you will practice responding to a piece of published research writing, you should exercise your volition for skepticism, argumentation, synthesis, and debate. It will consist of a number of components, one where you explicate the author's argument in its entirety, and then transition into a discussion of your own impressions and opinions about the feasibility or lackthereof (in your opinion) of what they had to say. You will write a five-page response or rebuttal to their article.
Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue Volume 13, Numbers 1 & 2, 2010-2011, pp. 99–112 Copyright © 2011 by Information Age Publishing
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EXPERIENCING THE SOCIAL ISSUES THAT IMPACT
AMERICA’S CLASSROOMS
A Study of Academic Service-Learning in Education Courses
Paul J. Ramsey
This chapter discusses an informal, small-scale study of including a service- learning requirement in social foundations courses and examines the bene- fits and shortcomings of such a requirement. Although the results of the study varied from semester to semester, students, in general, found value in the service requirement, and, for many, it helped them to understand the course content more fully.
INTRODUCTION
In the 1980s, Myra Sadker, David Sadker, and Susan S. Klein (1986), dis- cussing gender bias in education, observed that many Americans believe that “sex equity has been achieved and there is no problem anymore”
CHAPTER 7
100 P. J. RAMSEY
(p. 219). In my undergraduate social foundations of education courses, I too find that preservice teachers often think gender issues are a thing of the past, an inequality that has been conquered and no longer needs to be discussed. Nevertheless, after analyzing these seemingly obsolete top- ics in the university classroom, undergraduates, when completing aca- demic service-learning hours, discover that these issues are certainly relevant in today’s K-12 classrooms. For example, one student, after vol- unteering at a low-income school just outside of Detroit, MI, noted that many of the activities in the classroom “clearly display the level of sex- ism that still runs rampant in our society, despite all the talk of equal- ity.” As this student’s comment suggests, academic service-learning can be a powerful means of making connections between the theoretical course content and the reality of classroom practice. This chapter dis- cusses an informal, small-scale study of including a community-service requirement in social foundations courses and examines the benefits and shortcomings of such a requirement.
Academic Service Learning
Academic service-learning is a growing movement in higher educa- tion (and K-12 education) that has the potential of highlighting connec- tions between theory and practice in classrooms (Butin, 2006; Learn and Serve Clearinghouse, n.d).1 Service-learning has been utilized in a num- ber of disciplines, including political science, women’s studies, econom- ics, prevention science, education, business, computer engineering, and environmental science, to name only a few (Aronson, 2006; Butin, 2006; Learn and Serve Clearinghouse, n.d.; Mendel-Reyes, 1998). In the ser- vice learning community a multitude of justifications and aims some- times compete. Some scholars, for example, highlight the impact service has on students, while others suggest that the goal of community service is to work toward social justice (Boyle-Baise, Brown, & Hsu, 2006; Butin, 2003, 2007; Maybach, 1996). Despite the debates surrounding the goals of academic service-learning, most discussions agree that all parties involved should reap the benefits of the service. Students receive valu- able experiences while completing their service hours. By actually work- ing in the community, students gain a concrete and deeper understanding of the themes of the course (Butin, 2003; Mendel-Reyes, 1998). At the same time, academic service-learning provides a much- needed service for the community. Ideally, therefore, service fosters a reciprocal relationship between students and community (Sandy & Hol- land, 2006; Weigert, 1998).
Experiencing the Social Issues That Impact America’s Classrooms 101
Social Foundations of Education
Social foundations of education courses for pre-service teachers emphasize the ways in which larger forces—economic, political, cultural, social, historical, and so on,—impact teaching and learning, thus chal- lenging the assumption that the outside world stops at the schoolhouse door (Liston & Zeichner, 1991). The social foundations faculty members are often a conglomeration of scholars trained in a variety of disciplines, such as history, economics, sociology, and anthropology. Drawing on the research from numerous fields, undergraduate social foundations courses, in general, are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary because they address not only empirical issues in education (through a variety of schol- arly lenses), but also normative ones as well (Liston & Zeichner, 1991).
