An easy-to-search database of hundreds of high-quality service-learning lesson plans, syllabi, and project ideas, submitted by educators and service-learning practitioners
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Source: RMC Research Corporation, July 2008.
Engagement in learning is closely linked to student achievement and other outcomes, such as reduced dropout rates and youth risk behaviors (Blank, 1997; Dev, 1997; Dryfoos, 1990; Woods, 1995). School engagement has been defined to include behavioral components such as active participation in school activities, and psychological components such as interest, enjoyment, and efforts to fully understand subject matter (Bartko, 1999; Finn, 1993). Other types of student engagement outside of school have also been explored, including community engagement and civic engagement.
Service-learning includes several strategies that research (e.g., Brewster & Fager, 2000) has identified as likely to increase student engagement, such as:
- Highlighting ways that learning can be applied in real-life situations;
- Helping students feel that their schoolwork is significant, valuable, and worthy of their efforts;
- Allowing students to have some degree of control over learning;
- Assigning challenging but achievable tasks;
- Stimulating students’ curiosity about the topic being studied; and
- Designing projects that allow students to share new knowledge with others.
Recent research on service-learning has documented positive effects of service-learning participation on student engagement and has begun to explore the hypothesis that engagement may mediate the relationship between service-learning and academic achievement (Meyer, Hofshire, & Billig, 2004). Student engagement may represent a key area of impact for service-learning which, in turn, affects a range of positive outcomes for young people.
Billig, Root, and Jesse (2005) found that high school students who participated in service-learning were significantly more likely to say that they enjoyed school than students who did not participate. Students who were involved in indirect service (e.g. fundraising or research) showed the highest levels of academic engagement. In addition, student outcomes improved when: service learning programs lasted longer; teachers had more experience in teaching; and when teachers had more experience with using service-learning.
In a case study of high school students in a rural middle class community, service-learning projects tended to motivate students to participate in class and learn course content when compared to more traditional teaching methods. There appeared to be a connection between the level of commitment to the service-learning project and how well the students learned course content (Jensen & Burr, 2006).
A mixed methods evaluation study of the Need in Deed program model of service learning found that participating students had more positive perceptions of their teachers, more of a sense of belonging to their classroom and more emotional engagement. Students also indicated that they developed a sense of being able to make a difference. The study used interviews, focus groups, surveys and observations to collect data (Hartmann, Maluk, & Riffer, 2007).
Based on these findings and other research, it is becoming increasingly clear that there exists a positive relationship between service-learning and student engagement. As more rigorous research and evaluation efforts are conducted, the strength of the relationships between student impacts and service learning will be further revealed.
References
Bartko, W. T. (1999). Student engagement and development. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Billig, S., Root, S., & Jesse, D. (2005). The Impact of Participation in Service-Learning on High School Students’ Civic Engagement. RMC Research Corp., Denver, CO.
Blank, W. (1997). Authentic instruction. In W. E. Blank & S. Harwell (Eds.), Promising practices for connecting high school to the real world (pp. 15–21). Tampa, FL: University of South Florida. (ERIC Document Reproduction service No. ED 407 586).
Brewster, C. & Fager, J. (2000). Increasing student engagement and motivation: From time-on-task to homework. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Available online educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/452.
Dev, P. C. (1997). Intrinsic motivation and academic achievement: What does their relationship imply for the classroom teacher? Remedial and Special Education, 18(1), 12–19.
Dryfoos, J. G. (1990). Adolescents at risk: Prevalence and prevention. New York: Oxford University Press.
Finn, J. D. (1993). School engagement and students at risk. Washington, DC: National Center for Educational Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. (NCES 93 470). Available online nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=93470.
Hartmann, T., Maluk, H., & Riffer, M. (2007). Teachers and Students Learning through Service: A Report on Need in Deed’s Developing Work with Teachers. Research for Action, Philadelphia, PA.
Jensen, S. & Burr, K. (2006). Participation and learning relationships: A service-learning case study. Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, 43, 3.
Meyer, S.J., Hofshire, L., & Billig, S.H. (2004). The impact of service-learning on MEAP: A large-scale study of Michigan Learn & Serve Grantees: Year Two Evaluation Report. Denver, CO: RMC Research Corporation.
Woods, E. G. (1995). Reducing the dropout rate. In School Improvement Research Series (SIRS): Research you can use (Close-Up #17). Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Available online educationnorthwest.org/resource/825.
Web resources
Search Institute’s Forty Developmental Assets
www.search-institute.org/assets/forty.htm
This Web site provides information about a research-based developmental framework that includes student engagement as one of forty assets for healthy youth development. The Web site has links to documents introducing the assets, related literature, and lists of developmentally appropriate assets for children of all ages.
Student Engagement in the Community
http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/template.chapter/menuitem.b71d101a2f7c208cdeb3ffdb62108a0c/?chapterMgmtId=2716b2cc2fcaff00VgnVCM1000003d01a8c0RCRD
This chapter from the ASCD Volume Education and Public Health: Natural Partners in Learning for Life (Smith, 2003) discusses how service-learning can provide opportunities for authentic student engagement in the community.
A Model of School-Based K-12 Service-Learning Mediators and Student Outcomes
www.learningindeed.org/research/slresearch/model.html
This document presents a logic model for K-12 service-learning that includes student engagement as a mediator of outcomes.
Community-Based Learning: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship
www.communityschools.org
This study funded by the Gates Foundation indicates that disengagement is a factor in student dropout rate and that community-based learning is a way to address the problem. The approach includes service-learning as a teaching and learning strategy.
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