Service Learning Commons^™

The Evolution Of Character Education: From Hellfire And Brimstone To Constructivism, Arati Singh

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Since colonial times, character education has played a kaleidoscopic role in American schools. Seventeenth and eighteenth century Puritan curriculum was synonymous with an exceedingly rigid and religious moral code. Nineteenth century policy makers adopted a Pan-Protestant, and then a generalized Christian philosophy of character education, as they pursued a common school system. As twentieth century American society grew increasingly pluralistic, the religious basis of character education succumbed to a more secular framework. Predictably, this century has seen character education be demoted to just one of many competing items on the national education agenda. Paradoxically, today's violence-filled headlines evince a more …

Service Learning In Maryland: Making Academics More Relevant, Marian Rouse Finney

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Maryland is the first state in the nation to require every student to perform service as a condition of receiving a high school diploma. During the last 15 years, a strong support system for service learning has emerged in Maryland. The diversity of opportunities for service are broad, challenging, and inviting.

Why The Environment Needs National Service, Brian R. Trelstad

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On July 20, 1969, when “man” landed on the Moon, the United States achieved a remarkable scientific and technological breakthrough. “One small step for . . . man; one giant leap for mankind”; Neil Armstrong’s voice crackled through Mission Control to the millions around the globe who were watching that moment, transfixed by their television sets. Everyone was watching. Everyone that is, but my mother-and the handful of other mothers around the globe who were giving birth at the same moment-to people like me, a generation of moon children.

Florida Learn & Serve 1995-96: What Were The Outcomes?, Joe Follman, Kate Muldoon

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This article is taken from a report on the second year of research on quantitative outcomes of K-12 students who participated in service learning projects in Florida in 1995-96. The study involved 29,000 students in 107 subgrants. It illustrates what one state has been able to accomplish .

Research Paper Youth Service, Douglas H. Stubbe

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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

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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 …

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

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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 …

Teaching Character Education Through Service-Learning, Mike Brugh

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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

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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 …

Working At Learning, Education Week

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School-to-work, community service, and service-learning programs teach students to learn by doing. But are schools the right place for them?

"Community Mathematical Services: Service Learning Coursebook In Mathematics, Benjamin S. Winchester

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The Mathematics Discipline of the University of Minnesota, Morris has moved into the forefront of its academic excellence with the addition of a service learning component in its curriculum. Three professors, Dr. Jon Anderson, Dr. Peh Ng and Dr. Engin Sungur recently received SEAMS (Science, Engineering, Architecture, Mathematics and Computer Science) Mini Grants from Minnesota Campus Compact in 1996. These grants challenge the faculty to find innovative ways to address community/environmental hazards and concerns while enhancing students academic and civic understanding.

Community-Based Learning Projects For The "Real World", Chris Davis

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As we walked down the street to the next-door elementary school, the I 5 high school juniors with me began reflecting on their elementary school experiences. They remembered the Dr. Seuss stories their teachers had read to them, the art projects, the time to play, the time to just be kids. Life was simpler and more fun then, they all agreed.

Now school mostly means sitting at desks and listening to teachers talk for a large portion of the day. And when teachers aren't talking to them, they take tests, read a textbook chapter, write on a ditto, watch a …

A Service-Learning Contract: Clarity, Commitment, And Completion, Darroll Bussler

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A student was reporting her service-learning experience to her classmates during a reflection session. She was hesitant to begin ... and then explained \Vhy. Everyone in the class seemed to be having fun and fulfillment in their experiences. She said, "My experience isn't fun. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing; I don't even think they know I'm there, and I don't think I want to finish my service." She then said, "I think we need something like ... a learning contract."

Service Learning: Meeting Student And Community Needs, Denise I. Yoder, Esther Retish, Rahima Wade

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This article describes a program through which students with learning disabilities and culturally diverse backgrounds, and their peers in the general education program, demonstrated their abilities to be service providers to many people within their community.

"Promoting Peace And Preventing Violence" Lions-Quest Skills For Action, Rich Cairn

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Students at Bishop Ford Catholic Central High School in Brooklyn, New York have completed several violence-prevention service projects as part of their participation in the Skills for Action program. Seniors facilitated eight-week sessions to orient freshmen, including conflict resolution and role playing.

