As learning institutions, U.S. universities aim to provide abundant learning opportunities to fulfill students' right to learn. Undergraduate education is considered an important component of lifelong learning and aims to enable students to "learn how to learn." During the undergraduate stage, schools pay special attention to cultivating…

Educators often treat community service and diversity as distinct areas. The author argues that educators should seize upon the intersection of these two areas in order to strengthen students' capacity to engage with each.

This article introduces the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI), a survey instrument that measures participants' global perspective in terms of cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal domains--each in terms of both development and acquisition. A summary of the recent research on the GPI is provided along with a discussion of potential uses.

Very large numbers of students for whom English is not their native language attend public school classrooms in the USA every year. It is estimated that there are currently about 5.3 million English learners in K-12 grades (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition 2011). While teacher preparation programmes are required to prepare…

Many international schools embrace social studies education, and service learning embedded within the social studies curriculum is often the norm rather than the exception. Helping students help others in any setting is powerful. In a richly diverse venue there are added benefits. The "third-culture kids" attending international schools…

With the goal of enhancing knowledge and skills related to cross-cultural aging, a linked service learning project was implemented through a partnership with an elderly community center in Hong Kong. The project linked Semester at Sea (SAS) study abroad students with gerontology students at Colorado State University through collaborative service…

Like many elementary foreign language teachers, the author traveled from room to room to teach. Each room had different materials and a different classroom culture. This article describes how the author taught her students about Bolivia and how to motivate them through culture. It discusses a service-learning project that brings life-changing…

The United States is becoming an increasingly diverse culture. To function in this diverse setting, health education students need opportunities to develop cultural competence. Cultural immersion service-learning courses are one way to meet this need. Using a combination of literature review and experiences with a cultural immersion…

Service learning in higher education is an American creature. But outside the U.S., practices that resemble American service learning or that have begun self-consciously to describe themselves as "service learning" may also be found. This article gives an account of a proto-service-learning course on civil society in Singapore and…

In this article, the author describes a service learning experience that allowed university students to work with culturally and linguistically diverse children as a partial requirement for an introductory level course in Early Childhood Education. Data from the journals and case studies indicated that preservice teachers benefited from this…

Service learning, a pedagogy that has many supporters, encourages learning with civic engagement. In addition, according to Department of American Studies, service learning as a required course component is beneficial because it establishes a common ground for dialogue and for synthesis of observations from the community site, and the class…

Service learning integrates classroom instruction with community service to augment learning. This method of instruction facilitates humanistic counseling skills by enhancing counselor awareness and knowledge of unique needs and strengths of diverse peoples while promoting personal, social, civic, and professional responsibility. This article…

Language and cultural differences often cause English as a second language (ESL) students to feel alienated from their school and their community. As a result, they tend to make friends primarily within their own ESL classes and avoid interacting with mainstream students and getting involved in school activities. This article describes how…

A field experience involving community service learning was linked to multicultural education for preservice teachers. Results suggest that community service learning motivated, engaged, and gratified community leaders, tapping into local community associations. The spirit of shared control recognized the strength of a pluralistic…

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…