11 September 2007
Service Learning Design Work
As part of Studio School design time students working in conjunction with their peers, Studio School teachers, and MSU faculty, will design, develop, and implement a minimum of one service-learning project per year. Service-learning projects were incorporated into student design time, as there is a growing national trend to create service-learning opportunities for high school students. According to the U.S. Department of Education (1999) 46% of public high schools and 38% of public middle schools offer service-learning opportunities. Further, in a national evaluation of the Learn and Serve America program, over 90% of teachers surveyed viewed service-learning “as a means of improving student attitudes towards school, increasing career awareness, improving student self-esteem, and increasing student social development and involvement in community affairs” (Learn and Serve America, 2005, p. 2).
In order to understand how service impacts students, there is a need to define the term service-learning. Service-learning is a teaching and learning method that combines community service with academic instruction as it focuses on critical, reflective thinking and civic responsibility. Service-learning programs involve students in organized community service that addresses local needs, while developing their academic skills and commitment to the community. After students participate in the service experience it is through service-learning that they are provided with an opportunity to integrate the service experience with their academic experience. Through service-learning students critically reflect, discuss, and create links between their personal lives and the world around them (Cipolle, 2004).
On the other hand, community service may include both specialized service, such as providing legal work pro bono, and non-specialized service, such as serving food in a homeless shelter. Community service experiences may consist of one-time special service events, or of more long-term service, such as the tutors in the America Reads program who tutor children one or more times per week. It is also important to note that community service refers to service that is structured to meet the needs of a community or individual, and is not explicitly designed to advance the service providers’ learning or personal development.
Boyer (1990) illustrates the connection between service and learning. He states, “Service is concerned with helping others but above all it is concerned with improved learning” (p. 102). Thus, service is connected to learning, and the type of service rendered can be just as important to the curriculum as the textbook. Moreover, Rhoads and Neururer (1998) state “learning cannot occur without a social dimension” (p. 101). The act of giving service is a social experience through which students formulate and shape their identities (Rhoads, 1997; Youniss & Yates, 1997). As a result, service-learning programs provide students with opportunities to explore identity, exhibit critical thinking, and to participate in activities that promote civic engagement (Clause & Ogden, 1999; Rhoads & Neururer).
A number of researchers have shown that service-learning is beneficial for students both in the short- and the long-term (Astin & Sax, 1998; Cipolle, 2004; Jones & Hill, 2003). Eyler and Giles (1999) determined that students who participate in service-learning have the opportunity to reap many benefits including “a reduction of negative stereotypes, greater self-knowledge, improved leadership, enhanced interpersonal skills, greater motivation to learn, deeper understanding of subject matter, and awareness of social issues” (p. 12). Astin, Sax, and Avalos (1999) found that the short-term effects of service became long-term effects and continue to impact students even as far as nine years after the service had been conducted.
Service-learning will be of great benefit not only to the Studio School students but also to the community at-large as students will develop projects that will address local needs. Employing the four essential elements of service-learning in Studio School provides a strong foundation for students. The first element, participant voice, is implemented as students will play an active role in the selection, design, implementation, and evaluation of their projects. The second element includes the idea that students will conduct meaningful service. It is important that the service-learning project meet a genuine need that is significant and recognized as important by both the participants and the community. The activity can include teaching others, such as having Studio Students tutor students at a local elementary school, creating a product, providing a service, researching an issue, or advocating for change.
The third element requires the service to provide a connection to academic learning. Effective service-learning establishes clear learning goals that require the application of concepts, content, and skills from coursework and involve participants in the construction of their own knowledge. Reflection is the term for the processing of these experiences. Finally, celebration and evaluation must be included in each project. Celebration is the way to acknowledge that participation and community partners have completed the project and have done a great job. Recognition of successful efforts helps to ensure that service-learning is a positive experience for those involved. Evaluation assists students in understanding whether the stated outcomes were met and provides the student with an opportunity to witness the improvement and change in the community through their involvement.
As a part of the service-learning project in Studio School, each student will create their own service-learning project plan and submit the plan to their peers and Studio School teachers for review. The student will be responsible for implementing the plan and will concurrently maintain a reflective blog illustrating their experiences throughout their service-learning project. At the end of the service-learning project students will create a presentation illustrating their service-learning project plan implemented at the site. Each student will give a formal presentation about their service project at one of the Studio School juries.
Service-learning presentations will: 1) be creative as students may choose to use PowerPoint, video, photos, You Tube, or whichever they prefer to create their presentations; 2) use visual aids and/or handouts; 3) engage others in discussion about issues at their service site; 4) discuss the relevance of project to the context of the community, state, nation, or world. Students will have to identify and write about project goals and objectives as well as the steps the student followed in creating and implementing the project. Students will also be asked to share about their accomplishments, what they learned from the project (leadership, organizational skills, personal learning) and any unexpected outcomes of the project.
The learning that students perform in the community requires time for reflection in order for the student to examine what they are learning, relate it to themselves, and generalize from it to other experiences. Reflection is an important part of service-learning. Each time the student attends his or her service-learning site he or she will be required to write about the experience in a service-learning blog. Blogs will be read and commented on by peer educators, parents, and Studio School teachers. Keeping an updated blog will help students to think about their experiences and will provide insight into the work they are doing and how you are feeling about it.
Blogs will not be merely a log of events; rather, the blog will provide a way for students to analyze the activities they are performing in the community and the new things they are learning. Reflecting in a blog allows students to recognize and think about important events and to relate classroom objectives to what the students are doing at their service site. Students will make weekly entries including objective accounts of the events that occur. They will describe their feelings and perceptions about what happened during the day and outline some actions for additional site visits based upon what the student learned during the day or any problems or needs that may have surfaced. The service-learning opportunities will be beneficial to both
Studio School students and to our local community.