SERVICE LEARNING





By Kahne / Westheimer



Quotes
In the 1960's President Kennedy in his inaugural address challenged the country with his well appeal - "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can for your country".  This is the beginning of service to the country.  Educators and Legislators say that service learning can improve the community and make the classroom interesting whereby rich educational experiences for all students can be provided.  Service learning makes students active participants in projects that have an impact to the needs of the community and further the academic goals of students.http://citl.indiana.edu/programs/serviceLearning/

In addition to those they help, such service learning can promote self esteem , develop higher order thinking skills, make use of multiple abilities and provide good learning experiences.

The two service learning cases which were proposed by Mr. Johnson states , "Serving those in need" and "Homeless Here and There" by Ms. Adams.  Mr. Johnson had his students take part in community service of their choice,  In which, one student worked in a baby center where babies, while their mothers were pregnant and had high levels of crack cocaine in their blood streams.  Another student distributed survival kits for the homeless.

Ms. Adams class examined the social, economic, legal, and political causes of homelessness in the world and the local school community.  Mr. Johnson's students were not asked to articulate the understanding of the conditions that brought about the loss of a family's home or to a pregnant mother's decision to turn to crack cocaine.  Ms. Adam's class, however started by analyzing the causes of homelessness and ways to prevent them.

The current discussion of service learning emphasizes charity, not change.  As I conclude, there are three domains of service learning which are the Moral, Political and the Intellectual.