Public service internships are an established pedagogical tool in political science. Decades of scholarship on teaching and learning highlight how hands-on practicums can enhance students' substantive learning, professional development, civic values, and multicultural tolerance. Despite the proliferation of research on the student benefits of…

This paper explores the thinking and practice of 'action inquiry' an embedded learning practice that can help navigate complexity when practising change together. The paper uses examples from social contexts where there are concerns about community wellbeing and health care. These are drawn from collaborative or collective leadership development…

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…

Complex, systemic issues continue to challenge public services without respect for organisational and professional boundaries. In practice, collaborative working with others who have differing professional cultural norms and systems confront members with the need to learn about each other's values, priorities and practices. This paper explores the…

In public services delivery, action learning is increasingly employed in the hope of improving capacity to address complex, multi-casual and "wicked" social issues to improve the lives of citizens. Yet the understanding of how and why action learning might have potential for enhancing organizational or systemic capability rarely goes…

This introduction to a special issue reviews the community service movement in the 1960s-70s, current calls for youth involvement in community service, and the semantic differences related to the term "service learning." (SK)

Postsecondary institutions are in a unique position to help alleviate social problems. Service learning, which integrates community service and academic study, is an active pedagogy of involvement that takes students beyond monocultural campus settings to multicultural community contexts. A University of Montana teacher-education class that places…

The resurgence of national interest in youth service is due, in large part, to the national organizations that have grown so vigorously in recent years. Some explanations for the almost sudden reappearance of youth service as a nationwide issue are: (1) many Americans are fed up with narcissism, personal gratification, and me-centered pursuits;…

The world of public service is compared to a swamp in which important, complex, and messy problems are addressed, and it is argued that graduate and professional education must be reshaped to produce leaders who can make sense of current challenges. Education that is more experiential, behavioral, interactive, and collectively oriented is…

Describes how Red Bridge Elementary (Kansas City, Missouri) participated in the "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle--Make a Difference in Our Community" campaign that coincided with the 1998 Make a Difference Day Campaign. Discusses the project, including the planning, publicity, donation collection, donation distribution, and campaign results.…

An interview with Robert Coles, an author and professor actively long involved with community service, focuses on the importance of public service, the emphasis currently placed on it, college student and faculty participation, participation of non-college youth, incentives for service, related reading for students, and organization of community…

The University of Oklahoma's Price College of Business has implemented an integrated core curriculum that relies on engaging students in business-world experiences to provide a conceptual basis for integration of a wide range of concepts. Experience is gained through two projects--creation and management of a start-up company (funded by a loan)…

Identifies five specific areas in which John Dewey's writings contribute to service-learning: linking education to experience; democratic community; social service; reflective inquiry; and education for social transformation. Argues that these contributions form the basis of a cultural and political critique and reconceptualized pedagogy aimed at…

This study identified factors associated with support for service learning (SL) among institutions of higher education. Surveys of SL programs in North Carolina indicated that institutionalization of SL was closely associated with such institutional characteristics as degree of faculty involvement and emphasis on academic goals in SL courses.…

Assesses the extent to which students' attitudes toward international understanding are effected by an intensive two-year service-learning program. Research results generally supported the hypothesis that students who are involved in service learning show larger increases in international understanding than students involved in volunteerism or no…