and parents to embrace a simple but powerful concept: school districts must set high content and performance standards for student achievement-stating clearly and publicly what each student should know and be able to do at the end of each year in each subject area. Schools are challenged to hold themselves accountable for results, reporting precisely how well their students are achieving and how many students are meeting the school district standards.

Partners: The Shared Service Experience, Big Brothers/Big Sisters Of America

Special Topics, General

Partners: The Shared Service Experience documents Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of America's (BB/BSA's) first national initiative designed to encourage Big Brother-Little Brother and Big Sister-Little Sister pairs to become partners in community service. Big Brothers/Big Sisters (BB/BS) agencies, and the volunteers they rely on to provide service to children and youth, can have a far-reaching positive effect on local communities. The key is to educate adults and youth about the individual and societal benefits of community service activities. This gives the "Littles" an opportunity to take on "Big" roles by contributing to their neighborhoods.

Creating A School And Community Culture To Sustain Service Leaming, Caroline Allam

Service Learning, General

"You guys have always done this stuff for us. It's our town. We're the ones that are going to have to run the town after you old guys are gone. We ought to get a shot at making some deicisions about the future (Lysen 1992, p. 8).

This strong sentiment came from a Bath Junior High School student who was working with peers, teachers, scientists, and other community members to conduct water quality tests on the Kennebec River in Maine. The statement reflects the desire and willingness of young people to work together, to assume responsibility and stewardship for their …

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, 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.

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.

Service Learning Projects 1995-1997, Learn And Serve America

Project Summaries

Service Learning Projects 1995-1997 from Glendale Community College.

Senior Center In Seattle Applauds Service-Learning, Nola L. Freeman

Intergenerational

In the fall of 1992, the Pike Market Senior Center, an urban gathering place for a widely diverse community of low income elders, joined 30 other sites in the Seattle area in accepting an invitation from the Carlson Leadership and Public Service Office at the University of Washington. In accepting this invitation, these sites agreed to help the office accomplish the following mission: "To promote, support, and organize opportunities for undergraduates to become involved in effective public service, helping them to mature in their understanding of complex social, philosophical, economic, and political issues, and instilling in them a life-long commitment …

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 …

Students' Reflection On Community Service Learning, Jay D. Anderson

Evaluation/Reflection

Internships are a rapidly expanding educational technique to enhance students' ability to learn. Internships permit and encourage students to experience the real world while receiving academic credit. Seekonk High School in Seekonk, Massachusetts, has an internship program for high school seniors called Independent Study. It allows students to leave school one day a week for the school year and volunteer within the community. Students receive academic credit for their participation in community service learning.

Preflection: A Strategy For Enhancing Reflection, Diana Falk

Evaluation/Reflection

"Preflection" is a strategy designed as a tool to enhance and enrich the reflection process. It is actually a reflective session that is held prior to the service experience. Students are encouraged to imagine what the experience will be like and to express any feelings they might have as they anticipate their involvement. Comments are recorded and are reviewed with the students after the service has been completed. Being able to look back on their pre-service thoughts and feelings and compare and contrast them to the reality of the actual experience has the effect of promoting and focusing discussion, and …

Evaluation System For Experiential Education Programs: Evaluation Guide, Andrew Furco

Evaluation/Reflection

This guide contains: ESEE Description;Timeline; Program Goal & Objectives Forms; Student Pre-Test (designed for each institution); Journal Questions: Faculty Guide & Student Handouts; Student Field Placement Form; Student Focus Group Interview Protocol; Faculty Focus Group Interview Protocol; Community Agency Focus Group Interview Protocol; Community Agency Survey (designed for each institution); Student Post-Test (designed for each institution); and ESEE Checklist.

Reflection As A Tool For Turning Service Experiences Into Learning Experiences, James Toole, Pamela Toole

Evaluation/Reflection

No abstract provided.

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.

Give Water A Hand: Leader Guidbook, Give Water A Hand

Curriculum

By opening this guidebook, you've taken the first step in helping young people Give Water A Hand. Here you'll find step by step guidelines for helping your youth group or class (ages 9 14) make a difference for their community and the environment. This Leader Guidebook is for you, the youth leader, and accompanies the Action Guide, written for youth.

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. …

Education: How Can Schools And Communities Work Together To Meet The Challenge? A Guide For Involving Community Members In Public Dialogue And Problem-Solving, Matthew Leighninger, Mark Niedergang

Partnerships/Community

This guide is designed as a tool to help members of the education sector involve community members in discussions about their local schools and learn how to become involved in the process of improving education in their community. The first half of the guide presents basic material for conducting a four- to seven-session discussion program based on the study circle model. Materials dealing with the following discussion topics are included: how schools affect communities and community members' lives; what community members want graduates to know and be able to do; how schools can meet every students' needs, make schools safer, …

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 …

From Teaching To Learning: A New Paradigm For Undergraduate Education, Robert B. Barr, John Tagg

Higher Education

Two alternative paradigms for undergraduate education are compared; one holds teaching as its purpose, the other learning. The natures of the two paradigms are examined on the following dimensions: mission and purposes, criteria for success, teaching and learning structures, underlying learning theory, concepts of productivity and methods of funding, and faculty and staff roles in instruction and governance.

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

Does Service-Learning Have A Future?, Edward Zlotkowski

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Until very recently the service-learning movement has had an "ideological" bias; i.e., it has tended to prioritize moral and/or civic questions related to the service experience. Such a focus reflects well the movement's past but will not guarantee its future. What is needed now is a broad-based adjustment that invests far more intellectual energy in specifically academic concerns. Only by paying careful attention to the needs of individual disciplines and by allying itself with other academic interest groups, will the service-learning movement succeed in becoming an established feature of American higher education.

A Policy Study Of Youth Service: Synthesizing Analysis Of Policy Content And Policy Process Over Time, Jean Shumway Warner

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This dissertation uses a case study of youth service proposals to examine how policy is formulated. For this study, youth service refers to federal programs that provide America's youth with opportunities to participate in domestic, non-military, full- or part-time community service activities. A theory is proposed that synthesizes two complementary approaches to the study of policy - process analysis (Kingdon 1984, 1994) and the analysis of policy content (Schneider and Ingram 1990, 1993) --and advocates analyzing policy over time. Four theoretical categories of data -- actors, ideas, opportunities, and strategies -- guide the study.