Many of the youth today strive to find hope in the world. Society contains many distractions, and it can be pervaded with negativity at times. Service-learning is a powerful tool that could be transformative for the youth, changing the mindset of passive recipients to active participants. This could be a major solution to some of the problems society faces. Involvement not only with the school community but also with the community students live in could result in inspiring learning and providing a meaningful role for students in their community. Through service-learning students will discover new skills about themselves, learn more about the world around them, participate in activities that they can reflect on, and create visions for their own futures. When the youth are serving other youth or elderly people, they develop a sense of purpose and meaningfulness. This proves that they do make a difference in the lives of others. Teaching values is very important while children are in school, but having a real world connection ensures and demonstrates the importance of having a valuable education (Bhaerman, 1995, p. 4) (San Diego Unified School District, 2010, pp. 1-2) (Connolly, 2012) (Steen, O'Keefe, Griffin, & Routzahn, p. 7).
What are some results of Service-Learning Projects?
The San Diego School District put together The Handbook for Elementary School Teachers in 2010. They define service-learning as, “A teaching strategy that integrates service in the community with classroom curriculum. This helps students see communities as places of learning” (San Diego Unified School District, 2010). This is a great way to sum up the point of service-learning. Students in K-12 can participate in this, and the students’ abilities should be kept in mind. Students need to brainstorm how they can meet the community’s needs and the needs of the school. Students will also have the chance to develop their own academic, leadership, and employment skills. The most important part of understanding the results of service-learning is the reflection component. A service-learning project can be incorporated with the course work the students are doing. This is often a misconception because teachers may think in order to incorporate service-learning it must be an add on, extra work, or more planning than teachers already do. A prime example would be if students were working on a service-learning project related to social studies then they could be working on the project for a portion of the classroom time. As students research and develop their opinions, the teacher can help guide and educate them on topics they are interested in. This makes the students feel like their education has a purpose and is valued in society. Service-learning projects can even have more than one subject imbedded within them (San Diego Unified School District, 2010, p. 1).
There are various types of service-learning for a class to consider, such as direct service, indirect service, and advocacy. This is a beneficial aspect of service-learning; the options of projects and ways teachers can integrate them into the classroom are limitless. Projects can involve a whole class, part of the class, or the whole school. Either way, the goal is to help others and make a real world connection to information being taught in the classroom. In doing these projects, students have the opportunity to be a part of a team and be a part of forming solutions for society and not causing problems. There have been proven results that students build confidence in themselves and develop as individuals due to service-learning projects. The ultimate goal is for students to realize how to take responsibility for their own learning and to build a system of values (San Diego Unified School District, 2010, p. 2).