This paper examines studies that have investigated academic learning outcomes in service learning, identifies unanswered questions in assessing academic efforts, and offers guidelines to evaluate content gains in courses that integrate service learning. Research shows that peer tutoring increases achievement scores for both the tutors and the…

Economic and social factors that affect young people's sense of obligation for community service are identified, along with the influence schools and government can exert on students. The recent management of the American political economy has given young people concern for their own survival. College students who will graduate during the 1980s…

Reported are results of a study designed to replicate a study at North Carolina State University which investigated the effectiveness of a diagnostic/prescriptive system for increasing the science achievement of university students and examined the relationship between selected student characteristics and participation in voluntary diagnosis.…

A voluntary, pre-matriculation summer session for selected first-year dental students has been evolved to facilitate their development and academic progress. With dental students, practicing dentists, and dental school faculty as staff, the program focuses on basic science foundations, effective study skills, pre-clinical techniques, and…

This paper explores community perceptions of students and faculty involved in service learning and campus outreach initiatives, examining how communities and campuses engage in service activities; how the service mission of higher education is perceived; whether service learning students help or hinder community agencies; and how partnerships…

This study examined the potential of service learning in reform-oriented social studies teacher education, focusing on how service learning influenced one preservice teacher's understanding of social studies as a form of democratic civic education. The preservice teacher's service learning experience was incorporated into his field-placement…

This paper presents a course outline, a list of required readings, and procedures for "Narrative, Community, and Communication," an honors class at the University of Southern Mississippi. The paper explains that the course focuses on volunteer community service--the idea being to place the student in a setting of genuine need to help…

A staff member of the Outdoor Adventures Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln relates his experience in supervising the construction of the first low ropes course in Yucatan, Mexico. During 1994, two staff members visited Yucatan to explore trip possibilities for the program and to inquire about a future conference location. While leading…

Service learning involves adolescent students in meaningful work within their community. This study examined the personal and educational motivations and expectations of 140 fifth through seventh graders from one middle school in New York City who were participating in a service learning program using the National Helper Network program model.…

Using as prompts scenarios of interaction at a preschool and senior center, this study examined student responses concerning the degree of caring exhibited. Data were collected from middle school students before and after participating in a service learning program involving service in a preschool, and from nonservice students. The service…

A leadership class for high school seniors that has been offered since 1979 at Lakeland High School, New York, and that is popular with students, the school administration, and the community is described. Described also are the rationale behind the leadership program, the techniques found successful in moving it forward, the community resources…

This paper summarizes and compares three studies which used different approaches to diagnostic/prescriptive instruction: (1) voluntary diagnosis and remediation; (2) required diagnosis with no formal remediation; and (3) required diagnosis with prescribed remediation. It includes an examination of the influence of selected student entry…

This paper describes the work of Youth Service California, a state-wide collaboration of public and private organizations that since 1990 has brought the voice of the local youth service field to state level policy and program development. Youth Service California's purpose is the further development of a diverse state movement to increase and…

At Florida's Miami-Dade Community College, a service learning component was implemented in a reading course designed to prepare students to pass the statewide test required to obtain an associate degree. In the service learning option, students were required to perform 15 hours of tutoring in reading to at-risk elementary students or adults,…

Piagetian levels of 126 volunteers (60 males and 66 females) were measured using the Burney Logical Reasoning Test. Findings demonstrated that the six predictor variables succeeded in explaining 58% (pooled male/female sample), 53% (female sample), and 59% (male sample) of the variance in Piagetian cognitive levels. In addition, since prediction…