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SERVICE LEARNING AND URBAN SCHOOLS:
A METHOD FOR DEVELOPING ATTITUDES REFLECTIVE
OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

By
Julianne Price

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Communication

1995

ABSTRACT

SERVICE LEARNING AND URBAN SCHOOLS:
A METHOD FOR DEVELOPING ATTITUDES REFLECTIVE
OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

By

Julianne Price

This study looks at the development of attitudes that reﬂect social responsibility in a
service learning project in two urban elementary schools. The researcher analyzed the con-
tent of the written journals of 13 university student participants. Five themes were identi-
ﬁed: the importance of participation, social structural understanding, making a difference,
empathetic understanding, and continuing community service.

There was a signiﬁcant relationship between the importance of participation and
making a difference, r = .72. Students who felt it was important to participate also felt that
they were making a difference. There was a moderate relationship between empathetic un-
derstanding and social structural understanding, r = .45, and a moderate relationship
between the importance of participation and continuing community service, r = .40.

Service learning projects are designed to address the needs of communities while
educating university student participants about the social issues that inﬂuence those
communities. The development of social responsibility will have a long-term impact on ur—
ban communities, as socially responsible individuals tend to continue community service,

and community service can effectively address some issues of urban communities.

Copyright by
Julianne Price
1995

DEDICATION
To my mother, Verna, for her love, guidance, and encouragement through the years

and to my son, Gregory Antoine, who is a source of joy and inspiration

iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my appreciation to my guidance committee chairperson,
Dr. Franklin J. Boster, and committee members, Dr. Maxie C. Jackson, Dr. Eddie A.
Moore, and Dr. Steven R. Wilson, for their expertise and support during the process of
writing this thesis.

My appreciation to Professor Albert Holloway, who was unable to continue on my
committee but assisted in the initial stages of this work. My love and appreciation to
Gregory A. Price (Antoine) for data coding. My heartfelt appreciation to Mary Edens,
Director of the MSU Service Lear-rung Center, for her encouragement and for introducing
me to the concept of service learning. Special thanks to Dr. William Donohue for
providing the opportunity to work with the school-based conﬂict mediation project. I value
beyond measure the support and encouragement of friends Maureen, Libby, and Linda,
who endured late-night phone calls and edited numerous drafts. Sincere gratitude to my
friend, Laurentina Magee, for transcribing the original narratives to facilitate the data
coding. I am grateful to Lynn Anderson for editing the ﬁnal draft and to those unnamed
here who remembered me in their prayers. May God bless you all.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................... iv
Chapter I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 1
Statement of the problem .......................................................... 3
Need for the study ............................................................... 4
Chapter II: RELATED RESEARCH ..................................................... 7
Service-learning .................................................................... 7
Community Need: School Conﬂict Mediation ................................. 12
Social Responsibility ............................................................. 16
Attitudes and Attitude Measurement .......................................... 17
Chapter III: METHODS .................................................................. 19
Subjects ............................................................................. 19
Program Design ................................................................... 19
Data Collection ..................................................................... 21
Data Analysis ...................................................................... 22
Chapter IV: RESULTS ................................................................... 24
Chapter V: DISCUSSION ............................................................... 28
Limitations of the Study .......................................................... 37
Implications for Further Research ............................................... 38
REFERENCES ............................................................................. 4O

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Frequencies of Social Responsibility Themes ............................... 26
Table 2. Correlation Coefﬁcients ........................................................ 27

vii

Chapter I
INTRODUCTION

Programs designed to provide strong linkages between the theoretical principles of
the classroom and the practical application that hands-on involvement can provide are
categorized as service learning. The working deﬁnition of mm used for this
study is taken from Stanton (1987, p. 4), who states: "Service learning is an approach to
experiential learning, an expression of values — service to others, community
development, reciprocal learning — which determines the purpose, nature and process of
social and educational exchange between learners and the people they serve, and between
experiential education programs and the community organizations with which they work."

This deﬁnition encompasses the unique nature of service learning projects, in that
each project is tailored according to the needs of the community, the needs of the
participants who come into the community to serve, and the resources available. There is
not a singular formula for the design of a service learning project. Each project is designed
according to the speciﬁcations of the community's need and the resources available within
and outside of the community. It is this linkage between classroom and community,
between theory and practice, and between action and reﬂection that provides the foundation
for service learning.

The involvement of university students in community-based programs is not a new
phenomenon. Community service programs are designed to meet a community need,
rather than being focused toward the academic enrichment of the service providers.
Community service programs that have evolved into service learning are strengthened not
only by providing a service to the community, but by developing attitudes within the

university service learning participant that reﬂect social responsibility.
1

2
The study of the development of attitudes reﬂective of social responsibility can

provide a basis for understanding the long-term effects of service learning on the university
service learning participant. The service leaming model as a collaborative intervention has
been shown to have an impact on student attitudes (Ouellette, 1992). The ways in which
these attitudes are formed provide the research question as to the effectiveness of service
learning projects in developing student attitudes that reﬂect social responsibility.

Attitudes for the purposes of this study will be deﬁned as evaluative judgments or
reactions to an object, person, or issue, expressed positively or negatively, and having a
potential effect on future conduct (Petty & Cacioppo, 1981). Attitudes are made up of
beliefs, based on information gathered about people, objects or issues. The more
information is provided, the stronger the beliefs; and the more elaborate the belief system,
the more enduring the attitude will be. Therefore, when seeking to form attitudes, it is
important to provide enough information for beliefs to be well developed, thereby
strengthening the attitudes.

There are several components to the deﬁnition of social responsibility. First, social
responsibility is described as "an orientation toward others as the basis of citizenship"
(Giles & Eyler, 194, p.5). This orientation to others is a process that occurs over time, and
it involves more than one volunteer experience. It is best described as a philosophy of
giving, much like philanthropy. Socially responsible individuals believe that they have a
responsibility to provide volunteer service to others in need as an expression of their
commitment to good citizenship in a democratic society.

