Service + Learning = Service-Learning
Service: Service means contributing or helping to benefit others and the common good.
Learning: Learning means gaining understanding of a subject of skill through study, experience, or an exchange of ideas.
Service-Learning: The ideas of service and learning combine to create service-learning. Investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration are the five stages of service-learning. By understanding how each stage works, you can be more effective in making plans to help in your community.
Stage 1 - Investigate
Begin the service-learning process by asking, “What resources do we have in our group? What are our skills and talents?” Then do some investigating about your community needs to find out a local problem that you can help solve.
Learn More »Stage 2 - Prepare
What do you need to know to be well informed about the topic you have chosen? Finding out can involve other people and organizations, reading newspapers or watching a video, and brainstorming ideas. Organize into “action teams” that set the ideas into motion. All this planning leads to …
Learn More »Stage 3 - Act
Set your plan in motion! Remember that action is the total of many small parts of a well-designed plan. The action can be direct (picking up trash at the beach), indirect (setting up trash containers so others will dispose of their trash properly), advocacy (making radio adds to promote recycling), or research (gathering data about trash accumulation for your city council).
Learn More »Stage 4 - Reflect
During ALL the stages it’s important to pause and consider: How is this going? What am I learning? Does anything need to be changed? Checking in through reflection keeps us on track as we connect our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Learn More »Stage 5 - Demonstrate
Tell the story of what happened! Report the data! Show the photos! Be bold and loud and let others know what youth can do! Remember to document every stage of service-learning beginning with Investigate so you will have all you need to tell your story completely!
Learn More »CITATION: From The Complete Guide to Service Learning: Proven, Practical Ways to Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social Action (Revised & Updated Second Edition) by Cathryn Berger Kaye, M.A., copyright © 2010. Free Spirit Publishing Inc., Minneapolis, MN; 800-735-7323; www.freespirit.com. This page may be reproduced for use within an individual school or district. For all other uses, contact www.freespirit.com/company/permissions.cfm.
Comments
- Kanu Malhotra
-
WOW! that stuff is great today I have visited discovery site first time and water planet is amazing I am an Indian and being a citizen of this country I too think that do work for preserving our only planet I a great step by preserving water resources.
- June 17, 2011, 3:47 AM
- @Marth Rhodes (EarthEcho International)
-
Martha,
It sounds like a "model and share" approach might work well for your school: establishing a recycling program at your school first and then using a variety of outreach approaches to encourage others in the community to recycle as well. While we don't have an action guide specifically about recycling, I do recommend the various worksheets that relate to the five stages of learning. (You can find worksheets and other resources on each Stage of Service-Learning page under the "Action" section of this website.) These resources will help guide the students' exploration of the topic and the development and implementation of a solution. You may also find some of the information in the CleanUp Action Guide useful as it addresses some of the impact improperly disposed of waste can have on marine environments. As you implement a program, we would love to know more about it. Please consider letting us and others follow your story by posting to the STREAM site: http://streams.ning.com Best of luck!
- May 16, 2011, 11:59 AM
- Martha Rhodes
-
How can our magnet school of the arts improve conservation and recycling in Williamsburg county in the 2011-2012 school year. Our county's recycling is, for the most part, nonexistant.
- May 2, 2011, 8:10 AM
- soetarno said
-
very good
I am very interested
add insight in learning
Soetarno. teachers in East Java Indonesia
- March 8, 2011, 4:16 AM
- samuelarthur `
-
I WILL LIKE U TO ASK QUESTIONS
- February 19, 2011, 11:21 AM
Post a Comment
Have you ever done a service-learning project in the past? If so, what was your experience like? Or will this be your first time? What are you looking forward to? We would love to hear your stories of past service-learning successes and hopes for the future.