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Jane Addams and the Origins of Service-Learning
Practice in the United States
Gary Daynes Brigham Young University
Nicholas V. Longo University of Minnesota
This article uses primary and secondary research on educational, social, and political theory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to argue that the history of service-learning must be revised to include Jane Addams' pioneering work. A full consideration of Addams significantly revises understanding the origins of service-learning, suggesting service-learning has its origins as a practice, not a theory; in the com-munity, not the university; and among women, not men. Further, Addams' work counterbalances the con-temporary effort to justify service-learning largely on its scientifically verifiable outcomes.
This article applies Aron and Aron's (1986) self-expansion model to the service-learning context. The self-expansion model proposes a motivational framework for understanding why individuals are motivated to engage in service-learning opportunities that allow for meaningful social interaction. Using a survey design, this study confirms hypotheses regarding: (a) self-expansion as an underlying motivation for service-learn-ing for both service-learner and non-service-learner samples and (b) the relevance of the model for predict-ing general interest in service and a service-learning course for non-service-learners. Suggestions are pro-vided for continued study of the self-expansion model in service-learning research.
This article furthers research and theory on the initiation and development of service-learning partner-ships. It identifies three paths of engagement between university and community agencies: tentative engagement, aligned engagement, and committed engagement. This conceptualization helps to under-stand how service-learning partnerships evolve over time. It also helps to capture the diversity among service-learning partnerships. The research builds on 27 interviews with participants in 13 service-learn-ing partnerships involving institutions of higher education in New England.
A multi-campus research survey of undergraduate students enrolled in service-learning courses asked students to describe how the service-learning course was designed in terms of the degree of integration of the learning and service component, the nature of the reflection activities, and the quality of the learn-ing experience. Results indicated that the degree of integration of academic content with the service expe-rience and the nature of the reflection activities were significant correlates of course quality. Three char-acteristics of reflection that each independently predicted course quality were (a) reflection activities that clarified personal values, (b) reflection activities that were a regular part of the course, and (c) reflec-tion activities that were structured with clear guidelines and directions. Implications for service-learn-ing educators are discussed.
This article explores an important purpose that some scholars in professional programs of study are uti-lizing service-learning to pursue: educating the civic professional by integrating education for work and citizenship. While such a purpose holds promise, an examination of a case study from the field of land-scape architecture illustrates the ways in which its pursuit can be profoundly challenging. As the story reveals, it can require faculty, students, and community members to undergo several fundamental recon-figurations in attitudes, identities, and practices, each of which generates significant resistance.
Service-learning is a unique pedagogy, and its very differences from traditional teaching and learning strate-gies make it both appealing and challenging to implement. Students and faculty alike are the products of tra-ditional learning environments and often find service-learning unfamiliar and, as a consequence, experience dissonance, discomfort, and uncertainty. Confronting the difficulties students and faculty at our North Carolina State University have faced in adjusting to these differences has helped the authors to realize the importance of making "shifts in perspective" in how to understand and enact teaching and learning and ser-vice. This article shares the authors' emerging understanding of these "shifts" and how students and facul-ty can be supported in undertaking them effectively. The central conclusion is that reflecting on the differ-ences between service-learning and more traditional pedagogies, and on ways to make the associated shifts in perspective and practice, can help practitioners to implement service-learning successfully and more fully tap its power to nurture the capacity for self-directed learning.
Last Updated November 26, 2004
