Service-Learning Australia

As Conrad and Hedin (1987) point out, experience is not the same thing as knowledge.  Students can store experiences in "episodic memory" (Tulving, 1983), where they can report but may not yet understand a sequence of events.  In the aftermath of a project, students therefore need to formally reflect in order to evaluate the project, assess their own development, look for generalizations to guide future decision-making, and find new applications (the "now what" stage) for what they have learned.  Students ask important questions:

• What difference have we really made?
• What have I learned about myself, about those I served and about academic skills and content?
• Where might I apply this new knowledge elsewhere in my life?
• How has my model of the world changed and what does that mean for my life?

The answer to these questions will increase the likelihood that students will develop self-knowledge and knowledge about the world which will transfer to new situations. 

Such discussions not only make educational sense in service-learning; they are also an ethical requirement.  If teachers are going to place students in service settings that are morally complex and challenging, they have a responsibility to provide adequate opportunities for their pupils to discuss, make sense of and resolve these experiences.
 
(From: “Reflection as a Tool for Turning Service Experiences into Learning Experiences”.
Toole and Toole 1995).