Topic: Service Learning

10-second review: Service-learning is academic learning applied to community service.

Title: “Tipping the Tipping Point: Public Engagement, Education and Service-Learning.” C Glickman and K Thompson. Voices in the Middle (September 2009), 9-15.

Quote: “Service-learning, an approach to and philosophy of teaching and learning that encourages meaningful connections between school curriculum and community issues, has been years in the making. For decades, dedicated educators in schools and universities have provided opportunities for their students to apply their academic learning in ways that improve their local communities. These educators know that students are more engaged in academic studies when their learning is for a real purpose, not just a contrived classroom simulation or an end-of-unit test. Service-learning makes curriculum relevant to young adolescents and helps them answer their frequently asked question, ‘Why do we have to learn this?’ ”

Comment: I think the skills need to be learned in a coherent program and taught in the context of how they will be used in the service-learning project before being applied in the project. Otherwise they are being learned in a fragmented manner and, therefore, might not be learned at all. RayS.