How do service learning and self-directed learning connect and what are the implications for early adolescent students? The authors explore both the service learning and self-directed learning literature and research to discover the connections between the two approaches and concepts. This essay reviews existing frameworks for self-directed…

Community outreach and service-learning are common components of medical and health profession programs. Outreach programs can provide diverse service-learning opportunities for students to work collaboratively with their communities. Many educational accrediting bodies require service-learning activities for students. The discipline of anatomy is…

Over the past decade, Illinois has emerged as a national exemplar of how state policy can drive systemic change in civics education. The Illinois Civic Mission Coalition, a pan-ideological alliance of educators, policymakers, and civic organizations, has shaped the state's civics education vision. The coalition built a scalable infrastructure of…

Service learning is distinctive from traditional voluntarism or community service in that it intentionally connects service activities with curriculum concepts and includes structured time for reflection. This review examines the evidence of impact of service learning on students' 'neither employed, nor in education or training' (NEET) status…

From the beginning, Sheridan, an independent K-8 progressive school founded in Washington, D.C., in 1927, has had a fierce commitment to both equity and diversity. In keeping with Principle 7 of the "The 11 Principles of Character Framework" (Character.org, 2018), which relates to fostering students' self-motivation, Sheridan educators…

This article proposes that students heighten their own social connections and those of seniors by co-creating mini-memoirs with older people. Mini-memoirs are short collections of self-selected memories that the seniors wish to save and to share with others through various modes of communication and in any language. Drawing insights from such…

As schools across the country continue to search for innovative practices to address pandemic-related learning loss and combat social isolation, experts are pointing to high dosage tutoring as a strategy worthy of consideration. Great Oaks Charter School Bridgeport in Connecticut offers an example of a high dosage tutoring model that has been…

This qualitative dissertation aimed to understand if an after-school kinesiology service-learning program changed the relationship between a large Research I institution and a local public school. Eight 7th- and 8th-grade students, three classroom teachers, and one administrator participated. Data collection methods included semistructured…

Service learning is a community-based educational approach where college students are connected to academic content through active participation in planned community experiences. Therefore, service learning is the form of civic engagement that we have used to connect Chemistry undergraduate students with K-12 students, teachers, and parents in our…

As one of the most culturally diverse schools in New York City, the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School (MELS) serves about 850 students in grades 6 through 12. MELS is "A School for a Sustainable City" and a New York City Outward Bound School. MELS uses the Expeditionary Learning education model, which focuses on student…

What does the development of a young person's political agency look like, and what role can schools play in this process? The authors profile Blackstone Academy, where administrators integrate social activism, community service, and other service-learning projects into the curriculum to help students develop leadership skills and confidence. The…

Active learning techniques are generally considered to be any classroom activities in which students become an active participant in learning, instead of a passive listener to a lecture. Service learning activities are generally experiential (real life) and reflective problem-based learning activities in which students enrolled in an academic…

The implications of how service-learning participation can enhance civic knowledge and engagement among young people are discussed at length in the existing literature. However, research that explores the utility of formalizing service-learning as a means of enriching civic education for underserved and minority youth is lacking, particularly…

Not only graduation rates are important, the quality of the education received also matters for the educational prospects of young people and successful entry into the labour market. The shares of neither employed nor in education or training (NEET) are negatively related to the skill levels among young people (OECD, 2017a). The main objective of…

The article discusses a year-long outreach activity, "Sparking interest in German." Five University of Utah German students engaged in the AATG/Goethe-Institut-sponsored SPARK program and taught German to local middle schoolers. At the heart of this outreach project were questions such as whether student-run outreach programs could truly…