Elizabeth Yost Hammer
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Service-Learning Assignments
Service learning cuts across all disciplines and, when innovative faculty are creative with
assignments, it can be effective in any field. Psychology, with its emphasis on human
behavior, is an obvious choice for this pedagogy (Ozorak, 2004). In studying human
behavior, psychologists can use community interactions to illustrate theories and provide
opportunities for concepts to come to life more easily than can professors in many other
fields. Courses such as developmental psychology and social psychology are easily applied
to community sites serving a wide array of populations. In fact, most social psychology
courses have a unit on prosocial behavior—and what better way to illuminate theories of
helping behavior than to have students engage in community service? Therefore, to
encourage students to apply social psychological constructs to real-world situations and
to develop their critical thinking skills, I have incorporated service-learning assignments
into the course.
I invite three to five site supervisors to come to class to make presentations about their
sites and recruit students in the first week of the semester. I typically require students to
complete a minimum of 16 hours at the site of their choice; 8 hours must be completed
by midterm with the final 8 completed by the end of the semester. Students have time
sheets for their supervisors to sign. Depending on practical issues (e.g., course load or class
size), I alternate between two types of assignments: maintaining a service-learning journal
and a more traditional paper.
For the journal assignment, students maintain a structured social psychology journal
throughout the semester. For each chapter, students write two or three pages on a specific
topic. Table 15.1 provides examples of typical writing assignments. Students turn in their
journals seven times over the course of the semester (approximately every 2 weeks), and
the overall journal grade is the same percentage of the final grade as an exam (usually
about 15%).
For the more traditional paper assignment, students write a midterm and a final paper
integrating course material into their experiences at the sites. For the midterm paper, I give
students the following guidelines.
Table 15.1. Sample of Chapter Entries for Service-Learning Journal Assignment in Social Psychology
Chapter on Prosocial Behavior
Service learning is a situation where you are engaging in helping behavior. Using this experience,
describe some motivational factors, situational factors, personal influences, and interpersonal
influences that have come into play. Be clear and specific by only picking a handful of memorable
factors or influences.
Chapter on Social Cognition
Discuss schemas. What are some schemas that have influenced your behavior or the behavior of
others at your service-learning site? Apply research evidence presented in Chapter 3, using it as
support for your personal observations.