Using Service-Learning to Enhance
Skills of Behavioral and Social
Science Students
Randall E. Osborne
Indiana University East
In a July 1997 issue of the American Psychological Association's Monitor Nicky
Hayes, Ph.D. argued that psychology majors acquire critical skills that are distinctive and
can aid their employability. I would argue that these skills are distinctive to Behavioral
and Social Science Majors and not just psychology majors. These skills include:
1.) literacy
2.) numeracy
3.) computer literacy
4.) information finding skills
5.) research skills
6.) measurement skills
7.) environmental awareness
8.) interpersonal awareness
9.) problem-solving skills
10.) critical evaluation
11.) perspectives
12.) higher-order analysis
13.) pragmatism.
Most behavioral and social science curriculum's probably include course
requirements focusing on many of these skills.
Research methods courses, statistics courses, and application based courses all
require students to go beyond mere content and utilize their acquired skills to address,
understand, and solve problems.
In the past, I have found courses that include a service-learning experience to be
particularly valuable in promoting these very skills. Effective service-Learning
experiences require students to take content from a given course and utilize that
information to successfully accomplish a project. These projects could be in the form of
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programming for an area agency, problem-solving for an area business, or using course
information to develop and conduct a tutoring program.
The Challenge
Although we as faculty may value the kinds of skills that can be reinforced
through the use of service-learning experiences, these experiences are not, necessarily,
created equal.
Just requiring service from students has not been shown to cause changes in the
skills listed above. Service that is clearly linked to learning and that requires systematic
and directed reflection, however, has been shown to positively impact such skills. How,
then, can faculty ensure the "learning" in service-learning?
Faculty can put the "learning" into service-learning by:
(1) delineating the learning goals they have for a particular course;
(2) designing service placements and projects that are directly relevant to those learning
goals;
(3) providing ample opportunities for students to reflect on how the service experiences
are enhancing their learning of specific and general course content;
(4) ensuring that the grades are given for the outcome of the learning process and not the
process of serving itself;
(5) clearly articulating for students why you believe the service projects will enhance
their learning; and
(6) providing consistent and frequent support for students as they are conducting their
service projects.
An important aspect of ensuring that students gain the behavioral and social
science skills we value by engaging in service-learning is use of proper reflection
activities.
Clearly, there are as many methods for encouraging student reflection on the
relationship(s) between course content and the service-learning experiences as there are
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teaching methods.
What is Reflection?
Bringle and Hatcher (1995) defined "reflection" as, "the intentional consideration
of the experience in light of particular learning objectives."
In addition, Bringle and Hatcher summarize the criteria for the good practice of
reflection. According to these criteria effective reflection activities:
(1) link experience to learning,
(2) are guided,
(3) occur regularly,
(4) allow feedback and assessment, and
(5) foster the exploration and clarification of values.
Assignments in service-learning oriented courses that foster systematic and
frequent reflection of the experiences as they relate to learning objectives will strengthen
the very skills we value for our behavioral and social science majors.
I do not believe it is the content of the courses in behavioral and social sciences
themselves that promote the skills that Hayes discusses. I believe it is the type and
quality of work we require from students that makes the difference. It is one thing to
inquire about student opinions, for example, and another thing to expect students to
ground their opinions in facts.
Does Service-Learning Positively Impact Skills We Value in Behavioral and Social
Science Majors?
In several recent courses I have taught for the psychology department I have
included optional service learning components. In both of these courses, those students
opting NOT to do the service-learning projects completed more "traditional" research
papers.
Did the students completing the service-learning projects change in some
significant ways in comparison to those completing the other projects? Yes. I believe
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these changes reflect the skills we value in behavioral and social science majors.
The Data:
First, self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-perception data were collected from
students in the service-learning course at the beginning and end of the semester. These
same questionnaires were given to students enrolled in the same course without a servicelearning focus in an earlier semester.
Both courses were taught by the same instructor. Demographically, the students
from the two sections are indistinguishable. The average age of students for both
sections was twenty-eight. In both sections, sixty-five percent of the students were
female and ninety-eight percent of the students were Caucasian.
Students in the service-learning section of this course showed significantly more
improvement on all three self-measures across the semester than their counterparts in a
non-service-learning section of the course (see Table 1).
