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Service learning and science: a successful model.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

In this paper, a university based program which places science students in local elementary schools to serve as science experts for teachers is described. Both informal and formal evaluation has shown the program to be highly successful for partner teachers and participating students. The model on which it is based should be highly transportable and robust to the individual needs of schools and universities who seek to employ it.

Introduction

Service learning, a community-based approach to teaching and learning in which students participate in community service activities as a component of their formal education, has become a much utilized strategy in education (Academic Leader, 2004; Carney, 2004; Moloney, J., Dion, S., Hickey, C., & Siccama, C., 2004; and Recruitment & Retention in Higher Education, 2004). Research has demonstrated that service learning creates educational conditions within which students can make meaningful connections between theory and practice. This seems to happen primarily because learning occurs in an authentic setting (National Service Learning and Assessment Study Group, 1999). Across a variety of educational levels, the recent efforts to increase service learning opportunities have led to a need for the sharing of successful models of service learning programs that have potential to be transferable to other educational settings. In this article, one such model, designed to improve science education at the elementary school level in our area school districts, will be introduced. This project, titled FOCUS (Fostering our Community's Understanding of Science), is in its third year at the University of Georgia.

FOCUS began as a collaboration between schools, parents, teachers, and University administrators. The story of its origin is important. At the urging of a scientist who was also a parent volunteer at an area elementary school, a university administrator at UGA's College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) became an important role player. There was a need in the school where this parent/scientist volunteered. Namely, many of the teachers at the school felt ill prepared to teach science and were under pressure to emphasize reading and mathematics per the high stakes testing requirements in our state. As a result of this lack of preparation, science was on the back burner in many of the classrooms, and without help it would need to remain there. The CAES administrator responded with the only available resource, i.e., help from a graduate student. But the graduate student offered was not a scientist or agronomist, but rather a student of science education and a former science teacher. He began his assignment by initiating the recruitment of science students recognizing that these individuals had science expertise. These mostly undergraduate students also brought a strong desire to do something for the community's schools. Combined with others of like interest, ability and motivation, the first iteration of FOCUS was put in place. Soon, progress was being made and the elementary teachers began to move science to its appropriate place in the instructional plan.

With eight UGA science students in that first iteration, FOCUS began. In the two years following the inception, teachers and school communities are enthusiastically celebrating the program. But somewhat unexpectedly, the program's implementation has resulted in a tremendous positive impact on the university students' own learning and development. This impact on the university students, and thereby on the university community, has focused motivation at the university level to invest heavily in the continuation and success of the program. Acceptance into the FOCUS program requires a strong science background from its undergraduate applicants, as well as a commitment to aid in the science instruction of elementary schools. Each student registers for a 3 semester hour service learning course with CAES and commits a minimum of three hours per week to aiding science teaching in their mentor teacher's classroom. In addition, the students have weekly obligations to create reflective journal entries and attend discussion seminars. Both of these experiences are designed to maximize the student's construction of knowledge and meaning from the experience.

In the following sections, this manuscript will first examine literature related to service learning and the educational components of FOCUS. From that point, implementation is...

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