Service Learning: Linking Academic Study to Community Development and Business Enhancement

Abstract

"Education has been under scrutiny from government, business, and citizen groups regarding the role of educational institution in teaching values. “In a 1985 report for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Frank Newman concluded: “If there is a crisis in education in the United States today, it is less that test scores have declined that it is that we have failed to provide the education for citizenship that is still the most important responsibility of the nation’s schools and colleges.” (Cohen. 1994:98) Teachers are acting prudently in developing pedagogies to provide student technical proficiency in their chosen fields as well as in their civic responsibilities to the communities in which they live and work. One means of doing this is through service learning. Here, what student; learn within the confines of the classroom is directly linked to what they experience outside the classroom. The National and Community Service Act of 1990 defines service-learning as having four components: 1. Students actively participate in organized service experiences that meet actual community needs and that are coordinated in collaboration with the school and community 2. These experiences are integrated into the students’ academic curriculum or provides structured time for a student to think, talk, or write about what the student did and saw during the actual service activity; 3. Student; have opportunities to use newly acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities; 4. These experiences help to foster the development of a sense of caring for others. (Adapted from Cohen, 1994:100). "