Service-Learning Australia

Standard.
Service-learning incorporates multiple challenging reflection activities that are ongoing and that prompt deep thinking and analysis about oneself and one’s relationship to society.

Indicators.
Service-learning reflection:

• Includes a variety of verbal, written, artistic, and nonverbal activities to demonstrate understanding and changes in participants’ knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes. 
• Occurs before, during, and after the service experience.
• Prompts participants to think deeply about complex community problems and alternative solutions.
• Encourages participants to examine their preconceptions and assumptions in order to explore and understand their roles and responsibilities as citizens.
• Encourages participants to examine a variety of social and civic issues related to their service-learning experience to understand connections to public policy and civic life.

Sample supporting research. 

In a study of high school students, Billig, Root, and Jesse (2005) reported that the more cognitive challenge within the reflection activities, the more likely students were to engage in and value school, feel more efficacious, and acquire more civic knowledge and more positive civic dispositions. Root and Billig (2008) found that that teachers with the strongest student civic and academic outcomes had reflection activities that asked students to investigate social problems more deeply, more thoroughly consider potential causes and solutions to social problems, weigh alternatives, resolve conflicts among themselves, consider how to persuade others, and manage complex tasks. Eyler and Giles (1999) found that reflection activities helped students apply learning to real-life situations and acquire stronger problem-solving skills. Engaging in reflection also was related to increased openness to new ideas, the ability to see issues in a new way, and the ability to analyze issues systemically. Blyth, Saito, and Berkas (1997) showed that young people who did not engage in reflection within their service-learning projects generally had lower socially responsible attitude scores than those who did. Those youth who engaged in the greatest amount of reflection were the most engaged in school. Waterman (1993) reported that students who engaged in more reflection had stronger self-confidence and social responsibility than those who did not. Eyler, Giles, and Schmiede (1996) found that engagement in critical reflection was associated with a greater likelihood to apply what they learned to understanding and solving social problems.