Second, social responsibility goes beyond the need to contribute service and time,
reﬂecting an understanding of the underlying causes of the social issues involved in the
service project. Students not only recognize that the population they serve is in poverty,
but they also understand the causes and effects of poverty. Third, social responsibility is a
sustained interest in community involvement after the project is completed. Fourth, social

responsibility includes the belief that individuals can make a difference. Socially

3
responsible individuals believe that they can make an impact on the personal lives of the

population that they serve and that their efforts make a difference.

This fourth point can also be expanded to include social activism, because service
learning projects have been used to change the social and physical structures of some
communities. Service learning university participants exhibit a greater understanding of the
social structural issues that impact the communities they serve. The students understand
community needs and issues from a “why” perspective and not just a “what” perspective.
For example, most students would be able to discern the existence of poverty, but few
could adequately discuss why it exists. Participation in service learning programs could
provide the linkage between the deﬁnition of community needs and their causes and
solutions. Once students understand not only what the needs are, but also the causes of

those needs, they can progress intelligently toward developing solutions.

WW

Research on the humanitarian outcomes derived from service learning participation
has been scarce. The university student is often engaged in a community service project or
a service learning project for course credit or as a prerequisite to employment. Outcomes
such as "time spent" or "tasks comple " are easily measured. Students complete the
service and receive the credit; or students enhance their resumes for employment by
documenting their participation in the community service project The service learning
design creates outcomes that are not directly related to the attainment of a degree or of
employment , and are not as easily documented. Ideally, a university degree program will
lead not only to intellectual development and employment for students, but also to the
development of socially responsible citizens who will sustain the democratic society
(Stanton, 1987). The study of social responsibility and its relationship to service learning
could provide a framework for the development of citizenship (Giles & Eyler, 1994;
Kendall, 1990; Stanton, 1987).

4
This study will take an episodic look at the development of social responsibility

within one service learning project. It will address the relationship between service
learning participation and social responsibility to determine if the use of a service learning
design has an effect on the development of attitudes that reﬂect social responsibility. In
utilizing a service learning design, it is assumed that students will become more
knowledgeable about the needs of the urban community.

For the purposes of this study, the university students who participated in the
service learning project will be referred to as "university service learning participants." The

term "student" is used generically to refer to a student in any educational context.

W

In addressing the needs of urban schools and communities, the university is being
challenged to ﬁnd viable solutions and practical answers to social problems that are beyond
the rhetoric of tieory (Stanton, 1987 ). Service learning is an experience-based educational
strategy that combines theory-based coursework with practice-based community service to
address the expressed needs of communities.

The development of university-sponsored service learning programs is one method
that can be used to make education relevant to the resolution of social problems by
impacting the attitudes of the university service learning participant. Although service
learning can be used to address many social issues, the focus of this research will be the
issue of reducing violence in urban elementary schools (School Violence Spreads, 1994)
and the impact of the project design on the development of attitudes reﬂecting social
responsibility in the university service learning participants.

A service learning curriculum can equip students, educators, and communities with
a program designed not only to resolve social issues, but to foster a sense of social
responsibility in the participants. This attribute of social responsibility may have long-term

social and political implications for social policy. Research has indicated that students who

5
engage in service learning projects are less likely to hold to stereotypes about social

service/welfare clients (Giles & Eyler, 1994). Service learning programs provide students,
educators, and communities with a hands-on, interactive, reality-based and community-
based method of problem solving through an academically enhanced community service
model.

The service learning curriculum is adaptable to most community service projects
(Kendall, 1990; Stanton, 1987). This researcher utilized a program that had already been
established cooperatively between two elementary schools, the community, and the
university. The researcher's primary interest was in the outcomes afforded the university
service learning participant and the effect of the participant's experience in developing
attitudes reﬂecting social responsibility. Superimposing the service learning method on an
existing program called for the addition of academic content to the university's community
service project, with the goal of impacting university service learning participants' attitudes
toward the children, school, and community they were to serve.

The university, in collaboration with an urban school district, had developed a
community service project that would utilize university students to assist with conﬂict
mediation programs in elementary schools. The university students would provide
expertise and stafﬁng for the mediation program and receive course credit via an
independent study option through the Communication Department. The purpose of the
original community service project was to assist in the administration of the conﬂict
mediation program, while the service learning project was developed to measure outcomes
Speciﬁc to university service learning participants. The goal of the service learning project
was to familiarize the university service leaming participants with the needs of the
community while they assisted with the conﬂict mediation program.

It was hypothesized that the university students would gain an understanding of the
causes and effects of poverty in children's lives and become acquainted with the cultural

diversity in urban school settings. The researcher hypothesized that the university service

6
learning participants' belief systems would be impacted and that their attitudes would be

affected as they gained insight into the effects of poverty. The goal was to engage the
university students in critical thinking and problem solving regarding the project while
developing in them a sense of social responsibility. One method of assessing social
responsibility was a content analysis of written project journals to determine student attitude

formation across the continuum of a service learning project.

Chapter II
RELATED RESEARCH

To present a clear picture of the design of the service learning project, this chapter
will provide background on the key components of this study. First, there is a review of
the historical background of service learning. Second, the process of integrating
community need into the service learning project will be discussed, including a
comprehensive description of the school conﬂict mediation program that served as the
community service project for the university service learning participants in this study.
Third, the literature on social responsibility as an outcome of service learning participation

is reviewed. Fourth, the development of attitudes and their measurement is discussed.

5 . I .
In discussing program efforts that intentionally pair community service with
academics, the literature presents at least 147 descriptions of the combination of service and
learning (Kendall, 1990). This approach that combines service and academics has a history

spanning two decades (Kendall, 1990). The contemporary service learning movement,
however, has a design that differs from the earlier community service models (Kendall,
1990; Stanton, 1987). Although community service has historically been linked to the
social improvement of the population served, community service has not been considered
in the assessment of educational outcomes—critical thinking, reﬂection, problem solving,
or attitude change—in the university service learning participant.

Service learning has come into focus nationally with the signing into law of the
National Community Service Trust Act, which created the Corporation for National and

Community Service in 1993. The mission of the corporation is to engage Americans of all

7

8
ages in community-based service. This service agenda is designed to address the nation's

educational, public safety, human, and environmental needs—to achieve direct and
demonstrable results.

