Service Learning

Back again to the NSBA conference.

The most important thing to understand about service learning is how it is distinct, conceptually, from community service.

Community service is certainly worthwhile and has been part of the State College graduation requirement for a number of years. It connects students to the community by giving them a sense of the community’s needs, and how students can contribute as citizens.

What community service often lacks is a direct connection to classroom instruction.

By comparison, a service learning project should be fully integrated with the academic curriculum and have clearly identified learning objectives. 

A good service learning project begins with the students. The students identify the need, research the problem, agree on a course of action, and implement the solution, exercising and reinforcing skills learned in the classroom. Finally, students should have an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned.

We are fortunate that State College has received national attention for a couple of excellent examples of service learning: Kathy Yingling’s Stepping Stone project (see blog post from Oct 23rd), and Paul Heasley’s agriculture class that converted used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel.

Service learning is a terrific vehicle for teaching a number of “21st century skills”, such as collaboration; students are more engaged because the project is initiated by them; and it connects directly to brain research that states new learning must be acted upon in order to be permanently established.