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Is service learning making the grade?

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Studies that have examined the effect of service learning on academic learning have produced equivocal findings, feeding the reluctance of some teachers to change their customary instructional methods. This article presents the methods and findings of a classroom study in motor development that tested the robustness of service learning. Specifically, did the use of service learning or traditional "hands-on" activities as the instructional method in a concurrent laboratory result in better grades for students in lecture?

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Instructional Methods Influence Student Learning

The purpose of learning is to use what is learned (Dewey, 1938). Traditional lecture-laboratory course design is built on this premise. For example, in the laboratory component students typically follow precise instructions to perform "hands-on" activities that reinforce content being concurrently taught in lecture. Student lab write-ups serve as the evaluation piece wherein students are expected to demonstrate their understanding of lecture content by linking it to practice. The degree of understanding, however, is not solely a function of the students. Student learning of course content is affected significantly by the instructional method that faculty choose to use with those students, in this case "hands-on" activities. In essence, student performance (e.g. letter grades, exam percentages, etc.) is not simply student performance. The end product is the result of students experiencing the course content within the instructional framework designated by the instructor, which begs the question--To what degree is the instructional framework chosen by the teacher influencing students' grades?

Teachers choose certain instructional frameworks (e.g. problem-based learning, "hands-on" lab activities, service learning) to deliberately target higher levels of learning, such as application, integration, or synthesis. Service learning, for example, is an instructional method that engages students in community-based experiences and then through structured reflection students relate their community service experiences to the academic content of a course. In numerous service-learning research studies (Balazadeh, 1996; Cohen & Kinsey, 1994, Eyler & Giles, 1999; Fenzel & Leafy, 1997; Foreman, 1996; Kendrick, 1996; Markus, Howard, & King, 1993; Miller, 1994; Oliver, 1997), students and faculty report (via attitudinal surveys or questionnaires) that service learning positively develops academic learning, such as ability of students to apply course content to new situations. Documentation of these attitudinal changes, however, offer...

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