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1) Reflection opportunities for students to connect their service to
course content (e.g., identifying key concepts students can observe
in the field and elaborate in class discussion).
2) Examples of how to successfully complete assignments (e.g.,
making past exemplary student papers and reflection journals
available to current students to peruse).
Principle 7: Minimize the Distinction Between the Students’
Community Learning Role and Classroom Learning Role
Classrooms and communities provide different learning contexts where
students might assume different learning roles. Generally, classrooms
provide a high level of teacher direction, where students become passive
learners. In contrast, service communities usually provide a low level of
teaching direction that allows students to become active learners.
Alternating between being a passive learner in the classroom and an
active learner in the community may challenge and even impede student
learning. The solution is to shape the learning environments so that
students assume similar roles in both contexts.
While one solution is to intervene so that the service community
provides a high level of teaching direction, we recommend, for several
reasons, re-norming the traditional classroom toward one that values
students as active learners. First, active learning is consistent with active
civic participation that service-learning seeks to foster. Second, students
bring information from the community to the classroom that can be
utilized on behalf of others’ learning. Finally, we know from recent
research in the field of cognitive science that students develop deeper
understanding of course material if they have an opportunity to actively
construct knowledge.
Principle 8: Rethink the Faculty Instructional Role
This principle advocates that service-learning instructors rethink their
roles to be compatible with an active student role. This means that