Kalamazoo College is a selective, liberal arts college located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with total enrollment of approximately 1200 students. The primary introductory statistics course at Kalamazoo College is Applied Statistics I (Math 260). Working in small groups of 3 or 4 members each, students were required to formulate a question of interest,…

Young people involved in the Youth Science Center, Youth-in-Government, and Public Achievement told interviewers about their experiences, and this allows us to make explicit contrasts between formal aims, strategies, ethos, curriculums, and activities of each initiative and what it is like to be a participating youth. The contrast is, as expected,…

The geography education literature touts the World Wide Web (Web) as a revolutionary educational tool, yet most accounts ignore its uses for public communication and creative expression. This article argues that students can be producers of content that is of service to local audiences. Drawing inspiration from the community networking movement,…

This article illustrates the sometimes unproductive tensions between community engagement goals in teaching writing and academic trends and institutional structures that influence grading practices and the language of authorship. To broaden instructors' understandings of possibilities for the relatively peaceful coexistence of individual and…

This study examines characteristics of human sciences/Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) faculty who do and do not incorporate service-learning in their teaching, examines their perceptions about service-learning as an effective teaching strategy, and identifies the factors that motivate and deter use of service-learning. Survey results from 368…

Since January 2000, the authors have experimented with an integrated community-based research-education-service model that combined (1) funded research into the local economic effects of the University of Vermont; (2) a sequence of four semester-long courses to conduct the research and to implement and evaluate key findings; and (3) a…

Three local colleges in the Lehigh Valley collaborate on a service-learning project called Brain Awareness Day to enhance neuroscience literacy among the public regarding the functions of the brain and benefits of brain research. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a university's freshman year community-based service-learning experience on the achievement of standards articulated for teacher candidates. Standards assessed included knowledge of community-based resources, demonstration of reflective processes, and recognition of the importance of…

This paper describes how the Input-Environment-Outcome (IEO) model of A. Astin can be used with the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey and the College Student Survey (CSS) to assess student change during college. The CIRP Freshman Survey, given to entering students, provides pretest data. The CSS, given to continuing…

This paper explores the ways liberal arts colleges and universities can conceptualize and design next generation service and learning programs that give more considered attention to the service dimension. A Service and Learning typology suggests four variations found on many campuses in which service and learning have some relationship: (1)…

Democratic classrooms are those in which the curriculum actively engages students in collaborative inquiry, decision making is shared between students and staff, and students choose their daily activities. Compared with traditional classrooms, students in democratic classrooms take more ownership of and responsibility for their own learning.…

The Presidents' Summit for America's Future set goals that can be addressed by service learning. Community educators can participate by organizing grassroots efforts, linking community groups with student volunteers, getting involved with AmeriCorps, becoming community coaches, and participating in America Reads. (SK)

Research findings indicate the importance of (1) engaging all students in service; (2) building organizational commitment to service learning; (3) supporting community groups in youth service activities; and (4) encouraging service activities that link community and curriculum. (SK)

This introduction provides a summary of the various articles presented in this issue that pertain to current issues and lessons learned from service learning practices. This article also addresses many of the criticisms of service learning. This article also suggests further areas of research that need to be addressed. (SWM)

Explores a service-learning program at a university attempting to develop a service-learning minor. This article examines the effect of the program on students and the university community. The qualitative data were gathered from 25 students over a period from December 2001 to December 2002. The results demonstrate that students in a comprehensive…