The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse defines service-learning:

"Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities."

Service-learning means that our curriculum project will be connected to the community.  This can be done on many levels, from the local neighborhood, to the city, state, regional, national and even the global levels.  Whether your students have access to the Internet or not, they can still be connected to the larger community, and have a positive impact.

Service-learning is a great focus for a curriculum project, such as:  designing and creating an outdoor learning center, planting a garden, developing a community-based environmental project or designing a new physical fitness program.  Service-learning is an excellent way to make the curriculum truly meaningful to your students.   Students love quality service-learning projects, and the benefits are many.

• Service-learning provides a context for addressing important social issues such as:

  • Environmental concerns - energy issues, water, recycling, waste disposal, hold an environmental fair, plant trees, create an outdoor learning center at your school or a park, set up a statewide neighborhood improvement fund, study the greenhouse effect, research global resources, start an environmental club.

  • Health issues - for example, obesity is now a national problem among children and youth.  Spring is a great time to develop a physical fitness program which includes nutrition, exercise/sports, and more.  Media literacy, the analysis, critique and production of media messages, would be an important part of this unit.

  • Homeless people - who are the homeless (you may be surprised), research resources for helping the homeless, study the causes of homelessness.

  • Hunger - hold a food drive, grow a school garden, learn about world hunger. 

  • Politics and government - work for voter registration, taking political action

  • Safety

  • Transportation

• Students find these projects meaningful, and therefore, students are motivated and engaged in the learning.

• Students learn that they can make a difference

• Students learn how to be active citizens

• Students learn that they do have a voice, and how to use it.

Discuss with your colleagues and with your students ideas for service-learning projects.  What are some needs you can identify in the community that you would like to address?  What resources are available to you?  How can you teach your content standards within this theme?  You will find that most content standards can easily be taught within unit themes, and you will find that teaching them this way helps students to truly learn as opposed to memorizing briefly, then forgetting.

I recommend that you visit the web sites listed below, and that you obtain copies of the books on service-learning.  They have all the information you need to develop an authentic service-learning project.  They have guidelines, resources and lots of ideas for projects.  They are excellent, and I wouldn't plan a social action or service-learning project without them!

See our page, Learning in Deed, about John Glenn's presentation at on service learning at the ASCD conference in San Antonio, and some discussion of how 21st Century Schools' goals are aligned with those of the National Commission on Service Learning. 

See Curriculum Design for some tips on designing project-based, thematic units.

Web sites:

Learn and Service America

National Service-Learning Partnership

Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership

Service Learning - Students' Guide and Journal

Lesson plans for various service-learning projects

Effective Practices

Recommended books:

Kid's Guide to Social Action: How to Solve the Social Problems You Choose - and Turn Creative Thinking into Positive Action, by Barbara A. Lewis


Additional online resources for Service-Learning - these were located on Robert Schoenfeld's web site, http://servicelearn.com
 

Websites for Finding Service-Learning Projects in Your Community

Action Without Boarders www.Idealist.org

ServeNet  www.Servenet.org

Volunteer Match www.VolunteerMatch.org

Earth Force www.Earthforce.org

National Mentoring Partnership www.Mentoring.org

Habitat for Humanity www.Habitat.org

Second Harvest www.Secondharvest.org

Do Something www.Dosomething.org


 

Awards and Recognition (K-12)
 

President’s Student Service Awards www.PresidentialServiceAwards.gov

Congressional Award www.Congressionalaward.org

Prudential Spirit of Community Award www.Prudential.com/community

Barron Prize for Young Heroes www.Barronprize.org


 

Resources for the Instructor (K-12)

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse www.Servicelearning.org

Service-Learning Exchange (Toll free 877-572-3924) www.nslexchange.org

Youth as Resources www.YAR.org

National Mentoring Partnership www.mentoring.org

Operation Respect www.operationrespect.org


 

Resources for Higher Education
 

Campus Compact www.compact.org

American Association of Community Colleges www.aacc.nche.edu/servicelearning

Cool: Student Service-Learning Advocacy www.Cool2Serve.org

Global Volunteers www.Globalvolunteers.org

Break Away www.Alternativebreaks.org


 

Resources for the Higher Education Instructor
 

Campus Compact www.Compact.org

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse www.Servicelearning.org

UCLA Service-Learning Clearinghouse-Grants www.gseis.ucla.edu/slc

American Association for Higher Education www.aahe.org/service

American Association of Community Colleges www.aacc.nche.edu/servicelearning


 

Grants / Fellowships / Funding

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse www.Servicelearning.org

UCLA Service-Learning Clearinghouse-Grants www.gseis.ucla.edu/slc/funding

Campus Compact Grants and Fellowships Index www.compact.org/grants