People's attitudes towards ethnicity and culture are formed in their youth. Elementary school students have a great proclivity to develop a positive outlook towards diversity when appropriately guided by teachers and school administrators. As educators aim to create an integrated and harmonious society, they need to recognize that these early…

The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI) presents a fruitful partnership between faculty and students at a premier research university and members of the surrounding community aimed at addressing the problem of childhood obesity. AUNI uses a problem-solving approach to learning by focusing course activities, including service-learning, on…

Despite progress in urban teacher preparation over the past 40 years, concerns still remain about transforming programs and practices in order to affect teachers' capacities to work with culturally diverse communities. These concerns include time in course curricula for discussion and reflection on field-based work, adequate supervision in…

Background: Traditional approaches to reducing adolescents' socially inappropriate behaviour typically target individuals rather than groups. This case study investigates whether positive outcomes might accrue in social behaviours among a group of extraordinarily behaviourally-challenging youth resulting from a peer-mediated service-learning…

Dr. Wangari Maathai--"environmentalist, human rights advocate, global peace worker, and community builder"--passed away in 2011. The first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Maathai left a legacy even greater than the 47 million trees that her organization, the Greenbelt Movement, has planted across Kenya since 1977. As…

This article describes Heart to Heart Art, an after-school program developed for homeless children and youth at the YWCA in Spokane, Washington. Pre-service teacher candidates from a local university create meaningful activities that engage homeless students in visual art, music, drama, cooking, and community service. Heart to Heart Art was…

Community partner voices are important to understand because they provide the contexts in which occupational therapy students meet course objectives by applying clinical reasoning theory and developing clinical reasoning skills in a natural context (Witchger-Hansen et al., 2007; Provident, et al., 2011). To sustain these community-university…

Background: The concept of linking academic study with the practical experience of community service has been considered since the first university in Indonesia had been founded in 1949 but has been realized since 1951. This program evolved to be a community service and was called Kuliah Kerja Nyata (KKN) or Student Study-Service. Since 1973, KKN…

This paper compares how two universities, Iowa State University and the University of Saskatchewan, exploit a service-learning and authentic learning approach to instructional design. Both programs emphasize student engagement and responsibility, as well as projects that have social significance. At the same time, the courses offered by the two…

Background: Service-learning in the Service-Learning Asian Network (SLAN), is organized as part of the academic structure of member institutions, and includes both international and community (domestic) service-learning. SLAN began with the exchange of students between SLAN institutions and has progressed to multicultural service-learning exchange…

Service learning, a form of experiential learning, is not a new idea. Students learn through participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet real community needs are are coordinated in collaboration with schools/faculty and community organizations. the service experiences are integrated into the students' academic curriculum,…

Background: Chemistry students often complain that they are unmotivated because they see no applications of chemical principles in "real life." It was thus decided to put into use the knowledge gained during the course on water quality and analysis. Learning the principles of quantitative chemical analysis requires innovative, hands-on…

During her presidency (1988-2001), Claire Gaudiani reconnected Connecticut College with New London, the college's home city, whose citizens through grassroots fund raising and donations of land established the college in 1911. Through an emphasis on service-learning, community outreach, and an education not for oneself as well as economic…

This article presents an overview of a community development service learning programme operating in the Greek Ionian Island community of Farsa Village. The philosophical approach of the Kefalonia Program is one of "threading the past with the future". It seeks to combine traditional knowledge with contemporary technologies in order to…

What if, in 2020, a new generation of leaders ends the war in Iraq and turns its attention to pressing domestic issues eventually resulting in a healthier economy and renewed investments in the urban core? What if, in 2020, having tried and failed at the beginning of the 21st century to improve urban education with prescriptive, high stakes…