Background: This paper describes findings from research conducted on students who participated in a service-learning course in South Africa. Objective: The study aimed to understand how participants constructed their experiences of service-learning and to interrogate their emotional investments in these constructions. Method: Data were collected…

Though uncomfortable emotion in the classroom has become politically controversial, scholarship has established its importance. In transformational learning in particular, scholars have theorized that far from being an undesirable side effect, student emotion is inherent in shifting beliefs and motivating action. In the "pedagogy of…

Dewey (1938) once wrote that the most effective forms of learning connect intellectual processes with emotion, which is able to inspire curiosity and excite the learner. This paper adds to the body of research that attests to the transformative role of affect in teacher education, which is able to be cultivated through arts-based service-learning…

This study investigated pre-occupational therapy students' descriptions of dissonance during a two-week service-learning immersion program in Guatemala. Thirty-one students participated in student-led group reflections during two program iterations. Qualitative analysis of transcripts yielded three themes: context, experience, and outcome. The…

Service-learning courses offer a unique experience to students by reinforcing typical school curriculum with experiences outside the classroom, where the emphasis is on learning by doing accompanied with reflection (Conrad & Hedin, 1981). Studies show that the quality of the service-learning experience has the potential to impact student…

Why Mindful Service-learning? While over 30 years of service-learning has yielded many benefits, I have found that students today are more stressed than ever, that meaningful and effective preparation for reciprocal service-learning can be lacking, and that an exclusively Western perspective could be expanded to include Eastern views, thereby…

This article examines the phenomena of mismatched expectations on international nursing service-learning trips and the resulting dissonance those expectations can produce in trip participants. The work of Festinger and others are used as a theoretical framework for recognizing the elements of dissonance and how to navigate through the various…

This study provides a thematic analysis of student transformative experience regarding personal and social change in a service learning (SL) course wherein students volunteer in embedded inner-city contexts. Several transformative themes emerged through interpretive analysis of student journals. Especially important to this investigation, we…

The aim of this practice report is to discuss the implementation of a service-learning module developed to support the psychological wellbeing of postgraduate students and older adults in the community, with a view to fostering their connection and tackling loneliness in both populations. The module, 'Self-Identity, Intergenerational and…

This article explores the nature, strengths and limitations of Roman, Christian, Kantian and utilitarian ethics and their legacy in some modern theories of educative leadership that are educative in intent and outcome. It is shown that Roman, Christian, Kantian, and utilitarian ethics have profoundly shaped transformational, instructional,…

The newspaper headlines in July 2020, reflected the context of COVID-19 and the challenges in the education sector in South Africa. Pre-service teachers completing a Biological Sciences for Educations Research and Service-Learning module conducted their Service-Learning in their home contexts, which under normal times, they would do so in the…

Language-related Study Abroad (SA) experiences can be catalysts for learner transformation in the areas of cognition, socialization, and/or affect by virtue of the location and experience. An Open Architecture Curriculum Design (OACD) framework can support, promote, and enhance such transformation, as evidenced in eight programs for young adults,…

Many education professionals are looking to Environmental and Sustainability Education as a guide to incorporate curricular lessons and activities into school classrooms and other learning environments. Building upon the framework of Jickling and Wals (2008) of identifying how to teach about environmental education in transformative ways, this…