The Michigan Department of Education applied for a $725,795 grant to support
these projects statewide. A national agenda such as this provides support for educators
who are pushing for curriculum changes in school systems throughout the United States.

To understand the development of this particular service learning project, it is
important to understand the history of the concept of service learning in general. The
development of service learning is linked to the educational learning strategy known as
experiential education . There are four curriculum designs that qualify as experiential
education, according to Weil and McGill (1989). Weil and McGill portray these designs
metaphorically as four different types of villages. They make the point that it is only
through the exploration of all the villages that one can understand one's village of
preference. Although the authors do not detail their rationale for the use of the term
"village," the villages they describe conjure up the image of communities that are unique
and deﬁned by the participants. Just as villages in the physical world are linked by
common human needs, so the conceptual villages of experiential education are linked by a
common intent—practice—based learning.

In the design of experiential learning programs, there is agreement on certain
objectives that are distinctive to experiential learning in higher education and continuing
education programs. Weil and McGill (1989) deﬁne these objectives as:

0 A better understanding of what theory learned from reading or lectures might

mean in actual practice.

0 Reﬂection on prior experience in relation to new ideas and information.

° An active consideration of the implications of research in the context of a real-

life situation.

9
0 The assimilation and application of intellectual understanding to actual

problems.

0 The consideration of a particular constellation of professional assumptions from

the perspective of a speciﬁc social or occupational group.

0 The integration of a variety of disciplinary or meaning perspectives in relation to

a real-life problem.

- Reframing modes of perception and response to particular situations.

0 Reﬂection upon and appraisal of personal and occupational goals from

alternative vantage points.

0 A more self-aware approach to professional practice.

0 A deeper understanding of one's own feelings in certain situations, and of the

limitations of one's own understanding and practice.

0 A recognition of how institutional, social, and cultural factors may cause

individuals to act in ways that contradict personal and professional intentions.

0 An awareness of how personal values and meanings inﬂuence perceptions and

choices of action.

0 Actual experience of industry and commerce and social change groups, for

example, and personal experience of how they operate.

0 Opportunities to experience different kinds of values and assumptions in action,

in relation to particular activities and enterprises.

The key element of experiential learning and service learning is that these
approaches enable the learner to bridge the gap between the philosophical and theoretical
classroom and the dynamic and practical world outside. It forces students, not only to
expand their thought processes, but to become physically involved in the learning process,
utilizing a majority of the senses to increase learning.

Service learning has two distinct approaches (Stanton, 1987). The ﬁrst approach

suggests that service learning is simply another version of experiential education, much like

10
ﬁeld study. The second approach views service learning as a philosophical approach to

education that encompasses all areas of experiential education.

The curriculum of service learning starts in the community, and the needs of the
community become the subject matter around which the service learning curriculum is
structured. The student has power over the learning process in this educational model, as
the student chooses the types of service learning programs in which he/she wants to
engage. The educator John Dewey (1902) believed that if education is to be effective, it
must place the locus of control for learning within the student by making learning relevant
to the needs of the student. learning theorists agree that learning is increased when
students have a need to know and are motivated (McKeachie, 1994). Service learning, by
its design, provides both control and relevance for the student.

The classroom teacher becomes the conduit through which the academic subject is
expressed, and the community provides the practical application. The classroom teacher is
also responsible for the creation of the learning environment and the design of a service
learning cuniculum that will ﬁt the needs of the service learning students and the
community. McPherson and Nebgen (1991) stated that well-designed service learning
programs create a natural link between schooling and issues and questions relevant to
students and the cormnunity.

Service learning can be characterized as life-centered learning and not school-
centered learning. Traditionally, schools are the physical places of learning, and most
formal learning takes place within the structure of the classroom. The service learning
cruriculum advocates that, because learning is a process, it can and does occur in a
multitude of environments (Dewey, 1900). The service learning instructor is a facilitator
who integrates life experiences into the cuniculum, thereby making education relevant to
daily living.

1 1
Effective service learning programs as deﬁned by Kendall (1990) have shown that

participants:

0 Develop a habit of critical reﬂection on their experiences, enabling them to learn

more throughout life.

0 Are more curious to learn.

0 Are able to perform better service.

0 Strengthen their ethic of social and civic responsibility.

0 Feel committed to addressing the underlying problems behind social issues.

0 Understand problems in a more complex way and can imagine alternative

solutions.

0 Demonstrate more sensitivity as to how decisions are made and how

institutional decisions affect people's lives.

0 Respect others' cultures more.

0 Are better able to learn about cultural differences.

0 Learn how to work collaboratively with other people on real problems.

- Realize that their lives can make a difference.

These beneﬁts have been shown to exist in all types of service learning programs and to
span age, race, and gender.

In designing effective service learning programs it is important to integrate the
practical tasks with the area of academic emphasis, so that the participants receive the
beneﬁts of the theory-to-practice continuum. The following are examples of practical tasks
with the theoretical framework or course of study listed in parentheses. Integrated tasks for
students who provide community service at a homeless shelter could include: maintain a
journal (writing); advocate by giving speeches (communication); study the history of
poverty (history, economics, social studies); produce a play (art); or design a new shelter
(architecture, math). There are as many possibilities as the instructor and students can

generate.

12
The service learning curriculum is primarily concerned with the practical application

of the theoretical in a real-life situation. The projects are reality-based, and students are
actively engaged in an interaction with the social issues rather than passively reading about
them. The service learning curriculum also requires that the students process the
experience verbally in small group reﬂection sessions and by keeping a journal. The
projects are designed around the needs and interests of the students and the needs of the
communities they will serve. For example, a group of students in an industrial arts class
built a special wheelchair for a disabled 18-month-old child. Their project provided a real-
life solution to a real-life problem. It became more than a group of sample problems at the
end of a chapter in a textbook Many students question the relevance of formal education in
their daily lives, and service learning can provide a viable and deﬁnitive response to such
questions.

