A number of scholars have identified a crisis in the field of education. Namely, students today are more self-absorbed and individualistic than ever before. In other words, they have few social commitments and lack a sense of community. This lack of social responsibility is particularly problematic in Colombia, where a privileged few enjoy all the spoils and the elite youth are groomed as the future leaders of the country. For many, hope is all but lost on these socially irresponsible students. On the other hand, some planners and critics believe that service-learning -- which connects community service to the classroom -- is a remedy for this lack of social solidarity. With this in mind, service-learning has become increasingly popular during the past decade all over the globe, and particularly in Latin American countries such as Colombia. This research project is an evaluation of the service-learning program at one of the most elite high schools in Colombia. The project has two specific aims: (1) to document the impact of the program on the attitudes and behaviors of the students and (2) to assess the quality of the implementation of the program. In order to achieve these aims, three data collection methods -questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups - were used to paint a holistic picture of the program. Furthermore, a theoretical model of service-learning was developed as a benchmark to evaluate the program. The results revealed that the service-learning program was having a minimal impact on students' attitudes and behaviors. In fact, the analysis showed that in many instances the program was simply reinforcing stereotypes and solidifying the social division in Colombia. The failure to achieve the desired outcomes may have been due to the fact that the program did not fulfill many of the required expectations of service-learning. In the final chapter, specific recommendations are given to improve the program.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Oregon State University, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-147). Also available on the World Wide Web.

This thesis establishes an understanding of how public school art teachers are incorporating service-learning into their art classroom curriculum. Through conversations with three public school art teachers and one administrator, observations of the teachers' instruction, and written reflections from several students, I have introduced how service-learning can impact students. Additionally, this thesis identifies resources that help create and sustain a successful service-learning curriculum. Using case study methodology, an investigation was made of service-learning philosophies and perspectives, methods of application and practice, and impacts on the students and the art classroom environment. Through this research I have gained an understanding of what I believe to be best practices of service-learning found in the art classroom, which are particularly helpful for real world application. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-107).

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-179).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

This study examined the relationship between service-learning and civic engagement in the 2- year college and also investigated specific differences between service experiences to determine whether those differences moderated the relationship between service participation and civic engagement outcomes. The study yielded 110 matching pre- and post-Student Civic Engagement surveys from service-learners in five different course subject areas at a large southeastern community college. The findings of the paired-samples t tests suggest that students experienced significant gains in four of the seven dimensions of civic engagement after participating in service. Students in comparable courses in subject matter but without service-components were also surveyed, yielding 117 matching pre- and post-surveys. A comparison of the mean differences between pre- and post-responses of the non-service-learners and service-learners suggests that the service-learners had a higher tendency than the non-service-learners to participate in the majority of assessed civic engagement activities. The data were sorted by subject area to allow for an analysis of the service-learners and the non-service-learners in comparable courses. Those results, however, were inconclusive, and no clear trends emerged. ANOVAs and independent-samples t tests were used to determine the relationship between gains in civic outcomes and select variables. The findings suggest that the type of service-learning activity, the duration of the service experience, the participant-perceived quality of the service experience, the amount of required student reflection, and the teacher’s frequency of use of active and passive instructional strategies significantly moderate the relationship between service participation and a number of measures of civic engagement.

Given the tormented history of development projects around the globe and the fact that global service learning and engineering-for-development often engages students in development interventions, it is critically important to explore the impact of global service learning projects and partnerships not only on student learning, which has received ample attention, but also on the international host communities. Although there is increasing research on student outcomes of participation in service-learning, there is a lack of research focusing on the outcomes related to the community where the service takes place. Research focused on the impact on communities should include the wide range of perspectives that compose the community- participants, organization leaders, residents, and others. This study responds to this need by exploring the community participants’ perspectives in Waslala, Nicaragua about the projects and partnership with Villanova University’s College of Engineering. The two research questions explore the community participants’ perspectives about: (1) outcomes of the projects or partnership, and (2) educational goals. Community participants’ perspectives call for a broader conceptualization of what counts as outcomes and highlight the importance of participation in all phases of the research process. Supporting existing scholarship about host community motivations to serve as co-educators, my findings describe what the community participants want to teach university students. Community participants’ perspectives describe a desired shift in students and a move towards critical global citizenship education. This study highlights the utility of Fraser’s (2009) theory of social justice and Andreotti’s (2006) framework for critical global citizenship education as useful tools to analyze and understand GSL partnerships. / Urban Education