Experiential learning in sociology: service learning and other community-based learning initiatives

Despite increased popularity and a strong pedagogical tradition, the literature on community-based learning (CBL) initiatives and service learning evidences a certain conceptual imprecision. In the hopes of clarifying definitional ambiguities, we critically review the CBL literature, identifying six distinct types of CBL options and their characteristics. The result is a hierarchy of community-based learning, which while not proposed as a definitive conceptualization, is likely to be useful in terms of curricular development. Using a hypothetical sociology class, the community-based learning options identified (i.e., out-of-class activities, volunteering, service add-ons, internships, service learning, and service learning advocacy) are discussed in terms of their pedagogical differences and associated curricular benefits

[1]  L. Sax,et al.  The Benefits of Service: Evidence from Undergraduates , 1997 .

[2]  J. Wallace.  A Popular Education Model for College in Community , 2000 .

[3]  P. Hutchings,et al.  Experiential Learning across the Curriculum: Assumptions and Principles. , 1988 .

[4]  J. Dewey.  Experience and Education , 1938 .

[5]  Jerry Miller,et al.  Linking Traditional and Service-Learning Courses: Outcome Evaluations Utilizing Two Pedagogically Distinct Models , 1994 .

[6]  Sam Marullo.  The service learning movement in higher education : An academic response to troubled times , 1996 .

[7]  Edward Zlotkowski,et al.  Opportunity for all: Linking service-learning and business education , 1996 .

[8]  Faculty Fellows Program , 2000 .

[9]  Anne R. Roschelle,et al.  Who Learns from Service Learning? , 2000 .

[10]  R. Wade.  Community Service Learning and the Social Studies Curriculum: Challenges to Effective Practice. , 1997 .

[11]  Robert Sommer,et al.  Experience and Education. , 1974 .

[12]  C. Koliba.  Moral Language and Networks of Engagement , 2000 .

[13]  P. Palmer,et al.  To Know as We Are Known: A Spirituality of Education , 1992 .

[14]  Julie A. Hatcher,et al.  Implementing Service Learning in Higher Education , 1996 .

[15]  Daniel E. Miller,et al.  Community and the Practice of Sociology , 1996 .

[16]  Bob Edwards,et al.  From Charity to Justice , 2000 .

[17]  E. Boyer.  High school: A Report on Secondary Education in America , 1983 .

[18]  Peter F. Parilla,et al.  Internships and the Sociological Perspective: Applying Principles of Experiential Learning. , 1998 .

[19]  M. Horton,et al.  We make the road by walking , 1990 .

[20]  P. Freire.  Education for Critical Consciousness , 1973 .

[21]  Kevin D Everett.  Understanding Social Inequality through Service Learning. , 1998 .

[22]  Leonard T. Burns.  Make sure it's service learning, not just community service , 1998 .

[23]  Fredrica Rudell,et al.  Rationale, Benefits, and Methods of Service-Learning in Marketing Education. , 1997 .

[24]  Bob Edwards,et al.  Universities in Troubled Times--Institutional Responses. , 1999 .

[25]  William M. Sullivan,et al.  Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life , 1985 .

[26]  Interprofessional Education and Training , 1999 .

[27]  Robert D. Shumer,et al.  The Status of Service-Learning in the United States: Some Facts and Figures , 1999 .

[28]  Robert J. Hironimus-Wendt,et al.  Grounding service learning in social theory , 1999 .

[29]  J. Mabry,et al.  Service Learning as Pedagogy and Civic Education: Comparing Outcomes for Three Models. , 1998 .

[30]  Sam Marullo.  Bringing Home Diversity: A Service-Learning Approach to Teaching Race and Ethnic Relations. , 1998 .

[31]  Larry Cuban,et al.  Tinkering toward Utopia: A Century of Public School Reform. , 1996 .

[32]  Paulo Freire,et al.  The Politics of Education: Culture, Power, and Liberation , 1984 .

[33]  Daniel Conrad,et al.  The Impact of Experiential Education on Adolescent Development , 1982 .

[34]  John Gaventa,et al.  We make the road by walking : conversations on education and social change , 1992 .

[35]  C. Fertman.  Service Learning for All Students , 1994 .

[36]  Robert Koulish.  Citizenship Service Learning: Becoming Citizens by Assisting Immigrants , 1998, PS: Political Science & Politics.

[37]  H. F. Lena.  How can sociology contribute to integrating service learning into Academic curricula? , 1995 .

[38]  Thomas H. Groome.  Christian Religious Education: Sharing Our Story and Vision , 1980 .

[39]  Robert D. Shumer.  Community-based learning: humanizing education , 1994 .

[40]  Robert Gronski,et al.  University and Community Collaboration , 2000 .

[41]  R. Wade,et al.  Community Service-Learning in the Social Studies: Historical Roots, Empirical Evidence, Critical Issues. , 1996 .

[42]  Shelly Schaefer Hinck,et al.  The Relationship between Institutional Support and Campus Acceptance of Academic Service Learning , 2000 .

[43]  Robert D. Shumer,et al.  What We Know about Service Learning , 1996 .

[44]  Bob Edwards,et al.  Social Capital and the Political Economy of Our Discontent , 1997 .

[45]  J. Chapin.  Is Service Learning a Good Idea? Data from the National Longitudinal Study of 1988 , 1998 .

[46]  R. Calabrese,et al.  The effects of service activities on adolescent alienation. , 1986, Adolescence.

[47]  Judith A. Boss,et al.  The Effect of Community Service Work on the Moral Development of College Ethics Students , 1994 .

[48]  Cecilia I. Delve,et al.  Promoting values development through community service: A design , 1990 .

[49]  Kelly Ward,et al.  Community-Centered Service Learning , 2000 .

[50]  Gerri Perreault.  Citizen Leader: A Community Service Option for College Students , 1997 .

[51]  E. Boyer.  Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate , 1990 .

[52]  J. Dewey.  Democracy and education : an introduction to philosophy of education / John Dewey , 1916 .

[53]  William M. Plater.  Future Work: Faculty Time in the 21st Century , 1995 .

[54]  Julie A. Hatcher,et al.  A Service-Learning Curriculum for Faculty , 1995 .

[55]  Rik Scarce.  Field Trips as Short-Term Experiential Education. , 1997 .

[56]  John A. Saltmarsh.  Education for Critical Citizenship: John Dewey's Contribution to the Pedagogy of Community Service Learning , 1996 .

[57]  Scott J. Myers-Lipton.  Effect of a Comprehensive Service-Learning Program on College Students' Civic Responsibility. , 1998 .

[58]  Joseph Kahne,et al.  In the Service of What? The Politics of Service Learning , 1996 .

[59]  Fred M. Newmann.  Education for Citizen Action: Challenge for Secondary Curriculum , 1975 .

[60]  P. Corwin.  Using the Community as a Classroom for Large Introductory Sociology Classes. , 1996 .

[61]  J. Goodlad.  A Place Called School , 1984 .