Meeting 21st Century Teaching Standards through Service-Learning Pedagogy in Pre-Service Teacher Education

Service-learning pedagogy has emerged as a theory that has considerable potential to support and improve teacher education preparation programs. In response to new 21st Century Teaching Standards and enhanced field experiences, pre-service teacher education candidates at an urban HBCU engaged in academic service-learning projects which offered the opportunity to increase content mastery and reinforce pedagogical skills through authentic experiences. Candidates who engaged in learning through service demonstrated a preference for and ability to discriminate between service-learning pedagogy and traditional courses; increased understanding of course content and application skills as well as, an increased propensity for civic engagement. Initial research results suggest that the pedagogical shift to service-learning, supports the 21st Century Teaching Standards, improves teacher education programs, is a powerful learning experience for pre-service candidates and impacts the quality of learning experiences for K-12 students.