Service learning is most often touted as a vehicle for creating and
reinforcing civic-minded citizens and generating democratic
responsibility among our students while serving and empowering
communities. Equally as important, service learning is pedagogy.
Service learning track participants discussed ways to develop the
best practices and pedagogies, focusing on both the outcomes we hope
to achieve through a variety of applications of service learning,
and on the necessary components—or ingredients—that comprise service
learning as a method of instruction. Papers covered a broad range of
inter-related themes including service learning at large research
universities, research-as-service projects, the impact of service
learning on student health, the challenges inherent in assessing
active forms of learning, and engaging youth with political humor.
Participants were equally as diverse and included faculty and
administrators from large universities, liberal arts colleges,
community colleges, and public high schools.