While many students enjoy social foundations courses, they are not always convinced that such courses will help them confront the everyday challenges of being classroom teachers (Sevier, 2005). (The fact that the required undergraduate foundations course, unlike many curriculum courses, does not have a required “field experience” course attached to it could help explain why some students find it less “practical” than other courses.) On anonymous course evaluations, for example, my students generally agree with the statement “I can apply information/skills learned in this course” less often than the other statements on the survey. Before I began requiring an academic service-learning component in my courses, about 50% of students strongly agreed that my social foundations course could help them in the K-12 classroom (see Table 7.1).
While the data from my course evaluations are quite positive (90% of the students either strongly agreed or agreed that the material in my social foundations courses could be applied in the K-12 classroom), I still would like to reach out to those students who do not see the utility of understanding the impact the larger context has on teaching and educa- tion. That is, I hope to convince those students, such as the one who wrote of the course material—“I’m not sure I’ll use it”—that social foundations of education courses are important for classroom practice. This study, therefore, examines whether or not adding an academic service-learning
Table 7.1. Application of the Course Content, 2008-2009
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
I can apply information/ skills learned in this course.
46/52.27% 34/38.63% 7/7.95% 1/1.13% 88/100%
102 P. J. RAMSEY
component into an undergraduate social foundations course facilitates students’ understanding that the course material is, in fact, relevant to classroom practices. Although the results varied from semester to semes- ter, students, in general, found value in the service requirement; it also helped them to understand the content more fully.
Context: Foundations Course and Students
I regularly teach a required undergraduate social foundations course at Eastern Michigan University (EMU), a regional institution just outside of Detroit. My course employs an eclectic mix of pedagogical techniques and methods. My minilectures outline the general context of the periods and issues under examination, while the common readings and class discus- sions (whole-class and small-group discussions) flesh out that general out- line. Additionally, independent reading assignments, which are shared with the entire class, provide a deeper understanding of the issues by exploring alternative perspectives. The various writing assignments help students to grapple with these challenging issues in order to tentatively express their own perspectives and understandings of education.
My social foundations course begins as a survey of the development of public education in the United States from the common school era to the ending decades of the twentieth century. As the survey begins to enter the twenty-first century, the course examines three broad themes: (1) Ameri- can diversity; (2) educational reform; (3) and ethics, democracy, and edu- cation. These themes are divided into issues that are significant to contemporary educational policy, such as bilingual education and school choice. The issues are informed by the earlier survey of American educa- tion, but also are examined philosophically, sociologically, and anthropo- logically. During the examination of these broad themes, the class pays special attention to the ways a diverse and democratic society deals with/ can deal with these issues.
Accurate and detailed demographic data do not exist, specifically, for EMU’s social foundations students for a number of reasons. Although the university collects a wide variety of statistics about its students, some attri- butes are difficult to precisely measure. For example, the socioeconomic status of the students can be surmised through their qualification for vari- ous income-contingent grants, but such indicators primarily speak to the students’ current income level, which for “nontraditional” students—a large segment of the EMU population—does not necessarily capture the students’ social-class background. As recent reports and scholarship indi- cate, “race” too can be an elusive category because more students are beginning to identify themselves in ways that do not easily fit within sim-
Experiencing the Social Issues That Impact America’s Classrooms 103
plistic, “choose-one” groups (Saulny, 2011; Painter, 2010). Also complicat- ing demographic data is Michigan’s practice allowing university students to easily transfer credits from community colleges—which have a much lower tuition rate. As a result, department or university-wide statistics on students do not necessarily accurately capture the student demographics of those actually taking social foundations courses (some students are exempt from the courses because they already had a similar course at a community college).
Although not as exact as one would hope, my general sense of the social foundations students is that they can be a relatively mixed lot, although they are not as diverse as one would expect. At the beginning of each term, I get to know my students by asking them general questions, such as where they were raised and where they attended school. Based on those answers and students’ comments throughout each semester, a gen- eral, impressionistic demographic pattern has emerged. Although East- ern is within the Detroit metro area, very few students are from Detroit proper; many come from small towns or suburbs just outside the city. Because of EMU’s close proximity to Dearborn, MI, some students are of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry, as these cultural backgrounds are heavily represented in Dearborn’s population. Generally, the course enrolls a handful of African American students as well. The vast majority of the students, however, identify as Caucasian, typically from working- class or middle-class homes. Therefore, most of my students do not have intimate knowledge of the multitude of issues facing many of America’s minority students, nor have they witnessed first-hand the plight of low- income schooling. For example, when reading descriptive studies of racial segregation and poverty in schools, such as in the work of Jonathan Kozol (2005), my students are typically shocked, even though they live in close proximity to the Detroit Public Schools.
