After taking over a course on adolescent learning theory, two professors recognized the need for radical change -- specifically with regard to the ethical considerations of a required project that involved interviews with middle level learners. The interviews, embedded within a service-learning assignment for this undergraduate course, were…

How do service learning and self-directed learning connect and what are the implications for early adolescent students? The authors explore both the service learning and self-directed learning literature and research to discover the connections between the two approaches and concepts. This essay reviews existing frameworks for self-directed…

Early teens face distinctive challenges. They are entering adolescence with new and more intense social and academic pressures. They are beginning to ask big questions and seek deeper meaning in all aspects of their lives--including what they're learning at school. Unfortunately, for many students at this unique developmental stage, classroom…

This research recounts a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project aimed at facilitating students' empathic development while also offering ways to identify and assess students' written expressions of empathy. I ground this work in an exploration of the many processes labelled as empathy and the reasons for including empathy as a course…

This study reports on the feasibility and acceptability of a social justice infused service-learning (S-L) program to promote Black adolescent mental health and educational equity. We convened a community advisory board to help adapt and pilot test, via open trial mixed method design, an evidence-based service-learning program for Black middle…

Purpose: To explore undergraduate students' experiences leading and facilitating an out-of-school-time (OST) physical activity program for middle school girls. Method: Five female undergraduate students (N = 4 Black or African American) participated in semistructured individual interviews and submitted weekly reflections during their time leading…

Diminishing civic vitality has been reported in numerous societies, irrespective of democratic maturity. Mandatory community service initiatives in schools have garnered attention as a strategy for fostering long-term civic engagement. However, methodological challenges such as selection bias and observation timing have led to inconsistent…

The purpose of this study was to explore how teacherpractitioners in a Canadian middle school perceive students' experiences of well-being in student-led service learning projects (SLPs). Through semistructured interviews, we explored five school practitioners' accounts of how SLPs contributed to student relating and functioning in a well-being…

This qualitative dissertation aimed to understand if an after-school kinesiology service-learning program changed the relationship between a large Research I institution and a local public school. Eight 7th- and 8th-grade students, three classroom teachers, and one administrator participated. Data collection methods included semistructured…

Purpose: This program evaluation aimed to investigate the benefits and challenges of an international, intercultural, e-community-engagement experience involving youth and higher education students. The authors sought to understand the meaning that participants would make of an international, intercultural, e-community-engagement experience.…

"Proceedings of International Conference on Humanities, Social and Education Sciences" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Humanities, Social and Education Sciences (iHSES) which took place on April 16-19, 2024, in San Francisco, California, United States of America. The aim of the conference is to offer…