There exists a need for further research on methods for involving universities in the
problems that exist in urban schools. The implementation of a service learning curriculum
at the university level is one way of addressing this need. Projects are designed to create a
reciprocal learning environment that not only beneﬁts the community receiving the services,

but actively educates the university service learning participant regarding social issues.

E2 '11 l'Sl IE [1' “1..

In the design of service learning projects there must be the integration of a
community need. The community need provides the focus for the service learning project.
For this study the community need was the development and stafﬁng of a school conﬂict
mediation program. The development of the school mediation program was a response to
the need to reduce violence in two urban elementary schools by teaching elementary
students the appropriate way to manage conﬂict.

The incidence of violence in urban schools has caused them to be characterized as

war zones and has made the educational process increasingly difﬁcult to implement

13
successfully. Urban schools, typically schools located in the central city, serve a diverse

population of African-American, Latino, American Indian, and other minorities, as well as
Caucasian students.

A characteristic of a majority of urban schools is a deﬁcient tax base due to the
linkage of school funding to property taxes, which are much lower in the central city than
their suburban counterparts, due to lower property values. Thus the total funds available to
be spent for educating a child in an urban school district are less than those available within
a suburban school district (Kozol, 1991). The urban school does not have the necessary
ﬁnancial resources to provide services beyond the basic essentials for meeting the minimum
standards of academic achievement.

Educators in these schools are often plagued with a multitude of social problems
with these students, as well as being responsible for educating them. The urban school is
at an economic disadvantage and unable to provide educational enrichment activities that
would address social issues, such as the management of conﬂict at school. The
development of service learning projects that address these community needs could provide
a resource for urban educators.

Urban schools, even with limited resources, still have a need to address the anti-
social behavior of children at school, as these behaviors interfere with the learning process
by affecting the school pedagogical and physical climate. Instances of violent behavior by
school age children at school have been correlated with the number of violent behaviors that
are acted out in front of these children at home and in the community (Widorrr, 1989). The
frequency of these occurrences can have a desensitizing effect on the child or reinforce a
violent response repertoire for dealing with conﬂict. The children model the behavior of
the community and bring those response patterns to school.

One response to the issue of violence at school is the establishment of conﬂict
mediation programs in urban schools throughout the country. All conﬂict mediation

programs are not developed as service learning programs. The advantage of utilizing the

14
service learning method to staff the program is the linkage that is formed with the university

and the minimal cost of stafﬁng the program. A secondary beneﬁt to the community would
be to increase the university participants' awareness of the needs of the urban communities.

Research has shown that the implementation of conﬂict mediation programs within
schools has been successful in curbing school violence (Brinkman, 1991; Burrell, 1990;
Jones, 1991). The conﬂict mediation model brings together teachers, parents, and
interested adults to provide the guidance, instruction, and support needed to encourage
these children in the use of nonviolent behavioral options to resolve their interpersonal
conﬂicts. The success of these programs, however, hinges on understanding not only the
overt signs of conﬂict that often lead to violence, but also the ways that children
individually respond within the context of their cultural and socioeconomic environment.

Donohue and Kolt (1992) deﬁne conﬂict as a situation in which interdependent
people express (manifest or latent) differences in satisfying their individual needs and
interests, and they experience interference from each other in accomplishing these goals.
Conﬂict mediation is a process whereby an impartial third party (peer mediator), with the
consent of the disputing parties (disputants), intervenes in a conﬂict and assists the
disputants in negotiating a resolution or settlement based on mutual agreement (Burrell &
Vogel, 1990; Davis, 1985). In the school setting, especially in the elementary school
model, peer mediators are students trained to interrupt the conﬂict before it escalates into
verbal or physical abuse. The model is adapted to utilize two students as mediators,
because two students are better able to handle the conﬂict situation, and it also equalizes the
relational context in that the number of mediators and disputants is often the same. The
peer mediators maintain an impartial stance and assist the disputants in rean the
conﬂict and generating a solution that the disputants can both accept.

The crux of the success of the conﬂict model rests on the disputants' initial

agreement to try to solve the problem with the help of the mediators, rather than with

15
assistance from the adult school personnel. The following rules are outlined by the

mediators, and the disputants must agree to adhere to each of them:

1. Try to solve the problem.

2. Take turns talking.

3. No interrupting or name calling.

4. Be honest.

Conﬂict mediation programs are effective in K-12 school settings, and in the
literature there is agreement that the basics of conﬂict mediation should be taught at the
elementary school level (Brinkman, 1991). There is disagreement on the grade level best
suited for speciﬁc conﬂict resolution strategies, according to Brinkman (1991).

The conﬂict mediation model provides a method for children to resolve their
conﬂicts by communicating and clarifying their goals and objectives and negotiating their
desired outcomes. This is accomplished by utilizing integrative communication designed to
promote relational objectives. This model also fosters communicative competence and
promotes the preservation of relationships. Cochrane and Myers (1980) believe that
children must learn verbal, nonphysical solutions to problems. The conﬂict mediation
model provides those skills to help urban children realize that all interpersonal
disagreements do not need to be resolved by physical force. The conﬂict mediation model
achieves this goal through its focus on verbal expression and active listening. It is hoped
that the replication of these learned responses can be generalized and adapted when the
child is confronted with other conﬂict situations outside of school.

Brinkman (1991, p. 29) concluded that "Once students are freed from the need to
be defensive, once they know they are not being judged and become conﬁdent that they are
being listened to carefully, they discover their innate ability to let go of their anger and to
begin to think constructively."

Conﬂict mediation programs have been established in predominantly urban and
suburban school districts throughout the country. Brinkman (1991) also noted that

16
multicultural urban schools have shown a reduction in violence, despite critical questions

about the reality of success in intense settings such as these. The establishment of school
mediation programs has impacted the use of traditional methods of school discipline. This
research has shown evidence of a beneﬁcial shift away from externally controlling students
who are engaging in conﬂict toward teaching them to control themselves. This type of
programming has additionally been shown to impact positively on esteem levels, grade
point averages, and on fostering leadership development. The long-range effects of this
type of training are beneﬁcial not only to the school environment, but also to society.
Brinkman (1991) and Burrell (1990) have stated that children need to gain greater control
over their lives at school, and that these programs provide them with a method for problem
solving and conﬂict resolution that can be utilized in the larger societal context.

