Where's the Learning in Service-Learning?

"It is hard to overstate the importance of this book to the field. The research presented here should contribute significantly to those responsible for improving program effectiveness or advocating for this kind of pedagogy. The careful research and thoughtful commentary provide a wealth of insights about service-learning and how best to do it."
—Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning

"A groundbreaking book that unearths what all service-learning researchers and practitioners need to know."
—Andrew Furco, director, Service-Learning Research & Development Center, University of California at Berkeley

This timely volume is the first to explore service-learning as a valid learning activity. The authors present extensive data from two groundbreaking national research projects. Their studies include a large national survey focused on attitudes and perceptions of learning, intensive student interviews before and after the service semester, and additional comprehensive interviews to explore student views of the service-learning process.

1. Identifying the Learning Outcomes of Service.

2. Personal and Interpersonal Development.

3. Understanding and Applying Knowledge.

4. Engagement, Curiosity, and Reflective Practice.

5. Critical Thinking.

6. Perspective Transformation.

7. Citizenship.

8. Program Characteristics of Effective Service-Learning.

9. Strengthening the Role of Service in the College Curriculum.

Resources.

A. College and University Participants in the Studies.

B. Sample and Methods of the Studies.

C. Survey and Interview Instruments.

D. Survey Regression Tables: Impact of Service-Learning.

E. Survey Regression Tables: Impact of Program Characteristics.

F. Interview Regression Tables: Impact of Well-Integrated Service-Learning.

JANET EYLER is associate professor of the Practice of Education at Vanderbilt University.

DWIGHT E. GILES, JR., is professor of the Practice of Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University.