Service Learning Commons^™

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 …

Research Paper Youth Service, Douglas H. Stubbe

Special Topics, General

An assumption that most people would probably agree on is that service to community, on a voluntary basis, builds character, self esteem, pride toward one's self and his/her community, develops personal growth and respect or compassion for others. I don't think many people look beyond that. Does the service need to be voluntary? Is service a responsibility that goes with being a part of a community? Why is service a positive aspect of community life? What are the characteristics of service that make it a fulfilling experience? Should youth be required to serve their community? If so, are there other …

Learning Science Beyond The Classroom, Linda Ramey-Gassert

Special Topics, General

Science education reform documents call for science to be taught in the manner that students learn best, by conducting hands-on, engaging investigations using simple everyday materials. Often overlooked in the redesign of science education, informal science learning environments such as science centers, museums, and zoos provide students with captivating science experiences that can be related closely to curricular objectives. In this article I examine a cross-section of craft knowledge and research-based literature on science learning beyond the classroom, describe informal science education programs, and discuss implications for enhanced science teaching. The article focuses on the importance of informal science learning …

What We Know About Engendering Civic Identity, James Youniss, Jeffrey A. Mclellan, Miranda Yates

Civic Engagement

Taking the position that there is a developmental process in the formation of citizenship, the authors reviewed studies that reported a link between youth's participation in organized activities and civic behaviors 15 or more years later in adulthood. Data uniformly showed that students who participated in high school government or community service projects, meant in the broad sense, are more likely to vote and to join community organizations than are adults who were nonparticipants during high school. Results support the authors' view that participation during the youth era can be seminal in the construction of civic identity that includes a …

An Empirical Assessment Of Self-Esteem Enhancement In A Challenge Service-Learning Program, Jianjun Wang, Betty Greathouse, Veronica M. Falcinella

Evaluation/Reflection

Empirical data collected from a total of 187 elementary and secondary school students were analyzed in this article to assess enhancement of student self-esteem in a service-learning program. The elementary school students were split into treatment and control groups based on their involvement in a greenhouse construction project. At the high school level, two experimental groups were each characterized by Zoophonics tutoring and student service to the Delano Historical Society. Control groups were identified equivalent to these treatment groups. Coopersmith self-esteem inventory and its school-academic subscales were adopted to assess the effect of each service-learning project. While no significant gender …

National Service: Expectation Versus Reality, Robert D. Shumer, Jane Maland Cady

Service Learning, General

National service has a long history in America. From the early colonies with their citizen soldiers, to religious organizations and social service, to modern day members of conservation corps and AmeriCorps, individuals have contributed important work for the benefit of their community and country. A more recent focus in the 20th century, initiated by William James' "Moral Equivalent of War" and carried out in the 1993 National Service Trust Act, has accelerated an interest in the concepts and practice of national service.

Teaching General Biology For Nonmajors Through Community Service Projects, Mary Wells Phillips

Higher Education

For many students, especially for the biology nonmajors, science is often one of the last courses they take before completing their degree. Often, these students enter my course with a previous "bad" experience from courses in high school or have developed anxieties regarding what science is all about. They are reluctant learners who frequently shy from questions and classroom discussions. Their own insecurities and presumed lack of knowledge frequently !eaves them floundering and confused. The message is, "I am here because I need 'x' number of science units before completing my degree."

Animal Tracks Urban Communities Action Pack, Sara Bradley, Cathy Mcfarlane Nolan, Cheryl Dixon, Elenor Hodges, Charles Wilkinson

Curriculum

This guide includes Discovery, Awareness, Action and Appendices.

An Assessment Of Elementary School Service-Learning Teaching Methods: Using Service-Learning Goals, Clifford Akujobi, Robert Simmons

Special Topics, General

The purpose of this study is to examine the progress and the difficulties teachers encounter in implementing service-learning programs in an urban elementary school. The study characterizes each service-learning project using the Kahne and Westheimer (1996) service-learning goals matrix. Based on our investigation, most of the service-learning projects at the upper elementary level emphasize emotional intelligence such as character building, social reconstruction, and additive experience. In contrast, service-learning projects at the lower elementary level focused more on social reconstruction and academic knowledge. While most service-learning projects at the upper levels create learning opportunities for students, teachers rarely challenged students' thinking …

Summer Of Service Leadership Academy & University Service Advocacy Fellowship Program: A Model Of Student Leadership In Service Learning At California State University, Monterey Bay, Service Learning Institute

Project Summaries

California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) opened its doors to students in August 1995 with a commitment to service learning. In keeping with its vision statement which pledges to "enable students ... to cross institutional boundaries for innovative instruction ... and coordinated community service" (see Attachment !), this new public university requires all students to take service learning courses before graduating (see Attachment 2).

