Connecting Academic Disciplines and Community through Service Learning: A Model from Sociology and Biology

Among the challenges facing students interested in service learning are the constraints put on these students' extracurricular time by a myriad of commitments. In addition, service learning has become part of many different courses, causing students to find themselves simultaneously enrolled in multiple courses that have service learning components. The authors report on their ongoing experiences in developing and offering interdisciplinary service learning opportunities to students in Sociology and Biology courses in a way that creates an environment of greater accessibility to service learning projects for interested but time-constrained students and offers service learning opportunities that are meaningful in tying together the learning outcomes for multiple disciplines. This work demonstrates service learning's efficacy as a tool that serves community needs and enhances course content as well as creates important connections across disciplines that generate broadly-educated, civic-minded learners.