Raises the notion of service learning, which is defined as a method of helping students develop their own learning through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experience. Explores the use of science as the curriculum and service learning as the methodology to reach students and improve science instruction. (KHR)

Examined how selected aspects of participants' histories and future plans influence their social cognitive development in a service learning class. Found that individual circumstances and group norms affect development more profoundly than the elements of program design that have traditionally received the most attention. (EV)

A longitudinal study involving undergraduates in a business statistics course found evidence for a model which suggests that students involved in service learning projects experience an increase in their perception of the course material's usefulness and therefore improved attitudes toward the course. (EV)

Examines the kinds of framing and positioning issues that arise in service sites aimed at literacy learning. Looks at interactions between college students and the middle school students they tutored in after-school programs. Discusses the possibilities that arise when those who teach also serve. Argues that engaging in service learning with…

Analyzes excerpts from the soundtrack of the movie, "Paradise Road: Song of Survival," to demonstrate that music not only arouses emotions; but also, aroused emotions can be specific and focused. States that a service learning course can connect the empathy aroused from music to the real world. (CMK)

Responses to the Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire indicated that students doing service-learning showed increases in their plans for future civic action, assessments of their own interpersonal, problem-solving, and leadership skills, and agreement with items emphasizing society factors that affect individual outcomes (social justice). They…

Explores the transformative potential of service-learning through the lens of a particular context: a course held inside a prison. Addresses questions such as how service-learning is "done," the fragile nature of power and how to approach it, how context impacts the educational process, and the transformative possibilities of a "liberatory"…

Describes the NorthWest Service Academy (NWSA), part of the AmeriCorps national service initiative, that focuses on community work programs in education, the environment, health and human needs, and public safety in parts of Oregon and Washington. NWSA participants receive a weekly living allowance and basic health insurance, as well as a $4,725…

In a clothing for special needs class, one student project involved becoming a clothing consultant to a blind man. The student and client evaluated and coded his wardrobe using a Braille-adapted computer, made Braille labels for clothing, and shopped to fill gaps in the wardrobe. The service learning project connected classroom learning with a…

Traditional mentoring programs match a mature adult with an at-risk youth. A mentoring organization in Washington, D.C., practices a creative variation of this approach by training high school students to mentor troubled elementary school students. Considers the possibilities and problems of this model which blends cross-age youth mentoring with…

The Alan Shawn Feinstein High School for Public Service in Providence, Rhode Island, has high-minded curricular goals, despite its rough beginnings. Students and staff are excited about Feinstein's communitarian emphasis, extended class periods, small classes, advisory program, and portfolio assessment process. Hopefully, start-up difficulties…

Service learning provides early adolescents with a unique opportunity to integrate curriculum and school activities. Because integration emerges from various needs or commonalities, service learning can become a team or single-class project, a one-shot or ongoing effort, a schoolwide or community activity. Initiators should develop a vision,…

Three areas of emphasis distinguish service learning/experiential education from cooperative education: (1) the focus of the social and developmental agenda; (2) attention to those on the margins of society; and (3) a different approach to the mutual benefits reaped by participants. (SK)

In June 1992, 26 high school students and environmentalists left United States to participate in community service/experimental learning environmental project in Russia. Focus was environmental monitoring of Novgorod, Russia. Both U.S. and Russian students gained in scientific knowledge; Russian teens felt more empowered about community service.…

Three years ago, a coalition of three Washington State districts, Peninsula, Tacoma, and Issaquah, began cooperating to help one another implement programs and policies fostering a service ethic. This article describes each district's progress at implementing its Project Service Leadership program. (MLH)