Service Learning Commons^™

How Effective A Tool Is Student Community Service, Martha Naomi Alt

Service Learning, General

Despite the popular appeal among the public, educators, parents, and even students for community service, there is surprisingly little firm evidence that students who engage in service learn more, develop in different ways, or learn different skills than those who do not. What are the implications for policy, further research, and school practice?

A Curriculum Addressing Issues Of Hunger And Food Security For Minnesota Youth, Fighting Hunger In Minnesota

Curriculum

Children have an incredible capacity for understanding the problems of other children, but often lack the opportunities to participate in the solutions. In order to provide children with that opportunity, Hunger Partners of Minnesota has produced "Kids for Kids: Fighting Hunger in Minnesota." "Kids for Kids" is designed to help children develop an awareness about hunger, understand the extent of the problem in their community and state, and motivate them to respond to their community's needs.

Teaching The Presidential Elections: A Social Studies/Service Learning Teaching Unit For The Middle Grades, Lisa M. Greco

Curriculum

Teaching the Presidential Elections by Lisa M. Greco is the first in a series of exemplary curriculum units on social studies and service learning developed by public school teachers and compiled by the Eastern Regional Information Center, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The idea for a series of curriculum units came from the National Service Learning Cooperative and the K-12 Learn and Serve America Clearinghouse who are affiliated with the ERIC Clearinghouse on Social Studies and Social Science Education. Both organizations wanted to showcase models of integrating service learning into history and social studies classes in elementary and …

Women's History Through Quilting, Tricia J. Lea

Curriculum

Women's History Through Quilting by Tricia J. Lea is the second in a series of exemplary curriculum units on social studies and service learning developed by public school teachers and compiled by the Eastern Regional Information Center, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The idea for a series of curriculum units came from the National Service Learning Cooperative and the K-12 Learn and Serve America Clearinghouse who are affiliated with the ERIC Oearinghouse on Social Studies and Social Science Education. Both organizations wanted to showcase models of integrating service learning into history and social studies classes in elementary and …

Enhancing The Middle School Curriculum Through Service Learning, Ron Schukar

Curriculum

On a warm April morning, 80 eighth-grade students from North Middle School in Aurora, Colorado, gathered in nearby Sand Creek Park to erect bat houses. "Why bat houses?" a local news reporter asked. "To control the insect population," one of the students answered. "We have reclaimed this park for all the plant and animal species that live here and for the people of our community who want to enjoy the surroundings," another student offered. "Because of the water and foliage, insects, especially mosquitoes, are a problem. We don't want the city to apply insecticides in the park, so we are …

Theoretical Underpinnings Of Service Learning, Rebecca Lynn Carver

Service Learning, General

Although the merits of service learning frequently rest on how well it can be argued that the programs improve students' academic skills, this is only one of several outcomes that can result from implementing service learning programs. This article introduces readers to the full range of goals that service learning promises to achieve and to the specific principles that can be put into practice in order to meet these goals. Service learning consciously integrates students' experiences into the curriculum. As such it addresses the three major goals of "experiential education": allowing students to become more effective change agents, developing students' …

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.

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.

Getting Started: Growing A Service-Learning Curriculum, Kathryn E. Dewsbury-White

Curriculum

The Michigan K- 12 Service-Learning Center is a part of the School of Education at the University of Michigan. Supported in part by the Michigan Department of Education with funds from the Corporation for National Community Service and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Center is dedicated to the promotion of service-learning as an effective strategy for educating young people from diverse communities.

The Center provides assistance, consultation and clearinghouse services to school districts, community organizations and universities in the state of Michigan and surrounding states in the Great Lakes region. The focus of the Center is to assist in infusing …

Community Service To The Elderly A Service-Learning Model: Guidelines For Replication, James M. Mccrea, Sherry G. Cottom

Curriculum

At the University of Pittsburgh, Generations Together, an Intergenerational Studies Program develops programs that bring young and old together in ways that benefit both generations. The University Challenge for Excellence Program (DCEP) works with entering students who are often first generation, mostly African-American, and who may be in need of special assistance during their first year. UCEP seeks ways to raise their self esteem, give them a sense of purpose, connect them to the University, and ultimately to retain them at Pitt through graduation. In 1994, these two university programs joined together with the Housing Authority of the City of …

Animal Tracks Water Action Pack, Karen Romano Young, Charles Wilkinson

Curriculum

This guide contains: Discovery, Awareness, Action and Appendices.

Community Service Leadership Conference, Bill Sigismond, Gary Thompson

Curriculum

Materials from the Community Service Leadership Conference, Saturday, February 3, 1996.

Community-Based Learning: A Foundation For Meaningful Educational Reform, Thomas R. Owens, Changhua Wang

Service Learning, General

Many of today's leaders in education, business, and community development are coming to realize, even more than in the past, that schools alone cannot prepare our youth for productive adulthood. These leaders are ready to try new approaches that link learning activities in classrooms with a full range of learning experiences available in our communities.