A Small-Scale Study
During a comprehensive program review, the faculty members of the Social Foundations Program Area (SOFD) applied for and received approval from the Eastern Michigan University Human Subjects Review Committee in 2009 to study SOFD courses, students, and faculty. With that approval, I decided to conduct a small-scale, informal study of aca- demic service-learning in my undergraduate courses.
During the fall 2009 and winter 2010 semesters, I taught four sections of the required undergraduate social foundations course, “Schools for a Diverse and Democratic Society” (two sections each semester). For each semester, one course included an academic service-learning component
104 P. J. RAMSEY
and the other did not; until the first day of class, students did not know the requirements; this factor addressed the issue of self-selection. All of the courses required midterm examinations, reading reflections, “pur- poses of education” essays, and final research papers. However, the “tradi- tional,” nonservice-learning course included an independent book review in which students were required to give a brief oral report to the class and to write a medium-length essay on the text. The book essay asked the stu- dents to discuss the author’s main ideas and to examine the text in light of the course lectures, discussions, and common readings. Instead of a book essay, students in the academic service-learning sections of the course were asked to complete at least 20 hours of community service, approximately the amount of time it would take to carefully read and compile notes on a challenging, theoretical monograph. They also were required to keep a service journal that reflected on their experiences and write two brief essays (related to two of three course themes: diversity, educational reform, and democratic/ethical dimensions of education) that linked their service experiences with the course readings and discussions.
Most students chose to complete their service hours at an after-school program that is offered in several low-income elementary and secondary schools just outside of the city of Detroit; nearly 65% of the fall 2009 ser- vice students worked with the program, as did 75% of the students during winter 2010 term. As recent research indicates, after-school programs are important educational sites for urban youngsters (Strobel, Kirshner, O’Donoghue, & McLaughlin, 2008). I encouraged students to work with this particular after-school program because of my familiarity with it and because the program includes some features that parallel a few themes of the course. For example, the program serves a diverse student popula- tion, and in the social foundations course there are several required read- ings that examine the ways in which diversity issues (religion, ethnicity, gender, social class, etc.) impacts education. Additionally, the after-school program offers more activities than homework help, allowing preservice teachers to see an alternative to the test preparation trend in educational reform today. The program also includes educational clubs and allows ele- mentary and secondary students choice in the activities in which they par- ticipate. This opportunity for choice parallels some of the readings on democratic education. Some of my preservice teachers, however, chose alternate sites for their service, largely because of scheduling conflicts or because they had an interest in another community organization.
I wished to determine whether or not the service-learning experience enhances students’ understanding that the larger context is relevant to classroom practice. Therefore, I developed an anonymous, end-of-the- semester survey that asked students about their experiences in the course. The data from the survey were entered into a software package (SPSS),
Experiencing the Social Issues That Impact America’s Classrooms 105
and the responses of academic service-learning students were compared to those without that requirement. Additionally, I collected service-learn- ing essays and journals in the classes in an attempt to gauge the students’ ability to make connections between the course material and their service experience. The journals also provided a sense of the students’ attitudes about the course and their community experiences.
Because the production of a scholarly piece was not my initial objec- tive, there are several limitations to this study. My decision to conduct this informal study was primarily to determine the utility of academic service- learning in order to better serve my students. For example, the data have not undergone any rigorous statistical analyses, thus limiting the study’s results to be generalized beyond my particular courses. Similarly, vari- ables impacting students’ engagement with the course—where the service hours were completed, students’ attitudes toward service, students’ course load, and so on—are so numerous that it is difficult, without changing this study’s design, to precisely pinpoint which factors were most influential. Regardless of the limitations, the interesting results that emerged during the course of the study facilitated my continuing the project, and warrant- ing the project’s dissemination so that others can add to this exciting con- versation and line of inquiry about academic service-learning.
