AEE 522  Occupational Experience in Agriculture
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Class 4: Agricultural Service Learning
Objectives: Upon completion of this lesson you should be able to:

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Define Service Learning
Discuss the benefits to students of participating in service learning
 Identify examples of agricultural service learning SAEs.
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Learning Activities:

These actvities should be completed before class for on-campus students as this provides a foundation for the class discussion.

For distance education students, these activities constitute the lesson. Pay special attention to the PowerPoint Presentation.

 Take the Agricultural Service Learning pretest to see how much you know about Agricultural Service Learning as a type of SAE. 

Download Nicole Webster's (Penn State) slide presentation on Service Learning or view it.  In case you need it the URL for Nicole's presentation, it is found at  http://servicelearning.cas.psu.edu/WhatIs.html

Read Service Learning at a Glance to get a quick overview of service learning. 

While I hate the colors on this web site, read about the Goals of Service Learning.

Go to the Learning in Deed web site and view the three videos about service learning on this web site.

Read the research on how students benefit from service learning.

 Read "Service Learning-Through the Eyes of a Student" by Davis and Scott from Volume 74 Issue 1 of  The Agricultural Education Magazine (July-Aug, 2001).

Read Wood's article "Service Learning as Charity/Social Advocacy" from The Agricultural Education Magazine (Volume 74 Issue 1, 2001).

Read "Transforming the Classroom Into a Learning Lab" by Corn-Saunders from The Agricultural Education Magazine (Volume 74 Issue 1, 2001).

See some examples of service learning projects in agriculture.

To get the maximum benefit from Service Learning, there should be reflection. Read Reflection: Getting Learning Out of Service to see how this might be done.
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Laboratory:

For students who are taking the class live on campus, there is a one hour lab. This activity will be done during the lab.

For distance education students, the lab will be described and the student will be responsible for performing the activity.
 Introduction: The best way to learn about service learning is to become engaged in it.  For the on-campus students, the lab for this lesson will focus on thinking about and planning a service learning project.  You are to work in groups of 5-6.  Your mission is to plan AND implement a service learning activity. Examples of possible service learning activities might be conducting an agricultural literacy program in a elementary school, playground improvement, school beautification, Service Raleigh participation, establishing a butterfly garden at a school, helping a community group write a grant, developing a community garden, building a nature trail at the FFA Center, etc. You will have all semester to complete this activity.

If you are a web student, you might enlist a local FFA chapter, a 4-H group, a Sunday School class or similar group to complete this assignment. If possible you might connect with other students in the class. Just so it is clear, distance education students are required to conduct a service learning project.

Most of the lab time should be spent in planning.  Before you do any planning you may want to examine how this project will be evaluated. I will be using the Maryland rubric for evaluating service learning activities. This rubric addresses the following points:
  • Meets a recognized community need (There must be a strong rationale for the activity. What evidence can you present that your service learning activity met a recognized need?)
  • Achieve curricular objectives through service-learning (It would be wise to make sure that your service learning activity matches up with one of more learning objectives from the state blueprints for agricultural education) 
  • Reflect throughout the service-learning experience (your group is to come up with a plan as to how you will reflect on this learning experience)
  • Develop student responsibility (this should happen since you are planning and implementing the activity instead of me telling you what to do)
  • Establish community partnerships (working with a community group, school, etc. will be crtical for the successful implementation of this activity)
  • Plan ahead for service-learning (if you don't plan ahead, this will not be a very successful event)
  • Equip students with knowledge and skills needed for service (you may need to learn how to do certain things for your service project. In a real school setting with high school students, you may need to teach skills that students will apply in their service learning activity. This is why agricultural service learning is now a type of SAE)

You are to prepare a report, PowerPoint presentation, video or display board (like those used in science fairs) about your service learning activity that addresses each section of this rubric. There should be multiple samples of evidence (photographs, products created, testimonial letters, etc) in your final product/report. Your final product/report is due Dec. 4. This is a major class assignment and counts for 30% of your lab grade.



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Assignments: There is no worksheet this week. Spend your time on planning your service learning project.

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