The conﬂict mediation program provided a community service project for the
university students for the purposes of this research. The project was designed to meet the
needs of the children attending the schools by creating a safer environment in which to
learn and socialize, and to teach them how to handle interpersonal conﬂict more effectively.
The results of the conﬂict mediation intervention were not measured; the researcher focused
on the attitudes of the university service learning participant who served as a facilitator for
the conﬂict mediation project. The researcher was interested in the impact of the service
learning experience on the university student participants rather than in the overall
effectiveness of the conﬂict mediation project.

5 . l B '1 T
In reviewing participant outcomes in service learning, the literature reports that the

method promotes social responsibility (Giles and Eyler, 1994; Kendall, 1990; Stanton,
1987). The service learning design moves the student participant along a continuum of
problem solving that extends beyond the cognitive activity of the classroom to hands-on

applications in the problem setting.

17
The assessment of the outcomes of the service learning cuniculum indicates that it

is useful in creating social responsibility in the university students who participate in the
service learning program (Giles & Eyler, 1994). Universities have been challenged for
years by the need to design curricula that will address the educational needs of the social
practitioner and the theoretician. Service learning engages the learner in societal
interactions and issues by providing a vehicle for issue-based problem solving. By
educating the service learner about the issues that impact the people and institutions in the
community through the use of reﬂective discussion, the service learning process facilitates
collaborative problem solving that leads to the formulation of solutions that may challenge
the societal structure of the community while fostering social responsibility. The use of
service learning as a method for creating social change needs further research, however.
By giving university students the opportunity to engage in community-relevant
issues, the university is moving beyond the theoretical and is becoming actively engaged in
the process of community change and community development. The university becomes a
laboratory school similar to the Dewey prototype by bridging the gap between the
classroom and the community. If the needs of urban communities and schools are to be
addressed, it is necessary to move away from the global stereotyping of urban residents as
unsalvageable and perpetually disenfranchised. The development of attitudes that reﬂect
social responsibility within the university service learner can be one way to create and

change perceptions.

E . l l l . l l l
Attitudes are learned and not innate, are relatively enduring, and affect behavior
(Petty & Cacioppo, 1981). Attitudes have been assessed by both direct and indirect
methods (O'Keefe, 1990). Direct methods are those methods in which the subjects are
aware that their attitudes are being studied, as in the use of survey instruments. Indirect

methods involve the gathering of data in a way that does not make the attitude measure

l8
obvious to the subject, i.e., through observation, or as in this study, through the use of

archival documents or journals. Direct methods are most commonly used and are
considered to be the most reliable. Indirect methods can be employed, however, in
situations in which the researcher feels that the subjects will distort their self reports.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether participation in the service
learning curriculum assisted in the formation of attitudes that reﬂected social responsibility.
The following research questions were posed:

1. Do the student journals contain themes that reﬂect social responsibility?

2. What are the themes of the student journals?

3. What are the most frequently reported themes?

4. What are the relationships between the themes?
The content of the written journals of the students was analyzed to determine whether the
journals contained themes that were reﬂective of social responsibility. Given the service
learning curriculum design, it is proposed that the student journals would reﬂect themes
that indicate social responsibility.

Chapter III
METHODS

Subjects

The sample consisted of thirteen university students who had signed up for the
community service independent study option. Three of these students were assigned as
coordinators and had administrative respbnsibilities along with program participation.
There were nine females and four males in the study. The subjects were junior level and

above, from various academic majors.

Rummage:

The nine-week independent study met for two hours twice each week in a
conference room in the Service Learning Center, and the students were assigned to work at
the schools an average of three hours per week. The course format was lecture, group
reﬂection and discussion, and group activities relative to the conﬂict mediation project. The
group activities included experiential learning activities, such as ﬁeld trips, and role playing
conﬂict situations and the resolution process. There was time set aside to prepare for
organized events developed by each school for the elementary school conﬂict mediators.

The university students were required to maintain a written journal annotating their
thoughts and feelings regarding the project. The journals were collected at the end of the
project. Once per week during class, students participated in reﬂection sessions. These
sessions were designed to get collective feedback through discussion about the events of
the previous week. Students who had encountered problems during the week could talk
about them with the group and receive feedback that would assist in the resolution of the

issues and provide a supportive environment for the venting of frustration. The university

l9

20
students were expected to attend class sessions in addition to supervising and training

conﬂict mediators at the elementary schools.

The ﬁrst week of the course was spent on university student orientation to the
program and a review of the course syllabus. The purpose of these sessions was to
reinforce the importance of the students' commitment to the goals of the project, and to
inform them of the various types of service learning projects being conducted with
university students in communities around the United States. The instructor emphasized
that it was the responsibility of each student to decide why he/she was taking the course.
The students were not asked to comment aloud about this, but just to think about it. A
documentary video entitled W was shown. The video highlighted various
service learning projects and featured students who discussed how their involvement in
service learning programs had changed their perspective on community issues.

As an introduction to community needs, the instructor gave an overview of the
history of poverty and its impact on children in communities similar to those where the
students would be working. The instructor reviewed two divergent perspectives on the
causes of poverty—the culture of poverty and the structural perspective. The culture of
poverty implies that those in poverty are in that state due to innate character ﬂaws, whereas
the structural view maintains that there are societal inﬂuences that establish and perpetuate
poverty (Patterson, 1986).

During the second week, class sessions consisted of an experiential learning activity
designed to sensitize students to the transportation needs of people in poverty, who may
not have the use of an automobile. In urban areas, public transportation is often utilized by
persons at or below the poverty line, since the costs of car ownership and insurance may be
prohibitive. The students were given the assignment of planning a ﬁeld trip to one of the
school sites utilizing the city bus system. They were to select one student as the

coordinator; this person was responsible for obtaining bus schedules and providing

21
information about the routes. All students were required to attend the ﬁeld trip and to ride

the bus. After the ﬁeld trip, a discussion of the experience was conducted.