Teacher-Leader Cadre Institute Training Program, Teacher-Leader Cadre Institute

Curriculum

Phase I: Basic Training; Phase II: Educational Training Program Service Learning; Phase III: Integration & Follow-up; and Phase IV: Peer Coaching.

The Benefits Of Service: Evidence From Undergraduates, Linda Sax

Higher Education

Currently, higher education is confronting urgent calls to return to its original mission of developing a well-informed, critically thinking, and civically engaged citizenry. Indeed, recent findings from the annual survey of entering college freshmen by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) several record low levels of student interest in keeping up to date with political affairs, discussing politics, or working on political campaigns.

Demonstrating Social Accountability In Medical Education, Brian Hennen

Higher Education

The author considers the University of Toronto's Health, Illness and the Community course for undergraduate medical students, described in this issue by Wasylenki and associates (see pages 379 to 383). Social accountability in medical education demands a community orientation and hence an emphasis on outreach. Medical schools should expand their clinical service to the community, provide community-based residency placements and offer continuing medical education in rural and regional centres. Accountability also requires community involvement in planning and implementing research projects. Placing students in a community setting as part of the curriculum is praiseworthy, but it is not sufficient to ensure …

Enhancing The Learning Environment: Learning The Language Of Experiential Education, M. Clark

Higher Education

A list of terms, charts, and models are included.

Imagining A Functional Partnership Between Leadership Development And Service-Learning Programs, Lisa Mcgettigan Chambers

Higher Education

"If educators are to play a critical role in the development of ethical, responsible citizens, we cannot discuss the concept of leadership unless we discuss the concept of service" (Delve & Rice, 1990).

Student activities professionals are wearing more hats each day. One of the most recent chapeaux they have donned is that of the community service coordinator. Community service-learning has become one of the newest areas that falls within the student activities realm on campuses across the country. If student activities offices are not directly responsible for coordinating service programs and advising student service organizations, they are being asked …

Shared Consequences: Recent Experiences With Outreach And Community-Based Learning, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

Recently, William M. Sullivan asked "whether [higher education] has the ability and the will to respond through leadership, institutional design, teaching, and research, in creating a new form of intellectual life for the public good" (Sullivan 1996). A call has been issued for our nation's research universities to embrace public engagement (Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities 1996), and to acknowledge that "higher education should be about values - the values of informed citizenship, the values expressed in a sense of responsibility ... "(Atwell 1996).

Educating A Committe Citizenry, Faith Gabelnick

Higher Education

If we want our students to acquire the democratic virtues of honesty, tolerance. empathy. generosity. teamwork, and social responsibility, we have to demonstrate those qualities not only in our individual professional conduct but also in our institutional policies," writes Alexander Astin in "What Higher Education Can Do in the Cause of Citizenship"' (Chronicle of Higher Education, October 6, 1995).

From Aahe's Series On Service-Learning In The Disciplines, Teacher Education Volume, Joseph A. Erickson, Jeffrey B. Anderson

Higher Education

Progressive teacher educators face a pair of daunting yet crucial tasks. New teachers must be prepared to function successfully in schools as they exist today and also be educated to take a leadership role in the improvement and reculturing of K-12 education to more fully meet the needs of individual students and resolve societal problems. One approach that can address both these tasks is the integration of service-learning experiences into teacher preparation programs.

Service-Learning In South Carolina, Kathy Gibson Carter

Service Learning, General

Thousands of students across South Carolina have helped improve their communities by participating in service-learning programs while strengthening their classroom learning experiences. Service-learning is one of the work-site components of the SC School-to-Work Transition Act of 1994. This Act provides all students with opportunities to connect what they learn in school with the real world through learning experiences at a work-site. Through service-learning, students combine classroom instruction with work-based activities in a non-profit organization or community agency. Students learn valuable interpersonal skills and a strong work ethic by participating as a member of a work team with specific goals.

Service Learning Handbook, Prestonsburg Community College

Guides

Prestonsburg Community College (PCC) and Big Sandy Area Development District (BSADD) have joined forces to offer service learning and volunteer opportunities in order to address unmet community needs of the Big Sandy region. Our program, "CONNECTIONS: Empowering Communities in Appalachia," facilitates community service opportunities in Senior Citizen Centers, Family Resource Centers, Youth Service Centers, Elementary and Secondary Schools, and many other community organizations. PCC and BSADD embrace service learning and volunteerism as powerful and meaningful approaches to education and community development. Both institutions are dedicated to linking student learners and volunteers throughout the five county service area.

