A Practical and Progressive Pedagogy for Project Based Service Learning

This article explores the use of a new teaching and learning model that incorporates diverse progressive teaching methods to create an innovative tool for educators. The Partnership For Learning Model (PFLM), was created specifically for service learning students, community partners, and faculty with a carefully choreographed series of classroom exercises This model, along with its corresponding exercises and assignments, may be applied to a wide range of professional, academic courses that will enhance student's life skills and provide real world benefits for the communities where it is used. John Dewey (1938), the architect of American progressive education, described education as involving the full range of the students’ life experiences, not just the academic experience. More simply, he believed education was a deeply, perhaps inextricably intermingled, social phenomenon that served to reinforce the aims and methods of society as a whole. A foundational principle of Dewey's was that, to effectively participate in education, a student must be able to experience education in the context of life. A context-rich environment would, Dewey believed, make the process both meaningful and ultimately more practical and applicable for the student. The student and society would gain in equal measure (Dewey, 1900).