The third week introduced the students to the developmental issues of school-aged
children, with an emphasis on children in urban areas who live in households that exist at
or below the poverty line. A guest lecturer was from the 4—H Youth Program was invited
to discuss the topic Mason.

The fourth week was set aside for learning the method for conducting conﬂict
mediation sessions. Committees for the planning and stafﬁng of the elementary school-
sponsored events were also established. Weeks ﬁve through nine were spent on in-service
activities that were designed to prepare the university students for their assignments at the
schools.

A major project for the semester was a fund raiser designed to provide ﬁnancial and
social support for the mediation program at one of the schools. The university students
solicited donors and provided activities for the children the night of the event. Parents,
friends, and students were invited to attend. The university students were responsible for
all promotional activities and for follow-up after the event. This event enabled the
university students to socialize with the community while providing stafﬁng for the fund

raiser.

Meghan;

Data were collected from the journals of the university service learning participants.
The service learning participants were required to maintain a joumal of their signiﬁcant
thoughts regarding the program and to submit their journal entries to the instructor on a
weekly basis. Each journal entry was to be dated, but students were not required to keep a
daily log. Students were aware that the instructor would read their comments, but they
were encouraged to be candid in their thoughts regarding the program The journals were

collected at the end of the nine-week program, and a content analysis was conducted.

22

W

Based on the research of Giles and Eyler (1994), ﬁve themes that reﬂected social
responsibility were used for the content analysis. Two independent coders were used to
analyze the data. One coder was blind to the intent of the research. The coders were given
the following instructions and guidelines :

CODER INSTRUCTIONS:

Read the journal and underline each theme with the appropriate color, using
colored highlighter pens. Each theme should be distinctive, with no
overlapping of themes. The unit of analysis is the sentence. There may be
more than one sentence per theme.

W

Statements that reﬂect empathetic understanding. Statements are based on
personal knowledge of a situation or person. These statement are based on
feeling or affective issues.

Examples: 0 I remember what it was like to be ten years old.
0 It must be difﬁcult not to have a car and to have to use the
bus.

IheneZLGLluel

Statements that reﬂect that one can make a difference. Statements that
directly state the theme or indirect statements that indicate that the participant
perceives the program to have created a change.

Examples: 0 I realize how important we are to these kids.
°Ithinkthatthekids have leamedalotfromtheprogram.

MW)

Statements that reﬂect the importance of participation. Statements that
directly or indirectly attach positive value to participating in this particular
program or in service-oriented programs in general.

Examples: 0 It is important to give back to the community.
0 I'm glad that I signed up for the program.

Them 4; (yellow)

Statements that reﬂect an understanding of the social/structural issues and
their relationship to the expressed human needs, problems, and inequities.

Examples: 0 It is hard for these kids to pay for things because their
parents are unemployed.

23

0 These kids eat a lot of sweets, and this could be the reason
for their hyperactivity.

Wee)

Statements that reﬂect a desire to continue community service after the
program ends.

Examples: 0 I plan to do this next semester.
0 I plan to do community service after I graduate.

CODING SYSTEM:

Score + if statements reﬂect the theme.

Score 0 if the theme is not present.
Coders were instructed to read the journals and identify the themes. The unit of analysis
was the sentence. Each time a theme was identiﬁed, it received a +1 rating. The total

number of sentences for each theme was calculated.

Chapter IV
RESULTS

Reliability was calculated by using Cohen’s Kappa. Inter-rater reliability was .78.
This result was sufﬁcient to allow further analysis of the data.

Table 1 shows the sample means and standard deviations for the identiﬁed themes.
The most frequently occurring theme was munmnancegﬂpamdpaﬁgn (M = 8.61). This
theme was identiﬁed by statements that directly or indirectly attached positive value to
program participation. This theme was reported approximately nine times per student.

The second theme was WWW (M = 5.69). This theme was
identiﬁed by statements that reﬂected an understanding of the social/structural issues and
their relationship to the expressed human needs, problems, and inequities. This theme was
reported approximately six times per student.

The third theme was Wm (M = 1.53). This theme was identiﬁed by
statements that directly or indirectly indicated that the program created change for the
participants. This theme was reported approximately two times per student.

The fourth theme was Wing (M = 1.46). This theme was
identiﬁed by statements that were based on personal knowledge of a situation, person,
event, etc. This theme was reported approximately one time per student.

The ﬁfth theme was W (M =.15). This theme was
indicated by statements that indicated a desire to continue community service after the
program was completed. This theme was reported by only two participants in the sample.

Table 2 shows the correlation coefﬁcients for the data. Statistical analysis revealed
signiﬁcant relationships between the impggﬂce of participation and making a difference ,

r = .73, p < .003, such that the more important one thought it was to participate in the

24

25
program, the more one thought that one could make a difference in the community. Given

the sample size (N=l3), this result is a major ﬁnding. These data suggest that there is a
strong relationship between WW and makingadifference.
Further statistical analysis revealed a moderate relationship between empathetic
W and i n in , r = .45, p < .06, and a moderate
relationship between mimnenanmfnartieinaticn and eentinu'mgmmmunitxserxiee

r = .40, p < .08. Hence, the more empathic understanding one expressed about
participation in the project, the greater the social/structural understanding one expressed.
Moreover, the more important one considered participation to be, the more likely one was

to wish to continue community service.

26
Table 1.

uenies f oi R niili Thmes

 

Subjects ([1 = 13)

 

3 Importance of Participation

 

Social/Structural Understanding

 

Making a Difference

 

Empathetic Understanding

 

Continuing Community Service

 

 

 

Table 2.

