Service-Learning in Undergraduate Geosciences Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Role of Service-Learning in the Geosciences
2 The Role of Service-Learning in the Geosciences
Pages 5-16
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From page 5... ...
Two presenters explored the value and characteristics of service-learning in the geosciences: committee chair Cathy Manduca of Carleton College offered broad observations about key benefits of service-learning in the geosciences, and David Szymanski of Bentley University provided a more detailed look at how service-learning programs can work and the value they bring. A third presenter, Linda Silka of the University of Maine, drew both on research and her own experience with undergraduate service-learning in a variety of fields to identify themes that could be helpful in the geoscience context.
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From page 6... ...
Service-learning is linked with academic learning objectives, he explained, and helps students to develop professional skills -- such as technological or scientific consulting, grant-writing, assessments, and research -- that are not always aspects of community service experiences. Students who participate in service-learning engage in the civic life of their communities in two ways, Szymanski suggested.
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From page 7... ...
As more employers come to value this attribute in their employees, Szymanski continued, preparation for thinking about sustainability will be increasingly important for undergraduate students, regardless of their majors. To help prepare students, Bentley University -- a business school -- and some other institutions have focused on the goal of "reciprocal integration." This is an educational model in which business students spend time on courses in disciplines within the arts and sciences, and students from those disciplines take business courses, Szymanski explained.
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From page 8... ...
Students have taken on such issues as the effects of tax incentives for promoting the use of energy-efficient technologies or products and the difficulties of bringing relevant geoscience information, such as water quality data, to the attention of policy experts. Participating students travel to Washington, D.C., to present their ideas to their project partners and also meet with policy makers to propose ideas and request action.
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From page 9... ...
Several comments reinforced Szymanski's point that though service-learning can be difficult, it helps students to cultivate skills and abilities that are easily transferable to other contexts.
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From page 10... ...
, that has demonstrated the benefits of service-learning for students, institutions, and community partners. The relevant research, she noted, does not always use the term service-learning; she found valuable information by searching other terms, such as "community-university partnerships," "student engagement," "cooperative extension," "science shops," "democratization of science," and "citizen science." Projects that link to the curriculum, allow students to have input into the selection of the issues addressed and regularly ask students to reflect on what they are learning orally or in writing are the most likely to have benefits, Silka found from her review of the research.
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From page 11... ...
Many educators are also concerned about finding topics that will engage their students while also developing deep disciplinary knowledge that can be linked to important issues. The limited time available did not allow Silka to elaborate on all of the responses to these challenges that she described in her paper (2016a)
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From page 12... ...
Students played many roles: gathering information about reusing and composting, analyzing press coverage of waste issues, and working with younger students in recycling efforts. They hosted meetings under the rubric "Talking Trash: The Sustainability Challenge Hiding in Plain Sight" to foster discussion.
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From page 13... ...
Participants highlighted benefits to students, including the development of social skills needed to work effectively with people who work in different roles, the opportunity to transfer what they have learned to a completely different setting, and the opportunity to pursue an interest that may not have seemed to have an academic application. One suggested using student reflections to demonstrate the depth of the learning that comes with such programs.3 The participants were asked to separate into groups to share their 3For an example of how reflection is used in science education, see Kober (2015, pp.
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From page 14... ...
Participants observed that service-learning experiences can be excellent opportunities for students to experience failure, when their projects are not completely successful and develop the capacity to learn from and build on it. Service-learning projects also have the capacity to engage non-STEM students in geoscience disciplines and to solidify the interest of students who opt to continue in these fields beyond college.
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From page 15... ...
Many participants offered ways that colleges and universities can support faculty who are interested in service-learning, including providing incentives such as institutional recognition, mentoring by more experienced faculty, strategies to give faculty time for these efforts, and assistance in establishing connections across departments and with community partners. The culture at many institutions is somewhat "risk-averse," noted one participant.
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