As the name suggests, service learning is learning through community service. Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer (1996, p. 593) write that Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students...In addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promote students’ self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences–all goals of current curriculum reform efforts.

Service learning projects can be enormously varied. A majority of activities tend to address community needs related to health, poverty, social issues, or the environment. Another popular category of community-based activity has students documenting local history or culture through interviews, archival research, photography, or other means. These activities do not involve direct assistance to individuals, but rather help the community at large to maintain a sense of identity and pride. Student mentoring and peer or cross-age tutoring are also classified as service learning, since they involve students helping other students.

Some service learning activities, such as student mentoring or peer tutoring, can take place right in the classroom. Others involve forays into the community or beyond. Some, such as a weekend neighborhood cleanup, may be one-time activities, while others last a semester, a school year, or even longer.

Though most service learning projects are implemented in the middle or high school grades, elementary school students can benefit as well. Lillian Stephens (1995, p. xx) likes to start with the early grades because "it has been demonstrated that all kids, from the time they first enter school, can be made aware of their responsibilities to their communities." She especially urges service learning activities for middle school students; the interdisciplinary curricular approach used in many schools is particularly adaptable to service learning. By including service learning in the early and middle grades, Stephens argues, schools can reach students who otherwise might drop out before reaching high school. She also notes that service learning is intended for all students:

Service learning activities are not the province of any one group– the gifted, the talented, the average, or the exceptional kids. All are involved. All can serve. Furthermore, unlike the classroom, where students are rated individually, service is frequently a collaborative experience. Participants learn to work together and to accept the contributions of each. (p. 11)

	Some service learning activities, such as a neighborhood cleanup, may be one-time activities, while others last a semester, a school year, or even longer.

For service learning to be effective, it must be integrated into the school’s ongoing curriculum. Teachers must identify the academic learning objectives to be addressed through the activity, and structure students’ experiences to help assure that real learning takes place. This includes laying the groundwork beforehand, and allowing time for reflection afterwards. In discussing the importance of reflection, Stephens recommends that students be given opportunities "to contemplate the meaning of their service, to evaluate its context and impact, thereby reaching a greater understanding of themselves, their studies, and the society" (p. 10).

Bonnie Benard (1990), in describing student peer programs, has identified a number of "ingredients" that can be generalized to other service learning experiences, especially those in which groups of students work together. These include setting mutual goals, assigning tasks so that all students have an active role, structuring groups heterogeneously, providing training in social skills, and allowing adequate time both for the hands-on activities and for group processing. Benard also recommends giving students an active role in planning as well as implementing the service learning project.

Stephens and others observe that, with service learning, the teacher’s role needs to change significantly from that of managing the traditional, textbook-driven classroom. The teacher becomes an organizer and facilitator, helping to structure activities in ways that promote learning, monitoring students as they complete their hands-on activities, and facilitating students’ reflection and analysis of their experiences. Teachers need to be particularly skilled in asking open-ended questions that encourage students to explore and discuss their own ideas.

With activities that take students beyond classroom boundaries, the school principal and other staff also must be prepared to make changes. These may include adopting more flexible guidelines for off-campus activities or for use of school facilities, making schedule changes to accommodate student activities, and sharing resources with others in the community. (These and similar issues will be discussed in greater detail in an upcoming issue of Benefits².)

Although formal school-community partnerships are not an absolute requirement, some level of community cooperation is necessary for most types of service learning activities to be successful. Students, school staffs, and community members must be able to work together to identify mutual goals; reach agreement on schedules, resources, and outcomes; and communicate effectively about how the project is proceeding. For more ambitious projects–the school-based health clinic, for example, as opposed to a neighborhood cleanup–formal partnerships can be invaluable, providing both a forum and a structure for planning and for addressing concerns as they arise. (Future issues of Benefits² will address collaborative tools and structures that can help such partnerships to succeed.)