Yac Tracks: A Step-By-Step Guide For Organizing Community Youth Action Coalitions, Kansas Office For Community Service, Points Of Light Foundation

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YAC Tracks, a step-by-step Guide for organizing Community Youth Action Coalitions, is the result of a ten month study on developing local youth service organizations. The first step for this manual was the discovery of: How to Start Your Own Youth Council", a publication of the New York State Youth Council. This information provided the base to create an outline for YAC Tracks in December 1995. Since that time, YAC Tracks has evolved and changed considerably! This manual consists of a process for mobilizing Community YACs at home and includes examples, activity ideas and practical suggestions. Contributors to t:his effort …

Teaching Ethics Through Community Service, Judith A. Boss

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Community service learning, when combined with a program of ethics education, is an effective means of enhancing students' personal, social and moral development as well as their academic performance.

Becoming People Who Find Solutions, Eli J. Segal

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I asked a young boy in Maine why he thought spending six hours a month in a homeless shelter was an important part of his 5th-grade lessons. "Because I used to think that homeless people were really different and frightening," he said. "Now I know that a lot of homeless people are like me inside, but things didn't work out for them somehow. I'm learning about what they need."

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

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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 …

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

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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.

Action Research In The Service Of Learning, Warren Everett

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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 …

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

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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.

Usd And Community Partners. .. A Team Approach To Service-Learning, Learn And Serve America

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The University of San Diego received a Corporation for National Service "Learn and Serve America: Higher Education Enhancement" grant during the 1994-95 academic year. Over 325 students from 18 classes enhanced their classroom learning by integrating course theory with their community service-learning experiences. How and why did this happen?

Inside Ncr: Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida's Proposal For Mandatory Social Service Duty For Students In Catholic Colleges, Tom Fox

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Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida last week unveiled a creative and intriguing proposal. He suggested forming a kind of urban Peace Corps that would put college students to work in the city's soup kitchens and other social agencies.

The new cardinal, speaking at an interfaith breakfast in his honor, said he and Catholic college officials want to incorporate social service into the curriculum.

The Constitutionality Of Public School Community Service Programs, Marie Bittner

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The Third Circuit has affirmed the constitutionality of mandatory community service programs for students in public schools. The ruling came in the Steirer case where two students in Bethlehem, P A, challenged the right of their school to require them to perform community service work.

Addressing School Board And Administrative Concerns About Service-Learning, Carolyn S. Anderson, Judith T. Witmer

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Community service learning as a philosophy and a program has been driven at the school level largely by the knowledge, enthusiasm, and commitment of individual teachers. Recently community agencies, politicians and government agencies, professional organizations, and various resource centers around the country have joined in promoting these programs, which help students use service opportunities as a source of significant learning.

Demanding Good Deeds Breeds Performance Anxiety: Students And Families Who Are Challenging Requirements To Perform Voluntary Community Services, Eric Felton

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Students are beginning to challenge in court school districts that force children to work in community projects as part of the requirements for graduation. They object on grounds of involuntary servitude stipulated in the 13th amendment and on moral principles of mandatory giving.

Community Service-Learning Commitment Through Active Citizenship, Rahima C. Wade

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Anita, Marlene, Liza, and David are committed to empowering their students to work for community improvement and social justice through projects that focus on environmental protection, the isolation of senior citizens, the needs of the homeless, and animal rights, Each Friday, David's fourth-grade class cares for the animals at the local animal shelter and publicizes animal rights issues in the community. Liza's third graders bake and deliver bread every month to the local soup kitchen. Marlene's fifth-graders are creating a Vaudeville Show using songs they are learning from the residents of a local retirement residence. Anita's sixth-graders are working to …

Immediato V. Rye Neck Sch. Dist., United States District Court Southern District Of New York

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Plaintiffs, Daniel Immediato, a Rye Neck high school student and resident of Mamaroneck, New York in this district, together with his parents, Diane and Eugene Immediato, filed this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the constitutionality of a mandatory community service program ("the Program"), described below, established by Defendants Rye Neck School District and Board of Education. Plaintiffs contend that the Program violates the students' rights under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the parents' rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

A Conceptual Framework For The Institutionalization Of Youth Service Programs In Primary And Secondary Education, Andrew Furco

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Founded upon three principles, the paper presents a conceptual framework that lays out the important philosophical, structural, and programmatic foundations upon which K-12 service programs may be built. The philosophical principle is based on results from service program studies that have focused on the educational outcomes of students engaged in service. The structural principle is presented through a comprehensive rubric that identifies nine possible ways to structure K-12 service programs. The programmatic principle is based on 12 important issues that should be addressed to ensure program institutionalization.