Designing Effective International Community Service-Learning Experiences

2020 ◽  
pp. 371-387
Author(s):  
Clinton Beckford
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Global Education ◽  
International Community ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Professional Schools ◽  
Overwhelming Evidence ◽  
Faculties Of Education

International community service-learning has become increasingly accepted as an effective approach to promoting global education and intercultural knowledge among post-secondary students. Professional schools have been at the forefront of this trend, pioneered perhaps by medical schools. Today, university faculties of education and teacher education programs more generally, are now leaders in advancing ICSL pedagogies. There is now overwhelming evidence that ICSL experiences that are well planned and implemented can be transformative on personal and professional levels. This chapter discusses how effective ICSL experiences can be effected. Drawing on qualitative research from an ICSL for pre-service teachers, the author offers some suggestions for increasing the impacts of such programs.

The integration of a community service learning water project in a post-secondary chemistry lab

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Ho ◽  
Boris S. Svidinskiy ◽  
Sahara R. Smith ◽  
Christopher C. Lovallo ◽  
Douglas B. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
K 12

Community Service Learning (CSL) is an experiential learning approach that integrates community service into student projects and provides diverse learning opportunities to reduce interdisciplinary barriers. A semester-long chemistry curriculum with an integrated CSL intervention was implemented in a Canadian university to analyze the potential for engagement and positive attitudes toward chemistry as a meaningful undertaking for 14 post-secondary students in the laboratory as well as for their 400 K-12 student partners in the community. Traditionally, introductory science experiments typically involve repeating a cookbook recipe from a lab book, but this CSL project allowed the post-secondary and K-12 students to work collaboratively to determine the physical and chemical properties and total dissolved solids in the water fountains from the K-12 students' schools. Post-instructional surveys were completed by all learners and were analyzed using a mixed methodological approach with both quantitative and qualitative methods. The expected audience that may be interested in this study are those involved in teaching chemistry in higher education and at the K-12 level as well as those interested in service learning, community and civic engagement, experiential learning, and development of transferable skills in chemistry. The results demonstrate that both groups of students report favorable engagement and attitudes towards learning chemistry and higher self-confidence levels on performing lab skills after the activity. Furthermore, both groups of students expressed interest in exploring future projects, which is indicative of the positive impact of CSL and the mutual benefits of the partnership.

scholarly journals Improving Student Reflection in Experiential Learning Reports in Post-Secondary Institutions

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tiessen
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
The Difference

Work-integrated learning options—or experiential learning—(such as co-operative education, practicum placements, and community service learning/volunteer placements) offer much scope for enhancing educational opportunities for post-secondary students to learn about the workplace and to develop skills that may contribute to their future employability. However, community service learning (CSL) placements and co-operative education (co-op) programs, among other forms of experiential learning, offer so much more than the practical outcomes of skills-development and résumé-building. They provide a space for reflexivity on the student’s positionality in relation to privilege and national and/or global citizenship identity-formation; for critical reflection on ethical issues; for the promotion of social justice; and for praxis (the application of knowledge). The research presented in this article is an evaluation of two sets of experiential learning reflection assignments: co-op work-term reports (from 2nd, 3rd, 4th year and graduate students) and CSL papers (assignments submitted for a fourth year class I taught in winter 2016 on experiential learning). I examine the common themes and differences between these two sets of assignments with particular attention to the preparation and facilitation of learning in both instances, and the difference this preparation makes in terms of the student’s critical reflection.

Case Study Analysis of Reflective Essays by Chemistry Post-Secondary Students within a Lab-Based Community Service Learning Water Project

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Ho ◽  
Sahara R. Smith ◽  
Catharina Venter ◽  
Douglas B. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Study Analysis ◽  
Chemistry Curriculum ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Water Project ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Case Study Analysis

Intentional reflection is a key component of Community Service Learning (CSL) as it guides students to integrate knowledge of theory with experience in practice. A semester-long chemistry curriculum with an...

Community Service Learning with First Peoples

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brydie-Leigh Bartleet ◽  
Dawn Bennett ◽  
Anne Power ◽  
Naomi Sunderland
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Community Music ◽  
Culturally Appropriate ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Intercultural Learning ◽  
Music Making ◽  
First Peoples

Community music educators worldwide face the challenge of preparing their students for working in increasingly diverse cultural contexts. These diverse contexts require distinctive approaches to community music-making that are respectful of, and responsive to, the customs and traditions of that cultural setting. The challenge for community music educators then becomes finding pedagogical approaches and strategies that both facilitate these sorts of intercultural learning experiences for their students and that engage with communities in culturally appropriate ways. This chapter unpacks these challenges and possibilities, and explores how the pedagogical strategy of community service learning can facilitate these sorts of dynamic intercultural learning opportunities. Specifically, it focuses on engaging with Australian First Peoples, and draws on eight years of community service learning in this field to inform the insights shared.

scholarly journals Community Service-Learning: Why Can’t Canada Be More Like Mexico?

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-59
Author(s):  
Victoria Calvert ◽  
Halia Valladares Montemayor
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
National Level ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Volunteer Programs ◽  
The Government

  In Mexico, the community service strategy and requirements for undergraduate students are both longstanding and mandated by the Mexican Constitution. Students undertake a minimum of 480 hours of service during their undergraduate degrees, which are coordinated through their universities’ Social Service (SS) departments. Many Canadian universities and colleges offer community service through courses and volunteer programs; however, the practice and adoption levels vary widely. Student involvement with community partners, as represented through community service-learning (CSL) and volunteerism in Canada, are sponsored by many post-secondary institutions but are not driven by a national agenda. While, in Mexico, community service is documented at a departmental and institutional level for reporting to stakeholders and the government, in Canada, documentation of community service varies with the institutional mandate and is often sporadic or non-existent; the imperative for systematic student engagement and citizenship development has not been recognized at the national level. This research paper provides an overview of the community engagement practices in both countries, with the national patterns represented through a summative review of selected Canadian and Mexican universities. Suggestions for processes and practices for Canada are proposed based upon the Mexican model.

scholarly journals Community Service-Learning in a Large Introductory Sociology Course: Reflections on the Instructional Experience

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Jana Grekul ◽  
Wendy Aujla ◽  
Greg Eklics ◽  
Terra Manca ◽  
Ashley Elaine York ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Introductory Sociology

This paper reports on a pilot project that involved the incorporation of Community Service-Learning (CSL) into a large Introductory Sociology class by drawing on the critical reflections of the six graduate student instructors and the primary instructor who taught the course. Graduate student instructors individually facilitated weekly seminars for about 30 undergraduate students, half of which participated in CSL, completing 20 hours of volunteer work with a local non-profit community organization. We discuss the benefits of incorporating CSL into a large Introductory Sociology class and speculate on the value of our particular course format for the professional development of graduate student instructors. A main finding was the critical importance to graduate students of formal and informal training and collaboration prior to and during the delivery of the course. Graduate students found useful exposure to CSL as pedagogical theory and practice, and appreciated the hands-on teaching experience. Challenges with this course structure include the difficulty of seamlessly incorporating CSL student experiences into the class, dealing with the “CSL”/ “non CSL” student division, and the nature of some of the CSL placements. We conclude by discussing possible methods for dealing with these challenges.  

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