SERVICE LEARNING

SERVICE LEARNING

What Is 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. In other words, service learning combines service objectives with learning objectives with the intent that the activity changes both the recipient and the provider of the service. This is accomplished by combining service tasks with structured opportunities that link the task to self-reflection, self-discovery, and the acquisition and comprehension of values, skills, and knowledge content. It is a tool used widely by sociologists to encourage students to make connections between classroom learning and the larger community. Illustration: For example, if college students collect trash out of an urban streambed, they are providing a service to the community as volunteers; a service that is highly valued and important. When the students analyze what they found in the trash bed and possible sources, they can share the results with residents of the neighborhood along with suggestions for reducing pollution. Now we can say that they are engaging in service-learning. In the service-learning, the students are providing an important service to the community and, at the same time, learning about water quality and laboratory analysis, developing an understanding of pollution issues, learning to interpret science issues to the public, and practicing

skills by speaking to residents. They may also reflect on their

reer interests in science, the environment, public policy or other areas. Thus, we see that service-learning combines SERVICE with LEARNING in intentional ways.

Service Learning Vs Volunteerism

Volunteer activities without learning component are equally important as Service

learning but that the two approaches are fundamentally different activities with different obiectives. Both are valued components of a national effort to increase citizen involvement in community service, and at every age.

Why Is Service-Learning Important?

Many surveys suggest that effective service-learning programs improve grades. increase attendance in school/college, and develop students' personal and social responsibility. A growing body of research recognizes service learning as an effective strategy to help students by:

✓ Promoting learning through active participation in service experiences; ✓ Providing structured time for students to reflect by thinking, discussing and writing

about their service experience; Providing an opportunity for students to use skills and knowledge in real-life

situations; ✓ Extending learning beyond the classroom and into the community, and ✓ Fostering a sense of caring for others. Service learning also strengthens both education and local communities by: ✓ Building effective collaborative partnerships between schools or colleges and

other institutions and organizations; ✓ Engaging parents and other adults in supporting student learning;

Meeting community needs through the service projects conducted; and ✓ Providing engaging and productive opportunities for young people to work with others in their community.

Characteristics Of Service-Learning

The important characteristics of service learning are given below: ✓ Service learning links to academic content and standards. ✓ It involves young people in helping to determine and meet real, defined community

✓ It can be used in any subject area so long as it is appropriate to learning goal. ✓ It works at all ages, even among young children. ✓ It is positive, meaningful and real to the participants. ✓ It involves cooperative rather than competitive experiences and thus promotes

skills associated with teamwork and community involvement and citizenship. ✓ It offers powerful opportunities to acquire the habits of critical thinking; i.e. the

ability to identify the most important questions or issues within a real-world

situation.

Comment:

Thus the service-learning is a form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as students work with others. Through this experience, they achieve real objectives for the community and also deeper understanding and skills for themselves.

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