Multidimentional Citizenship: Educational Policy For The Twenty-First Century, John J. Cogan, Patricia Kristine Kubow

International Service Learning & Community Engagement

As we approach the end of this turbulent century and prepare to meet the challenges of the next, the question of what constitutes education for citizenship in various nations appropriate to the demands and needs of a rapidly changing global community is critical in both national and international contexts. The planet and the human family are facing an unprecedented set of challenges, issues and problems including the globalization of the economy, a significant level of deterioration in the quality of the global environment, rapidly changing technologies and the uses of same, and ethical and social issues. How does one respond …

An Ethnographic Study Of The Qualities And Characteristics Of Democratic Elementary Classrooms Which Motivate Students To Civically Participate, Kathryn M. Obenchain

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study described two self-contained, upper elementary, democratic classrooms in order to determine if there were specific qualities and characteristics in these classrooms which would motivate students to be more participatory citizens. The two classrooms were ethnically and geographically diverse, one in Southern California and the other in the Midwest. The participating teachers expressed a commitment to citizenship education and it had been determined that democratic elements were present in their classrooms. The study was based in the theoretical frameworks of constructivism and interpretivism, and an ethnographic methodology was utilized to describe the classroom environment. Analyses of the data were …

Teaching Character Education Through Service-Learning, Mike Brugh

Special Topics, General

My tenth grade science class was starting a unit on the "Ever Changing Earth." To get things going, I opened with a discussion about earthquakes and asked the class, "What would you do if an earthquake hit right now?" Students provided the expected answers ranging from hide under a desk, to stand in the doorway, to run outside. However, one student replied, "I would head to the mall." "The mall?", I asked. David replied, "Yeah, I would break into the jewelry store and make off with a load of gold." The statement caught me flat on my feet, I would …

Designing Meaningful Projects That Meet Community Needs, Johnny Irizarry

Special Topics, General

Taller Puertorriquefio is a community-based cultural center, located in a North Philadelphia neighborhood rich in history. Poverty has taken hold of the area as the collapse and flight of industry and work opportunities has occurred. With so many needs in our area. Taller has to make careful program choices. This is not easy when the needs are so great. In our 22-year history, our mission has been for the arts and culture to be at the core of what we do. Our guiding question in assessing community needs is "How can Taller best influence the overall well-being of the community …

A Study Of The Effects Of A Service-Learning Experience On Student Success At An Urban Community College, Judith Sheryl Berson

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a service-learning experience on student success as measured by class attendance course completion, final course grades, and end-of-term evaluation data.

Though many outcomes of service-learning experiences have been studied. including ethical values, self-esteem, student personal development, and career preparation, relatively few studies have been conducted on the effects of such experiences on academic achievement, and the studies that have been done have primarily studied students at traditional, four-year, residential universities.

Service Learning: A Step-By-Step Guide, Hoover Zariani

Guides

There are no hard and fast rules about how to create a service learning project for your class. The experience of instructors and students has helped us put together the information in this guide to help you clarify many questions and create an exciting learning tool for your students.

Building Character, Trust, And Leadership: Service Learning Offers Positive Pathways To Adulthood, Kathy Checkley

School K-12

Ebony Sandusky admits it was sheer peer pressure that initially led her to participate in her school's service learning programs. Now, she says, "community service is in my blood." Sandusky, a senior at Romulus High School in Romulus, Mich., has worked on a myriad of service projects throughout her high school years. She helped organize educational symposiums on such topics as domestic violence and multiculturalism and, most recently, led the effort to provide education about safe sex to a community concerned about the growing number of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. "When I see something that needs changing, I …

Universities As Citizens Summer Planning Institute, Universities As Citizens Summer Planning Institute

Conference Proceedings

Table of Contents: General Information; Developing and Action Plan; Institutional Change; Resources; and Selected Readings

Welcome To The Tvi Service-Learning Program, Mary Prentice, Rudy M. Garcia

Project Summaries

We are delighted that you have agreed to participate in this exciting opportunity for TVI faculty and students to become involved in Service-Learning!

The concept of service-learning is not new, of course, but in the past decade, many higher education professionals have taken the lead in promoting this as an essential dimension of the college experience. Campus Compact, for example is a consortium of over 500 college presidents who have mandated integrating service programs into their institutions. Simultaneously, the American Association of Community Colleges has recently awarded 15 grants to community colleges to create Learn and Serve Program, to develop …

Reading Together: California Campuses And Communities Connect Through America Reads, America Reads

Project Summaries

Reading Together provides an in-depth look at how America Reads is working in California. It describes how America Reads operates in schools and communities and offers insight into what makes for strikingly successful programs.

As the data and case studies show, America Reads programs are doing great things throughout this state. Since the spring of 1998, more than 9,300 California college students have worked as America Reads tutors in more than 900 schools. Because of America Reads, almost 25,000 California elementary school children have so far received the extra help they need to learn to read and their numbers will …