While the quality and quantity of research on service-learning has increased considerably over the past 20 years, researchers as well as governmental and funding agencies have called for more rigor in service-learning research. One key variable in improving rigor is using relevant existing theories to improve the research. The purpose of this…

As today's business world and society become more diverse, it is essential for colleges and universities to prepare students to work and live in that diverse world, and service-learning is one tool for that education. This study presents a critical review of 55 studies of the impact of service-learning participation on students' diversity…

Service-learning researchers and practitioners agree that reflection is the essential link between community experience and academic learning: "reflection is the hyphen in service-learning" (Eyler, 2001, p. 35). The theoretical and pedagogical foundations for service-learning reflection pay scant attention to the emotional content and context of…

Recommends bringing practitioners and researchers together to strengthen future service learning research, suggesting a more empirically based approach to practice and more practical approach to research. The empirically based approach would help practitioners strengthen programs and influence the direction of research. The practice oriented…

This article explores the relationship between service-learning and the scientifically-based research clause of the No Child Left Behind Act. It reviews the state of the service-learning literature base with regard to academic achievement, and provides specific strategies in which service-learning can be used under the guise of No Child Left…

Introduces a theme issue, discussing the journal's purposes and evolution, and reviewing historical landmarks related to service learning research. Reviews the articles within this issue, discussing planned next steps, and concludes with a call for service learning research efforts to broaden the knowledge and practice bases and further expand the…

Research emphasizes the impact of service learning on college students' development. Less evidence exists of its cognitive impact. To improve academic learning quality, researchers must identify intellectual outcomes best facilitated through service learning, create measures of these outcomes to embed into instructional processes, and conduct…

Discusses reasons for the lack of research on the community dimensions of service learning, noting that community-focused research is possible. Presents a four-dimensional model for doing research with community partners on the process and outcomes of community service learning, arguing that it should emphasize the community-university partnership…

Highlights three areas of research on the relationships between college service learning and citizenship. Discusses the need to: understand relationships between different approaches to service learning and conceptions of good citizenship; connect service learning research to scholarly issues and frameworks from related disciplines; and examine…

Examines the interplay between service learning policy and research, noting their impact on practice. Discusses traditional roles of research in policymaking, describing an alternative approach to understanding policy. Recommends that service learning practitioners and researchers make usable knowledge available to help clarify contested concepts…

Action research is an approach to knowledge generation that can strengthen communities and institutions and is ideally suited to the advancement of academically-based service learning. Presents the history and goals of this approach to service learning, defining current challenges, providing examples from three action research projects responding…

Explores the rationale for establishing a national center for research on service learning, outlining various current issues and challenges in conducting service learning research and describing how the establishment of a national center can raise the standards and visibility of service learning research. Offers several suggestions about how the…

Little research exists on the critical role of faculty in service learning. Recommends focusing increased and immediate attention and resources on research related to: motivations and attractions of faculty to service learning; supports needed by faculty; impact or influence of service learning on faculty; satisfaction reported by faculty; and…

Examines the design of service learning research using psychologist-philosopher Ken Wilber's fourfold scheme. By interfacing Wilber's two dichotomies (interior versus exterior and individual versus group), researchers can access a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing the full range of service learning outcomes to study. Wilber's framework…

Discusses service learning research, emphasizing: why institutions are interested in service learning; service learning to promote community involvement; college presidents' role in promoting service learning; creating the capacity for change; and a research agenda. Emphasizes how much can be gained from communication between higher education…