Tip Sheets: Risk Management In School-Based Service-Learning, Lisa Gray

Curriculum

Included in packet:

• Risk Management and Liability Tip Sheet
• Service Leaming Program Coordinator Job Description
• ASLER Standards for School-Based Service-Learning
• Students In Action (SIA) volunteer application
• Service Leaming Volunteer Contract
• Student Progress Report
• Parental Approval form
• Medical Release form
• Service Leaming Agreement and Release form
• Volunteer Driver Checklist

Service-Learning Guide Book: Designed For Curriculum-Based Service-Learning, Steven W. Dieleman

Curriculum

This guidebook includes: Part One -Essential Components of Service Learning; Part Two-A Process for Designing Service-Learning Opportunities with Students; Part Three-Administrative Forms for Service Learning; Part Four-Student Assessment and Reflection in Service -Learning; Part Five-Changing and Improving Schools and Communities through Service-Learning; Part Six-School-Business Partnership Promoting Student Achievement and Service-Learning; Part Seven-Examples of Service-Learning

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 …

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.

Service Learning Projects 1995-1997, Learn And Serve America

Project Summaries

Service Learning Projects 1995-1997 from Glendale Community College.

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.

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.

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.

Beyond Prevention Curricula: A Guide To Developing Alternative Activities Programs, U.S. Department Of Education

Curriculum

This guide is designed to help educators and youth workers better understand how programs of alternative activities can effectively be used to supplement school-based efforts to prevent alcohol and other drug use among youth, and to encourage schools to become more involved in program development and implementation. It seeks to clear up some of the confusion over what constitutes a program of alternative activities and what its goals should be, to improve understanding of the potential value of this approach, and to recommend promising strategies for improving the effectiveness of these activities in preventing and reducing use of alcohol and …

Community Service Promotes, Marlow Ediger

School K-12

School and society are interwoven. not separate entities. Therefore, the goats of schools should be integrated with those of the surrounding community and society as a whole. Middle school student service helps integrate those goals.

Fairy Tale Friends, Mary Chamberlain

Special Topics, General

As students grow into responsible citizens. they need to realize that the quality of their lives is affected by the quality of the relationships in their lives.

This Community Service learning Unit - Fairy Tale Friends - was designed as part of the language Arts, English and Reading, curriculum. Middle School students will work on a Fairy Tale Unit. They will learn characteristics of Fairy Tales and fiction, using strategies of the writing/reading process. and cooperative learning. After the completion of the unit, they will work with elementary students, helping them write Fairy Tales.

Part two of their instruction will …

Service- Learning And Forestry, Lei Lane Burrus-Bammel, Gene Bammel, Jack Newhouse

Service Learning, General

Although the topic of "service" appears to have received more attention recently in higher education than in previous years, it is not a new concern. As early as 1869, Charles Elliot, in his Harvard inaugural address, asked, "And what will the University do for the community?" His response was, "It will foster the sense of public duty - that great virtue which makes republics possible." Elliot's premise was that institutions of higher education ought to support those activities which develop generosity, civic mindedness and the capacity for conscientious action. Since the post-Civil War period a number of famous individuals have …

Draft Instructional Framework In Service-Learning For Elementary School, Maryland Student Service Alliance

Curriculum

MSSA wants to ensure that all Maryland students can make a difference in their schools and communities by learning to be responsible citizens. We published the draft instructional framework to help teachers develop a broad range of service-learning experiences.

Educating For Social Responsibility, Sheldon Berman

Service Learning, General

Schools must help students fight their feelings of powerlessness by developing their sense of community and their confidence that they can make a difference in the world.

Service-Learning Advances School Improvement: A Position Paper From The International Service Learning Initiative, Barbara Gomez

Special Topics, General

The base on which the United States is built is participatory democracy -achieved only when all citizens are included in choice and decision-making. Nothing could be worse for our nation than to have our children feel alienated from the communities in which they attend school. For more than 200 years the rest of the world has been watching our progress, and as we have succeeded they have made efforts to emulate our sense of individual freedom and collective responsibility for governance.

Training Student Organizers Curriculum (Revised Edition), Michael Zamm, Robert Ortner, Beverly Deangelis

Curriculum

This second edition of the Training Student Organizers Curriculum has been written to reflect the project organizing experiences of students, teachers and staff participating in the Council on the Environment of New York City's Training Student Organizers Program (TSO) since the first edition of the curriculum was published in 1983. We have expanded the lessons/narratives in Part I to include more information on environmental issues and have also added lessons and/or narratives for specific environmental action projects. The "how to's" of project organizing are described, step by step, in specific improvement projects in Part I, and reviewed as a total …

Service-Learning: An Annotated Bibliography Linking Public Service With The Curriculum, Janet Luce, Jennifer Anderson, Janet Permaul, Robert Shumer, Timothy Stanton, Sally Migliore

Bibliographies

Interest in "service-learning" is on the rise these days. The so-called apathy of the late nineteen seventies and early eighties has given way to a renewed upsurge in student activisim and public and community service. The Campus Compact coalition of university presidents has supported these efforts on their campuses through the strengthening of campus public service programs and through advocacy for "higher education for social responsibility" at the national level. One national commission after another includes community service or internship-based learning as a key recommendation for the reform of the undergraduate curriculum. In this atmosphere the concept and practice of …