Community College Service Learning Pedagogy.
2009; Volume: 15; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1081-9428
Autores Tópico(s)Diverse Educational Innovations Studies
ResumoNoting the community college mandate for promoting civic engagement, the author addresses the issue of developing civically engaged community college classrooms in the midst of a decline in civic engagement nationwide. The paper pro] poses service learning pedagogy as a method for synthesizing classroom based academic knowledge and community based experiential knowledge by connecting the campus to the community within the context of specific curriculum. The paper includes suggestions for implementing service learning in various academic disciplines, specific instructional methods grounded in service learning pedagogy and a detailed discussion concerning the role of the faculty in promoting civic engagement. Introduction The mission statements of many community colleges throughout the United States specify the advancement of both civic engagement and student learning as primary goals (Leigh & Gill, 2007). Further, civic engagement--the ability to be responsible for oneself and to engage fully in the welfare of the group--is an asset in any society, but in a democratic society, civic engagement is a requirement for citizenship (Morgan & Streb, 2001). The clear implication is that without people being involved in collaborative relationships with each other and the environment in democratic ways citizenship is undermined. A significant focus on civic engagement and democratic collaboration highlights the fact that democracy is a dynamic lived reality, not a passive abstract academic exercise. As a lived reality, civic engagement, democratic principles, and shared values function as a frame of reference for making decisions on a daily basis about citizens' personal, professional, and economic lives. Consequently, such an understanding of civic engagement presents significant challenges for an education system determined to meet its stated goals of academic rigor and student learning while also promoting a firm grounding in the lived reality that is democratic citizenship--all within the confines of the classroom. The following discussion attempts to show how college classroom teaching practices grounded in service learning pedagogy may meet the challenges of preparing people for their role as learned, civically engaged democratic citizens by maximizing the classroom experience as a resource for developing an ethic of civic engagement. Voter participation and voluntary associations Preliminary data from The American Presidency Project (2008) indicates that approximately 55% of voting-age Americans went to the polls in the 2008 presidential election. This was in stark contrast to voter turnout over previous decades. For example, in 1960 62.8 percent of voting-age Americans voted in the race between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. In 1996, following decades of fewer and fewer Americans going to the polls, 48.9 percent of voting-age Americans voted in the race among Bill Clinton, Bob Dole and Ross Perot representing the second lowest turnout in the twentieth century (Wicker, 1999). Recently, the election of President Obama, the first person of color elected to the nation's highest office, is clearly an historic event. However, observers do not yet fully understand the significance of the surge in voter turnout during the 2008 presidential election for civic engagement overall. Does the surge represent a rededication by the American people to civic life at all levels of society? Was it an act of desperation after eight years of war and unprecedented economic deficits? Or was it a function of innovative uses of technology during the campaign? While understanding the causes of the surge in voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election requires further investigation that is beyond the scope of this paper, some facts are within its scope. For example, although voting is the most common act of civic engagement, it is, nevertheless, only one manifestation of civic engagement and democratic collaboration. …
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