Results of the Study
During the fall 2009 semester, despite my anticipation to the contrary, the students in my “traditional” social foundations section seemed to be slightly more engaged with the course material than those in the aca- demic service-learning section. I, therefore, wondered about the efficacy of the service requirement.This initial concern may have arisen because the students in this class performed unusually well on academic tasks. Nevertheless, as I began to analyze the data from the course surveys, some interesting trends began to emerge: The survey results revealed that students in the course section with a service requirement generally believed that the course helped them to see the ways in which the larger society impacted their future careers. The traditional class section did not demonstrate this understanding to the same degree (see Table 7.2). More- over, the service-learning students thought that the course would help them become better teachers (see Table7. 3).
I decided to continue the study during the winter 2010 semester, repli- cating it exactly—offering one section of the social foundations course with a service requirement and the other without the requirement, As in the ear- lier semester, students did not know about the course requirements until the first day of class, thus students could not choose to be in the “service”
106 P. J. RAMSEY
or “traditional” section. I used the same survey at the end of the semester and collected the same materials: essays and journals. The results for the winter 2010 courses (see Tables 7.4 and 7.5) were nearly the opposite of the previous semester; more “traditional” students found the course relevant to their future teaching. Even without the outliers—one student,8% of the class, who clearly disliked the service component—the results still remained contradictory: 30% of academic service-learning students strongly agreed that the course would help them become better teachers, 60% agreed, and 10% were undecided.
Combining the data from the fall 2009 and winter 2010 semesters showed that slightly more “traditional students” (8%) strongly agreed that my social foundations course helped them see the ways in which the larger society impacted education and teaching (see Table 7.6). However, almost 96% of the academic service-learning students either strongly agreed or agreed that the course would help them become better teach- ers, as opposed to the 83% of the students in the “traditional” section of the course (see Table 7.7).
Table 7.2. Understanding of Society’s Impact on
Education, Fall 2009
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
This course has helped me understand the ways in which the larger society impacts education and teaching.
9/69.2% (Trad.)
4/30.8% 0/0% 0/0% 13/100%
11/78.6% (AS-L)
3/21.4% 0/0% 0/0% 14/100%
Table 7.3. Relevance of the Course to Teaching, Fall 2009
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
This course will help me to be a better teacher.
6/46.2% (Trad.)
5/38.5% 2/15.4% 0/0% 13/100%
9/64.3% (AS-L)
5/35.7% 0/0% 0/0% 14/100%
Experiencing the Social Issues That Impact America’s Classrooms 107
Table 7.4. Understanding of Society’s Impact on
Education, Winter 2010
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
This course has helped me understand the ways in which the larger society impacts education and teaching.
8/72.7% (Trad.)
3/27.3% 0/0% 0/0% 11/100%
4/36.4% (AS-L)
7/63.6% 0/0% 0/0% 11/100%
Table 7.5. Relevance of the Course to Teaching, Winter 2010
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
This course will help me to be a better teacher.
5/45.5% (Trad.)
5/45.5% 1/9.1% 0/0% 11/100%
3/27.3% (AS-L)
6/54.5% 1/8.3% 1/8.3% 11/100%
Table 7.6. Understanding of Society’s Impact on
Education, Fall 2009 and Winter 2010
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
This course has helped me understand the ways in which the larger society impacts education and teaching.
17/70.8% (Trad.)
7/29.2% 0/0% 0/0% 24/100%
15/62.5% (AS-L, minus
outliers)
9/37.5% 0/0% 0/0% 24/100%
108 P. J. RAMSEY
These numeric results were somewhat encouraging, but also important were the data regarding the students’ level of interest in the academic ser- vice-learning requirement. Most students, 76% of them, enjoyed their ser- vice experiences (see Table 7.8). Some of the most insightful data about students’ enjoyment of the service component came from the anonymous comments on the surveys. One student in the fall 2009 course, for instance, stated on his or her survey that “I loved this class!” During the following semester, a student expressed a similar view. “I really enjoyed the service-learning,” this student commented, “I was not excited about it at first, but my opinion changed.” Another student in the winter 2010 course noted that the “service learning made the course for me.” These comments, along with others, revealed that students found their service experiences to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of the course.
