This article illustrates how community service-learning can be defined and implemented as a group inquiry project in which students apply academic knowledge and social problem-solving skills. The authors examined eleven different community service-learning projects put into practice by elementary and middle school teachers who participated in…

What causes students to leave school? According to Azzam (2007), over 47% of students in the United States who drop out of school reported they did so because school was boring and irrelevant to their life situation. What can schools and teachers do to encourage students to stay in school? One possible solution may be to look at experiential…

This paper explores the foundations and possibilities of service learning at the elementary education level. Teachers can utilize the tools of service learning to enrich their students' academic and personal lives, in addition to contributing to the community. Service learning is an approach to education in which students actually meet community…

This article presents samples of imaginative programs that meld the fundamentals of the service learning methodology with individual learning and behavioral goals at the middle school level. The paper is divided into: (1) "What Do We Mean by Service Learning?"; (2) "The Fit between Service Learning and the Developmental Needs of Young…

Building of character and promoting positive behavior is an important part of every afterschool program. Besides the basics of homework help and physical fitness activities, afterschool programs are using teamwork exercises, service learning, volunteerism and other activities to teach kids about making the right decisions that will help them…

This booklet is a guide to establishing youth service learning councils. The booklet begins with a discussion of what youth service learning councils are and why they are a good idea. The following aspects of initiating the process of forming a youth service learning council are explained: facilitating a youth service learning council; identifying…

A study explored the application of reflective judgment theory to the types of problem solving faced by students in community service placements. It also tested the impact of different service-learning experiences on growth in reflective judgment over the course of a semester. Participants were 66 students in 6 colleges and universities. They were…