Empowering Students Through Community Action

Service Learning is a pedagogy in which the student must participate directly in a service-oriented project, which addresses a real community need. This study focused on the effect of service learning in the curriculum. Research was conducted over service learning, its implementation, and its effects. In addition, the study looks at how one junior high school implemented service learning into their curriculum and the difficulties involved in creating a more intense program. It was discovered that service learning was often not integrated into the curriculum as expected, teachers often did not require students to reflect on their experiences, and teachers did not spend adequate time preparing for service projects. Each of these characteristics are viewed as requirements for the pedagogy of service learning, and in their absence the practice of service learning seems to have a lesser positive effect on the students