While student enjoyment of the course is important, a central justifica- tion for my use of the service requirement is to enhance students’ under- standing of the course content.The survey data seem to confirm that the service experience was helpful: 80% of the service-learning students agreed that their service experiences helped them understand the course content more fully (see Table 7.9).
The students’ survey comments, journals, and essays also suggested that their service hours did make the ideas and themes of this social foun- dations course more concrete and engaging. A student in the fall 2009 semester commented, “The service learning was a great way to get us involved in the content of the course.” In an essay on diversity, one stu- dent, volunteering at a low-income school, made note of the inequality of resources in the Detroit area and its impact on students. After describing the lack of technological and artistic/creative materials in the classrooms (and the school as a whole), the student stated, “It is very clear … that the insufficiency of these rooms affects the students at the school—they are not exposed to as broad a curriculum because resources are limited,” compared to other public schools in southeastern Michigan. A student in the winter 2010 course noted in his journal that social-class issues were
Table 7.7. Relevance of the Course to Teaching,
Fall 2009 and Winter 2010
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
This course will help me to be a better teacher.
11/45.8% (Trad.)
9/37.5% 4/16.7% 0/0% 24/100%
12/50.0% (AS-L, minus
outliers)
11/45.8% 1/4.2% 0/0% 24/100%
Experiencing the Social Issues That Impact America’s Classrooms 109
prevalent in the school in which he was volunteering. He noticed that many of the very low-income students frequently utilized the technology at the after-school program during their free time, largely because, as he learned, “they didn’t have a Wii or a computer at home.” These kinds of observations helped this pre-service teacher to make links between the course content and the reality of today’s classrooms. “So without a doubt,” the student wrote, “I really think that this service has helped … the stuff we read come to life.”
In addition to the connections students made between the course con- tent on diversity and their service experiences, several students also made note of aspects of their service learning that related to our readings on educational reform and democratic approaches to education. During the fall 2009 term, for instance, one student completed her service hours at a low-income, mostly African American elementary school, a school that placed a great deal of emphasis on standardized test scores. While proc- toring the state-mandated test, the student noted in her service journal that the fifth graders “had a hard time sitting still for long periods of time” and often “seemed stressed out.” Relating her experiences to the
Table 7.8. Student Enjoyment of the Course,
Fall 2009 and Winter 2010
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Strongly
Disagree:
N/% Total
I enjoyed the service- learning requirement in this course.
9/36% 10/40% 4/16% 2/8% 25/100%
Table 7.9. Understanding of Course Content,
Fall 2009 and Winter 2010
Statement
Strongly Agree:
N/% Agree: N/%
Undecided:
N/%
Disagree:
N/% Total
The service- learning requirement helped me to understand the course content more fully.
4/16% 16/64% 4/16% 1/4% 25/100%
110 P. J. RAMSEY
required text by Nel Noddings (2007), When School Reform Goes Wrong, this student wrote in her essay on educational reform that “if we are allowing a test to be administered to our students that causes them this much stress and anguish,” then perhaps we are failing “to protect and encourage healthy growth, curiosity and mental development in our students.” A stu- dent working with the after-school program also commented on the cur- rent focus on standardized testing. After a long day of test preparation and examinations, “the kids come in and you can almost see the energy exploding out from them” because “they are so confined all day with no way to positively let out their energy.” The program with which most ser- vice students worked was, in many ways, designed to be the antithesis of traditional schooling. The program democratically allows students, as one pre-service teacher noted, “the opportunity to pick their activities” and to collectively design “their own rules.” This democratic approach impressed one of my students a great deal because students “are allowed to choose for themselves what they want to do” and, in the process, “learn to be responsible for their own actions,” a point this student connected with Michael Apple and James Beane’s (2007) Democratic Schools. These types of connections are exactly what the service-learning component was designed to encourage
CONCLUSIONS
I do not have an explanation for the divergent experiences that occurred between the fall 2009 courses and the winter 2010 courses regarding the efficacy of the service-learning requirement. As noted above, there were many factors for which this study did not “control”— such as students’ course load and where the service was completed—and any combination of these variables might explain the incongruence. Most teachers are familiar with this confluence of confounding vari- ables; it is what makes each class and teaching experience unique. This variability argues against the current trend in education to standardize everything, including pedagogy.
As teach