Correlation Cmfﬁcients

I _ __ _ *_ ___.__-________ “”“V ”VATIﬁ
I I
I-- my

27

 

 

 

 

i Continue 1.0000 .2826 .2857 .4021 —.1030
i (13) (13) (13) (13) (13)
I P=. P=.175 p=.172 p=.087 p=.369
I Difference .2826 1.0000 .2648 .7253 -.O346
I (13) (13) (13) (13) (13)
I P=.175 p=. P=.191 p=.003 p=.455
I Empathy .2857 .2648 1.000 .4089 .4476
(13) (13) (13) (13) (13)

; P=.172 p=.191 p=. P=.083 p=.408
; Participation .4021 .7253 .4089 1.0000 .0719
' (13) (13) (13) (13) (13)

ll P=.087 p=.003 p=.083 p=. P=.408
i Structure -.1030 -.O346 .4476 .0719 1.0000
1 (13) (13) (13) (13) (13)
. P=.369 p=.455 p=.063 p=.408 p=.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter V
DISCUSSION

This study examined whether or not the students engaged in this service learning
project would develop attitudes indicative of social responsibility, as reﬂected in their
journal entries.

The assessment of attitudes by content analysis provides an indirect measure, in that
the subjects provided anecdotal information that reﬂected their attitudes about the service
learning project. It was apparent, however, that the journal accounts did reﬂect the
subjects' personal attitudes and were not, in most cases, just a report of program details.
Active participation in the program contributed a behavioral component to attitude
formation, in that most of the attitudes reﬂected were expressed in response to an activity or
event that occurred during the program, or to an encounter with an individual who was a
part of the program. The attitude measure was not based on hypothetical questions posed
on a survey; it was directly linked to a behavior or event that occurred in the service
learning project. The attitude measures were based on the university service learning
participants' practical experience with the curriculum of the project; the measures utilized
ﬁrst-hand accounts of the experience through self-reports in the subjects' journals. The
university service learning participants were not prompted by the design of a survey to give
a particular response, but their responses were their personal reﬂections on the curriculum,
posed in their own words—not those of the researcher.

In a study conducted by Giles and Eyler (1994), a survey was administered which
included open-ended questions that elicited narrative responses. The narrative responses,
however, were precipitated by guided questions. For this thesis, the researcher designed

the study so as to determine whether or not the service learning university participants
28

29
would reﬂect attitudes of social responsibility in their self-reports without being prompted

by leading questions. The results of this study indicate that, in fact, these students did
report attitudes that were indicative of social responsibility.

The most frequently reported theme was the W. This
theme was identiﬁed by statements that indicated the importance of participation by directly
or indirectly attaching positive value to this particular service learning program, or to
service programs in general.

The following journal entries were judged to attach positive value to participation in
service learning:

The ﬁlm was good, but the class got better.
I think the ﬁeld trip was a good idea.

This is my third and last term with (class name), and overall, I felt, by far
the best term for the program.

I participate for the children, although by making the children feel good, I
receive my own rewards and feel accomplishments of my own.

Today was a great learning experience—one which none of us will ever
forget.

All in all, I feel that we had a very productive term.

I feel that this program helped many children and aided in their defense
against themselves and others.

Class was fun today.

Wow! The organization and structure of today’s trip to (school name) was
incredible.

It shows a lot can be accomplished with teamwork.
This program, given to youths at such a young age is a deﬁnite positive.

I also felt that everyone in the class took everything seriously. Everyone
made a conscious effort to give something to the students.

I deﬁnitely believe I have beneﬁted, and the youths have beneﬁted, from
this course.

The next theme was a W of the issues that affected the

community in which the university students were working. The students reported both

3O

collective understanding of these issues and also reported instances that were speciﬁc to the

individual.

In discussing the experiential activity that required the university student

participants to use public transportation to get to one of the program sites, several students

reported:

Most of the class consists of middle class college students who don’t have
any idea what it is like not having a car to get around. It showed everyone
how much of an inconvenience it is to have to take a bus.

It gave students a chance to get a feel for the area around the school. This is
important, as it reinforced what type of students we were going to be
working with.

It was interesting, though, when it was brought to my attention to think
about what it would be like to have to rely on other rrreans of transportation,
such as the bus system. I guess I do take some things for granted, and I
think, out of all this, I did learn a valuable lesson.

We all gained some lessons that afternoon: learning the bus times, learning
the bus routes, dressing for the fall mid—day weather, mapping out our
destinations, and preparing for non-planned conﬂicts. We realized the
critical importance of all these lessons and began to feel fortunate for the
cars and education we had of our own.

The ﬁeld trip we took as a class at ﬁrst seemed very meaningless and
wasteful, but when I sat back and looked at what we did, I could see the
purpose. If the buses ran smoothly I think everyone would have had a
better time, but we were frustrated when everything didn’t go as planned,
and I think this was one of the reasons for doing this. Many of these kids'
families probably use the bus system, and I can see how they might be
frustrated when they can’t get where they want on time. We also got to see
what kinds of neighborhoods these kids grow up in, and they really are
pretty run-down neighborhoods.

In reporting on the lecture, Wm, university students reported:

I had no idea that there were so many problems with kids and that they have
stresses in life that are often difﬁcult to handle.

I guess I never knew just how much one’s childhood experiences can affect
the way that they grow up.

Many children are experiencing violence and peer pressure at very young
ages.

3 1

Other reports included general statements relative to social structural understanding:
I know a lot of these children come from working class and disadvantaged
homes, however this does not mean that they don’t have hopes and dreams.
They are no less a child as any other child because of their home
environment. We need to inspire them and give them hope and make them
understand that they are important and that with hard work dreams do come
true.

These comments were in response to planning the fund-raiser and considering how

the economic status of the families could affect the participation of the children:

I drink having the games free was a great idea, because the kids have little
money.

We have discussed the ﬁnancial difﬁculty of some of the children and did
not think it was fair to charge the children.

I had been to the playground earlier that day, and a lot of the kids said that
their parents wouldn’t give them money to go. It made me very sad.

The cuniculum design for service learning provides the academic and theoretical
basis for understanding the issues relative to the community service project. In this case
the key issues were 1) poverty and its impact on children and 2) violence and its resolution
in the school setting. Therefore, the community service was augmented with issue-based
lectures and experientially-based activities that provided information relative to the issues of
poverty and children and violence and its resolution. The lectures and the experiential
activities provided the knowledge base from which students could begin to reﬂect and draw
conclusions regarding the individual and social implications of these issues. Without the
service learning design, some students would not have a process for understanding the
issues that were the foundation for the development of the service learning project.

