Teaching undergraduate science courses through the lens of local community issues has the potential to help students connect more strongly to the sciences and to the communities near the university. In considering the construction of such courses, it is clear that even community issues that have strong science cores--water quality, viral and…

This article introduces subversive service learning, a new type of critical service learning that shifts the locus of the "problem" from the marginalized group to the mainstream society, subverting both mainstream perspectives and the deficit model of a community being "helped." Inspired by Whiteness studies, it pursues social…

This conceptual article explores the merging of service learning and cultural immersion. It presents, to social work educators, the use of "cultural service immersion" with Indigenous peoples in order to move students from knowledge to understanding the breadth of Indigenous peoples culture, ultimately increasing skills and cultural…

This manuscript discusses how the use of service-learning in social work macro practice courses provided a foundation for the transformation of ourselves as instructors. By transforming macro practice courses with service learning components, our central goal was to help students improve their self-efficacy in macro practice skills and, therefore,…

At many universities, there is a growing realization that the university owes a social responsibility to the community. Society invests in its citizens through the university, and the university empowers its students to realize their potential, both as competent professionals and as responsible citizens. This requires the cultivation of attributes…

Educating learners about the science of climate change can be challenging because of the socio-ecological complexity of the issue. Some studies show that increased knowledge about climate change can lead to decreased concern because increased information can overwhelm learners and make them feel powerless to effect change. This article describes a…

A service-learning course at a midsized Midwestern research university was modified over a period of six years to integrate best-practice pedagogies that have been shown to increase civic engagement by students. Best-practice pedagogies included regular interaction with community partner(s), significant time spent on the service activity, and…

In this text, we examine ways teacher educators might inspire: compassion in aspiring teachers for students with whom they interact, and dissonance and uncertainty concerning ways they talk and think about them. These activities primarily fall into two categories: (1) working in schools where large numbers of children differing from themselves in…

This study at a university in Slovakia asked two questions: (1) Does completion of a service-learning course lead to changes in students' social and personal responsibility and their attitudes toward community service? (2) Are personal and social responsibility and attitudes toward community service correlated? Service-learning and the third…

Background: Although sexual abuse (SA) constitutes a significant problem in intellectual disability settings, little is known regarding how services support individuals with intellectual disability who have been abused. Method: Using a qualitative design, we explored how one voluntary community service, and in particular their psychology…

Research on individuals' experiences engaging in outdoor education programs suggests participants are impacted in a number of ways. This study investigated the impact of participation in a wilderness education course on undergraduates' experiences with public service. This study asked the research question, what is the impact of an Outward Bound…

Students who serve in long-term service-learning experiences have a robust amount of information to share. It is these individuals' personal stories where we might find answers to achieve equity in the educational arena. Through a combination of the qualitative methodologies--autoethnography and portraiture--the authors of this study sought to…

This article reports on a preliminary finding of sociocultural adaptation experienced by two pre-service teachers (PSTs) during a service-learning program. They wrote photo-voices, a photo-mediated self-reflection, to share how they adapted to the sociocultural life of their first two-week service learning. Using the U-heuristic analysis model,…

The Promise Fellow Program is an intervention designed to prevent dropout amongst students in grades 6-12 in Minnesota that show early warning signs of school disengagement. The program is led by interventionists known as Promise Fellows and provides three research-based supports that align with the National Dropout Prevention Center's "Basic…

Service learning is a high-impact practice that helps students develop professional competencies such as teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and problem solving. This study investigated community partners' perceptions of students' professional competencies and their impact. Findings indicate that professional competencies had a significant…