Real-world problems often do not mesh well with mandated curricula and texts. Designing challenges to develop the understandings, skills, and beliefs necessary for tackling real-life problems involves a commitment to authentic learning experiences of increasing sophistication. The experiential learning cycle, by combining academic, scenario, and…

Presents a comparison between service learning and composition, suggesting that both lead toward action and engagement with the social world while presenting possibilities for growth and failure. Describes a first-time service learning participant's experience with a second grader to explain the complicated and constrained position of the service…

Describes the rationale for using reflection to link service experience to learning in college instruction, and offers guidelines for developing effective reflection activities: linking student experiences to learning objectives; giving guidance for the reflection activities; scheduling the activities regularly; allowing feedback and assessment;…

Discusses rejuvenation of the campus community service movement and its potential to explore the meaning of citizenship in a democracy. Argues that civic education should be an integral part of a liberal education and that community service can help prepare students for citizenship. A Rutgers University (New Jersey) program illustrates how service…

Recent proposals for including service-learning in teacher education focus on challenging teachers' assumptions about traditional modes of schooling. Also seen is the need to involve preservice teachers in projects centered on needs of children and youth; sensitize them to changes in demographic and social contexts of schooling consistent with…

Solutions to some enduring problems in elementary and secondary education may be found in the intersection of educational reform, teacher education, and service-learning. Service-learning in both K-12 and teacher education can help educators understand intelligence as multiple and dynamic, understand the learning context as both school- and…

Describes and critiques the theory of knowledge that undergirds conventional pedagogy in higher education. Pragmatism is suggested as an alternative epistemology to illuminate the contextual nature of knowledge and affirm community, diversity, and engagement as pedagogical virtues. Comments on the significance and limitations of philosophical…

Discusses indirect service-learning, in which students do not participate directly in fieldwork but learn about some sector of the community through their teacher's research and/or community service, and use knowledge acquired through the course to create a service or product meeting community need. Argues that this approach improves student…

Service-learning has drawn largely on a few major theorists for theoretical support. Additional theoretical perspectives drawn from cognitive psychology and social theory can also contribute, including constructs of concept formation, selective perception, categorization, critical reflection, and mediated learning. Each of these helps to explain…

Argues that, in the context of the present health care system, interdisciplinary service-learning holds promise for equipping future health professionals with collaborative problem-solving skills needed to effect change in community health care. Describes three models of interdisciplinary service-learning in health professions education, explores…

The Constitutional Rights Foundation works to determine how service learning can best educate youth for active citizenship. This article traces the evolution of the group's thinking about service learning and citizenship education, and describes their civic participation framework, programs, and program components. (SM)

Service learning in higher education can be a powerful method of citizen education, by building students' concrete civic skills in the areas of intellectual understanding, communication and problem solving, and civic attitudes of judgment and imagination. A basic condition is that broad definitions of service and citizenship be assumed, and used…

Describes the Community College of Aurora's (Colorado) Community Involvement Program, a three-part effort to bridge the gap between workforce training and citizenship. Reviews program components, including a family center providing social services, a workforce development center providing workforce training, and citizenship and leadership training…

Discusses the implementation of a program at Kapi'olani Community College (Hawaii) integrating service learning into a multicultural writing curriculum and reviews results. Indicates that the program focuses on service as the civic responsibility of an educated citizenry and explores how service-related values are reflected in contemporary…

Reports results from a study of service-learning activities at North Carolina community colleges. Indicates that community colleges supported similar types of activities as the state's universities, but did so at much lower levels. Provides case studies of the two community colleges that ranked the highest in service-learning support. The survey…