The Measures:
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale measures general perceptions of self-worth and
is the most widely used self-esteem measure. Sample questions include: (a) I feel that I
am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others; or (b) On the whole, I am
satisfied with myself.
The Texas Social Behavior Inventory asks questions about the individual's
perceptions of self-worth in relationship to social situations. Sample items include: (a) I
feel confident of my social behavior; (b) I have no doubts about my social competence;
or (c) I feel comfortable approaching someone in a position of authority over me.
The General Perceptions test was an instructor created scale measuring student
perceived abilities to: (a) work with diverse others, (b) gather evidence before reaching a
conclusion, (c) search situations for all possible explanations for a person's behavior, (d)
look beyond behavioral symptoms and see the person underneath, and (e) feelings of
competency to help individuals with disorders.
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A comparison of self-perception data provided by students at the end of the
semester shows a higher percentage of self-descriptors focusing on interpersonal
characteristics for the service-learning students versus more intrapersonal descriptors for
those students in the non-service-learning section of the course.
It is important to note that student scores on all three of these measures did not
differ significantly between the two sections of the course when collected at the
beginning of the semester.
As far as course retention is concerned, divisional data from our campus shows an
average attrition rate of ten percent of students in 300 and 400 level courses. The nonservice-learning section of this course showed exactly that same attrition rate. Thirty-five
students started the course and thirty-one finished. In the service-learning oriented
section of the course, thirty-two students started the course and thirty-two finished.
Table 1
Self-Esteem & Self-Confidence Scores in Service Learning & Non-Service Learning
Courses
Pre scores
Non service
Service-learning
Rosenberg S.E.
30.00
30.55a
TSBI
65.00
63.00b
Self-Perceptions
91.50
90.00c
Post Scores
Non Service
Service Learning
Rosenberg S.E.
31.00
34.72a
TSBI
67.00
71.16b
Self-Perceptions
94.00
100.34c
Note. Superscript letters represent pre and post scores utilized in t-test analyses.
a t(1,31) = 5.94, p<.05.
b t(1,31) = 10.84, p<.05.
c t(1,31) = 12.11, p<.05
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In a second course (Social Psychology) there were two primary course themes.
These themes were: (1) ethics, and (2) the research method. Students were expected to
focus their written work and essay exam answers on the application of ethics and the
research method.
This written work was then evaluated by naive judges. These raters assigned
scores (from 1 - poorly applies course theme to 10 - excellent application of course
theme) to the written work of students doing the service-learning project and a random
sampling of students doing the traditional research project.
I had multiple ethics assignments, and an application essay question on each of
the exams for the course. I took the assignments and exam essays for the 5 servicelearning students, randomly selected a comparable (in terms of gender, race, class level,
credit hours completed, and cumulative GPA) sample of 5 non-service-project students
from the course.
Raters evaluated the students performance on the application and integration of
ethics objectives and the research method objectives. Although this is a small sample, the
differences are quite telling. It is important to note that the raters knew nothing about the
conditions or hypotheses of the study. It is also important to note that the two groups
(service versus non-service) did not differ significantly in terms of overall GPA, and
exam scores.
Service-Students
Non Service Students
Application Score =
Application Score =
Avg. = 9.2 out of 10
= 8.1 out of 10 across 3 essays
across 3 essays.
Integration of Ethics =
Integration of Ethics
Avg. = 8.8 out 10
Avg. = 7.9 out of 10
across 4 assignments
across 4 assignments.
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Conclusions:
Although the data described above do not answer all of the questions we might
have about the effects of service-learning, it does suggest that service-learning enhances
student perceptions and scores on items and issues that we as behavioral and social
science faculty value in our majors.
To the extent that service-learning is well designed and reflection or critical
analysis assignments on focused on connecting that service to learning, our majors seem
to benefit.
Future research should be directed at assessing the impact of different types of
service-learning experiences, the long-term impact of service-learning on the skills we
value in our majors, the impact of service-learning on retention and attainment, and
delineating any deleterious effects of service-learning. If the list of skills at the beginning
of this paper are ones that we value in behavioral and social science majors, then
effective service-learning experiences appear to be one more significant method we can
include in our pedagogical arsenals to enhance such skills.
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