Service Learning

Many schools already have volunteering programs where students, either during or after school, donate their time to a service project. Service learning takes the process a step further by weaving volunteer work into the classroom. With service learning, educators find ways to take what students are learning in the classroom and apply it directly to what is needed in the community.

For example, students studying Spanish can volunteer to be translators at a hospital, students in an accounting class can review the financial statements of a nonprofit organization, or students in an art class can teach art to the developmentally disabled.

A primary goal of service learning is to get students to place their volunteer work in a larger social context and to give them an opportunity to explore that connection through reflection activities.

In brief, service learning projects give students a chance to make volunteering a more relevant activity, while gaining real world experience in the surrounding community.

Additional definitions of service learning

There are many approaches, perspectives, and philosophies to service learning. Below you will find more resources to help you develop a well-rounded sense of what service learning can be for you.

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
The purpose of the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse is to collect and disseminate information and materials related to service learning. They provide several definitions of service learning.

University of Colorado
The University of Colorado created this site mainly for higher education service learning, but the definitions listed here can be applied to service learning at any age level.

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Articles about service learning

"How to Make Service into Service Learning" by Cynthia Parsons

"Big Dummy's Guide to Service Learning: 27 Simple Answers to Good Questions on: Faculty, Programmatic, Student, Administrative, & Non-Profit Issues" by Mark Cooper

"Service-Learning Network"
This is the semiannual newsletter put out by The Constitutional Rights Foundation. These newsletters can provide you with articles, program examples, statistics, and other useful information about service learning.

Service-Learning Resources
This list of articles, books, and online courses was produced by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

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Service learning organizations

Several organizations exist to aid and support the growing demand for information about service learning. These organizations can help you get started with your own program.

National Center for Learning and Citizenship
National Center for Learning and Citizenship is a network of chief state school officers, district superintendents, service learning professionals, and other supporters of service learning.

Corporation for National and Community Service - Learn and Serve
Established in 1993, the Corporation for National and Community Service runs three major programs, AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve and the National Senior Service Corps, which engage more than a million U.S. people in service to their communities. This website also includes a list of all the State Commissions on Community Service.

Learning in Deed
Learning in Deed, a project of the WK Kellogg Foundation that advocates service learning, has created a very useful "map" of service learning resources in the United States.

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National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse offers a host of resources on service learning for elementary, middle, and high school students.

National Service-Learning Exchange
The National Service-Learning Exchange is a collaboration between five leading service-learning organizations and a network of nearly 400 experienced peer mentors. The Exchange supports high-quality service-learning in kindergarten through high school, higher education, and community-based organizations, by providing free technical support and mentoring, and consulting and training on a fee-for-service basis.

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National Youth Leadership Council
The National Youth Leadership Council aims to reform education and guide youth-oriented public policy. The Leadership Council develops model programs for schools across the United States, creates curricula and training for youth and educators, and conducts research on youth issues.

SEANet: State Education Agency K-12 Service Learning Network
SEANet is a national network of staff from state education agencies and other organizations that provide leadership on K-12 service learning initiatives. On SEANet's website you'll find service learning resources, find out what other state education agencies are doing with service learning, and keep up to date on policymaking that affects service learning.

Youth Service AmericaYouth Service America aims to promote youth volunteering and support organizations that work on youth service issues all across the United States. Examples of the projects that YSA has initiated are: Global Youth Service Day and the President's Volunteer Service Award.

Wisconsin Partnerships in Service Learning
Created by the University of Wisconsin, this site will provide you with some valuable background information about service learning.

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Learn and Serve Colorado
This organization promotes service learning as a way of teaching and learning that builds academic and citizenship skills while renewing communities within schools and community organizations around the state. Even though its focus is the state of Colorado, this site can provide anyone interested in service learning with examples of programs, helpful research, and resources.

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Service learning examples and curricula

Examples by subject

Examples and curricula from organizations

Examples by subject

  • Math: Assist with the design, measurement, and construction of a wheelchair ramp for a building that does not have one.
  • History: Teach kids about the importance of oral history while they visit the local nursing home and gather stories from the people living there.
  • Language: Translate community bulletin boards into other languages.
  • Science: Design hands-on science activity kits to teach science concepts to younger children.
  • English: Write letters to congress to support an important environmental issue.
  • Physical Education: Volunteer with the Special Olympics.
  • Art: Paint murals on the walls of a dilapidated school or volunteer as tour guides at a museum.
  • Music: Provide music for those in waiting rooms at the hospital.
  • Computer Science: Develop a website for a nonprofit organization that doesn't have one.

Examples and curricula from organizations

Learning In Deed - Learning Curricula on the Net
In 1998, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched Learning In Deed, a national initiative to engage more young people in service to others as part of their academic life. They have compiled a list of websites with service learning curricula that you can print out or download.

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Florida International University - "101 Ideas for Combining Service and Learning"
This page of ideas was created by the Volunteer Center at Florida International University.

The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse - Publications Online
Here you will find links to many interesting publications about service learning. Scroll down to see links to various service learning curricula from schools and organizations like Olympic High School in California and Learn and Serve America. Look under Resources & Tools.

The California Department of Education - CalServe K-12 Service-Learning Initiatives
The California Department of Education's service learning resource page can provide you with information from many service learning organizations. In the curriculum section there are service learning programs for kids revolving around interesting topics like gardens, worms, and watersheds, for example.

Learn and Serve Colorado - "Examples of Service-Learning Activities"
This organization provides a list of activities that are pided into categories: citizenship issues, environmental issues, educational activities, community development, and intergenerational activities. Accompanying the lists are notes about schools that actually did service learning projects.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction - "Service Learning - Curriculum Ideas"
This page lists a number of examples of service-learning curricula that can be easily accessed online.

Youth Voice - "A Guide for Engaging Youth in Leadership and Decision-Making in Service-Learning Programs"
This Youth Voice Guide is meant to assist programs in engaging youth in leadership and decision-making more effectively. It also highlights additional resources (organizations and materials) that can assist programs in implementing youth voice.

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Service learning in schools

The Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York, New York
On their website you'll find a few of their service learning projects highlighted. One group, for example, worked closely with children at the Ittleson Home for the Emotionally Disturbed. To read more about them, use their site search feature to search for "community service learning."

Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
Phillips Academy has a developed community service/service learning program. The students there have done projects ranging from working with new U.S. citizens to taking political action. Read about some of the projects these kids have done with organizations like The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and The Corpus Christi AIDS Hospice, for example.

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