Kendrick
Participants
Participants in the project were students enrolled
in the two sections of Introduction to Sociology I
taught in the Fall semester, 1994. The course is
aimed at undergraduate first- and second-year students, and it is part of the college's General
Education (G.E.) program. Students who take it
fulfill one of their G.E. requirements - American
Institutions.
Students ostensibly self-selected for my service-learning section of the course and for my traditionally-taught section of Introduction to
Sociology. In reality, many first-year students are
preregistered for the course before they arrive on
campus. If they don't like the course to which
they've been assigned, they can use the drop/add
procedure to withdraw or change sections during
the first week of classes. I did attempt to publicize
the service-learning section of the course; however, most students (81%) said they were not aware of
the service-learning requirement when they
enrolled. They were made aware of it during the
drop/add period and given the opportunity to withdraw, but most did not.4
Sixty students enrolled in the service-learning
section, and 63 students enrolled in the traditional
section. Fifty-nine students completed the former,
and 63 students completed the latter. Seventy-five
percent of the participants in the study were firstyear students, 63% were female, and 86% identified themselves as Caucasian. Thirty-nine of the
service-learning students completed both the preand post-test questionnaires, and 49 of the non-service-learning students completed both questionnaires. Forty-two of the service-learning students
and 53 of the non-service-learning students completed the course evaluation. Performance scores
were computed for every student who completed
the course. I found few differences between students who completed the questionnaires and those
who did not. In fact, the differences between those
who responded and those who didn't would tend to
understate, rather than exaggerate, the effect of service-learning on learning outcomes."
Procedures
Students in the service-learning course were
required to perform 20 hours of service with agencies in Cortland, N.Y., such as the Cortland College
Childcare Center, Catholic Charities (which operates programs for teenagers at risk of becoming
parents, pregnant teenagers, teenage parents, drug
and alcohol abusers, and the emotionally disturbed), the Hunger and Homeless Coalition (a
campus-based organization), and Loaves and
Fishes (a community group which provides free
lunches and dinners for the homeless). Students
were involved in activities like working as teachers' aides in day care classrooms, accompanying
caseworkers on visits to the homes of low -income
teenaged mothers, preparing and serving meals in a
soup kitchen, and organizing activities to draw
attention to the plight of the hungry and the homeless in the United States and the world. Students in
the non-service-learning course were given periodic assignments to read articles in the New York
Times weekday newspaper which illustrated course
concepts. In addition, I asked students to identify
articles which they believed illustrated concepts we
were discussing in class. For example, the discussion of culture prompted one student to analyze a
picture entitled, "Cultures Collide on Madison
Avenue," and our discussion of gender roles
brought attention to an article on, "The Macho
World of Peru: 8 Women Muscle In."
The service-learning experience and the New
York Times assignments were incorporated in the
classroom in several ways. First, I structured inclass discussions around the two types of experiences. Second, I offered extra-credit incentives to
students who wished to discuss their service--
learning or New York Times reading by participating on panels in class and making presentations on
aspects of their service-learning or on issues in the
Times.6 Third, I incorporated the service-learning
experience and the Times reading into their exams.
On two of the four multiple -choice exams, each
student answered an essay question requiring them
to apply course concepts to either their service
experience or their Times reading.
In order to minimize the effects of extraneous
variables, students in the two courses were treated
as similarly as possible. Students were evaluated
using the same exams7 and other criteria (attendance, completion of homework assignments, and
extra credit). Trying to keep these courses as comparable as possible, while managing the workload
of teaching more than 120 students, necessitated
that I drop some of the more time-honored techniques for integrating service with course work,
such as keeping journals and writing analysis
papers. Consequently, the service component was
not as tightly integrated with the course as is desirable.
During the first week of class meetings (the
drop-add period), I told students of the course
requirements and described the experiment in
which they would be participants. Service-learning students heard presentations by representatives
of the agencies with which they could volunteer. A
graduate student assistant placed students in the
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