This case study investigated the outcomes of an environmental service learning program that incorporated pedagogical components taught within the transformative learning and environmental justice frameworks at an urban ecoliteracy and environmental justice center in Albany, New York. Authors conducted participant observation and gathered data from…

This case study investigated the transformative learning outcomes for undergraduate students enrolled in two sociology courses taught by The State University of New York at Albany, at an urban ecoliteracy environmental justice center. Authors conducted participant observation and gathered data from surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus…

Service learning and short-term missions represent one of the many habits disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The disruption imposed a break from routine that may also offer opportunities to push back on habits that hinder the flourishing of our students and our host communities. This article critically analyzes the practice of these trips to…

The present study tested a model showing how different aspects of high school courses focusing on social justice and prosocial development predicted prosocial intentions of students (N = 362) 2 to 29 years after they had completed the courses. Results indicated that students reporting more transformative class experiences (higher critical…

Controversial issues have been established within the larger framework of civic education as an effective pedagogical approach to developing critical thinking in the classroom, preparing students with intellectual habits necessary for participation in scholarship, civic life and democracy. In this study, we found that a pedagogical intervention,…

Transformative learning, and its processes as proposed by Mezirow, has been the subject of much debate. This study contributes to the literature about these debates by examining transformative experiences within a foreign service-learning context. Canadian post-secondary students lived and worked to build a school in solidarity with a community in…

This qualitative case study investigates how service-learning may enable self-direction and the development of a critical consciousness for marginalized high school students by exploring the dynamics of service-learning through a theoretical framework of critical theory. Service-learning is theorized to counter the oppressive nature of schooling…

Results of the Black Metropolis Model (BMM) of service learning are analyzed and illustrated in this article to explain how to "put the learning in service learning." There are many soup kitchens or nontransforming models of service learning where students are asked to serve needy populations but internalize and learn little about the…

Our annual feature, "From the Inside," is intended to share stories about working with youth in order to inspire others. In this year's installment, Carol Weiss Rubel, an educator in Pennsylvania, writes about her experience working with at-risk teens and creating "Yellowwood." Yellowwood is an alternative school for youth with…