Describes evolution and structure of the four-year leadership curriculum at Southwestern College (Kansas), whose model promotes personal development, interpersonal growth, and service leadership through class work, field trips, conferences, and practical experience. Students work on projects throughout the program as teams, mentored in the early…

Discusses links between poverty and student performance and achievement. Describes service learning and social reconstructionism (the relationship between school curriculum and the political, social, and economic development of society). Offers an example from an inner-city urban high school English class, describing social reconstructionism for…

Discusses various learning strategies that foster preservice teachers' active participation in learning. A learning continuum is presented that considers simulated, spectator, exploratory, analytic, and generative experiences. Specific approaches are described, including role playing, service learning, and journal writing. A series of…

Relates Carol Gilligan's two perspectives on moral reasoning (care and justice) to discussions in service learning circles concerning the relationship between charity and social change as orientations of service and service-learning and to the nature of "self." The discussion informs the questions of what constitutes "mature"…

Describes two experiential, academic activities for middle and high school students. Includes target group, group size, time and space requirements, activity level, props/preparation, and instructions. The activities enable students to identify the symbolic value of community places and architecture or raise student awareness about the…

Service-learning pedagogies are used in K-12 and higher education to provide students with experiential learning opportunities and foster connections between students, their communities, and the world. Presents comments from librarians across the United States on their experiences with service-learning programs. Suggests strategies for libraries…

Presents a comprehensive definition of service learning in postsecondary education. Provides examples of service learning programs in community colleges. Discusses national initiatives to promote service learning experiences for students. Summarizes best practices for starting and managing such programs based on case studies in the literature…

Defines service learning and its core concepts, and how it differs from traditional education in the health professions, discussing how such programs can benefit students, faculty, communities, higher education institutions, as well as relationships among all these groups. Recommended resources for integrating service learning into the medical…

Current philosophies of facilitation in experiential education can alienate women and minority groups. Identifies four "methods traps" that prevent a methods approach from achieving a more equitable education. Reexamines Kurt Hahn's philosophies of service and self-reliance in light of racial and cultural sensitivities. Includes…

Examines the administrator-researcher duality of the roles imposed on the liaison to a school-university partnership. Service learning as a mission at urban universities is seen as being in direct conflict with the universities' primary function of research. The duality can be diminished by integrating service-learning into a research agenda. (MMU)

Students from an Albany (New York) free school spent a week repairing storm damage in a Puerto Rican village with a rich history of community solidarity. The students learned how good it feels to help others and the power of cooperation. They also encountered another culture, discovered they could cope with challenge, and experienced appreciation…

Describes the development of a graduate education technology course at the University of Massachusetts based on a service-learning model in which the goal was to apply academic theory to the practical requirements of a resource-strapped school district by assigning advanced graduate students to address educational technology needs. (Author/LRW)

In a learning community, everyone must participate in decision making. Involving students in developing classroom rules, solving community problems, and reviewing school and district policies has lasting benefits. Service learning, mentoring, and mediation programs help students develop civic responsibility, interpersonal competence, and…

A program in which 12 seventh- and eighth-grade students with learning disabilities and/or culturally diverse backgrounds participated with nondisabled peers in service learning is described. The students improved their social skills and self-esteem through community service with younger students and senior citizens. The article offers a rationale…

A teacher of fifth to seventh graders with learning disabilities describes a community-based gardening project which served elderly residents of a rest home while exposing the children to elderly people and encouraging development and application of environmental, writing, mathematics, and communication skills. The project integrated curriculum in…