Service learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities (National Service Learning Clearinghouse).
Service learning has at least 4 clear phases of the process – sometimes referred to as PARC or PARE:
- Preparation
- Action
- Reflection
- Celebration/Evaluation
One difference between service learning and community service is that community service is basically the “action” phase, whereas in service learning, participants are engaged in all of the four phases.
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It is difficult for me to select a favorite CSL project, each one was so unique and brought its own rewards and challenges. However, I can attest to the fact that the most successful community service learning projects were the ones that were completely youth driven. In contrasting reflection comments that youth made, I think the “Coin War” for the homeless, “A Day With K” (kindergarten peer Ed), and “Adopt a Grandfriend” yielded the highest Sense of Purpose” ratings.
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