The next theme reported was mahngjdifferenee. This theme is identiﬁed by
statements that directly or indirectly state that the program created a change in the
participants. This theme refers to the changes that the program created in all program
participants. The program participants could be the university student participants or the

community participants.

32
The key to this deﬁnition is the evidence of a discenrible difference that can be

linked to participation in the program. The following are examples from the journals of the
university student participants related to this theme:
It mademerealize thattherereally is alotofpotentialtoreally make a
difference in these children’s lives and received a personal reward from

helping them

It gave me a sense of accomplishment whenever I made a student
understand something.

We showed them how to solve the problem.

I think the kids made it work. I really enjoyed the interaction with the kids
and seeing them learn something that they can use throughout their lives.

This program also helps develop self-esteem and self-conﬁdence in the
youths.

Some were quite experienced in conﬂict resolution, while others obviously
have a lot to learn.

This a very important program for the kids, and they can learn a lot from it.

We also helped the (school name) students realize how important the role of
mediator is and what an honor it is to be a (mediator team name) member.

I was glad to see the parents and their children bonding and felt good about
offering something so positive for them.

I think everyone this term did a really good job working together and helped
both schools' mediation programs improve.

The university students tended to comment most frequently on the way in which
their participation in the program had brought change into the lives of the community
participants. They tended to report the change or impacts of the program as a positive
occurrence. However, Giles and Eyler (1994) report that there is no evidence that suggests
that community service equals positive change. There is a need for further research on the
attitudes of the community participants to determine whether service learning projects are
making a positive impact on them.

The next theme reported was emoatheﬁeundemtanding. This theme is identiﬁed by

the student’s personal knowledge of a situation or person. These statements were based on

33
feeling or affective issues. Examples in the journals that related to the lecture, Chﬂdhmd

Stream. were:

She brought us back to the 4th grade and made it easier for us to feel and
think like a kid.

Doing this exercise allowed me to relate better and to understand more why
kids do the things they do.

This was a very useful and effective way to help us get in touch with what it
was like at that age.

She did this activity to remind us of how we acted as children in the
elementary school and to remind us of what was special to us and what we
thought was important at that time in our lives. It put us in the shoes of the
children that we were going to be working with.
It only made me realize how lucky I have been. I may have had some hard
times like everyone, but I am fortunate to have come from a happy middle
class home.
Other examples of empathetic understanding were in reference to the use of the city bus to
get to one of the project sites:
As for myself, I have had to rely on many fornrs of public transportation in
my life, including subways, trains, and buses, but not everyone in the class
has had that experience, so it was a good idea.
I can understand now just how terrible it would be not to have a car.
This wasn’t really a new experience for me, because I’ve grown up in
Detroit all my life, but I think a few people in the class were unfamiliar with
these types of areas.

The ﬁnal theme, W. was identiﬁed by direct statements
that reﬂected a desire to continue community service after the program ended. The
examples of this theme were:

It made me think that even when I’m done with this class and out in the
working world, I’d still like to do some volunteer work somewhere because
it’s so rewarding

I am deﬁnitely interested in volunteer work at (school name) next term.

The examples given show that the journal writings of the university service learning
participants reﬂected the themes that indicate social responsibility. The journals indicated

that students reported themes reﬂective of social responsibility without the use of survey

34
questions. This result offers support for the premise that service learning programs assist

in the development of attitudes that reﬂect social responsibility.

In the study conducted by Giles and Eyler (1994), students were asked if they
planned to return to their service site the following semester, to state the number of hours
that they anticipated volunteering, and if they had speciﬁc plans to continue community
service. Fifty-ﬁve of ﬁfty-six students stated tlmt they planned to continue volunteer
service after the program ended. It is possible that the students were responding positively
to this question in order to present themselves favorably.

The content analysis of the journals provided responses that were not solicited by
the researcher, but were the result of personal reﬂection on the part of the students. It is
possible that other participants would have indicated their willingness to continue
community service given the appropriate prompt. However, this researcher contends that
the use of the journal helps eliminate bias in the assessment of whether or not service
learning develops attitudes that reﬂect social responsibility.

The second phase of this study was to determine if there were any relationships
between the reﬂected themes. The results indicate that there was a strong correlation
between Won and makingedifferenee. This correlation indicates
that university student participants who felt that it was important to participate also felt
strongly that they were making a difference.

There are a number of theoretical explanations for these ﬁndings. Dissonance
theory holds that if attitudes and behaviors are inconsistent that the individual will seek to
reduce the dissonance by altering the importance of the elements. In this case, the
participants must feel that they are making a difference due to their participation and that
participation must be important, or they would not be doing this. The service learning
project was a choice for the students, so their participation would seem illogical if they did
not evaluate it favorably. Considering the amount of time and effort that participation

required, the participants had to justify that expenditure by increasing the value of the

35
experience. However, with dissonance explanations, once the dissonance is reduced, and

the subject is no longer confronted by the attitude element, the attitudes tend to revert to
their previous levels.

A second explanation is self-perception theory. Self perception theory holds that
individuals who do not have strong attitudes toward an element will infer their attitudes
from their behaviors. The participants would view the service learning experience as
valuable because they were involved in it. This would be the beginning of a behavioral
foundation for the development of attitudes and would continue after the program ended.
The initial behavior of signing up for the program and their subsequent participation in the
content would comprise a behavioral repertoire upon which students could conclude that
they found program participation to be important.

A third explanation deals with indirect and direct methods for determining the
magnitude of an attitude. This explanation would indicate that students who had direct
behavioral experience would have stronger and more lasting attitudes. The fact that
participants received hands-on experience in dealing with the community issue, as well as
follow-up in the classroom, heightened their involvement in and understanding of the
issues involved. Their attitudes would be strengthened by the practical experience gained
by being directly involved with the project. The hands-on approach of service learning
provides an anchor for the development of enduring attitudes reﬂective of social
responsibility.

The strong correlation between the students' perceptions of theimmﬂanoeof
mum and W indicates an important linkage between these two
aspects of service learning programs. If students are allowed to experience situations
where their personal efforts bring change, then they are more likely to feel that the
community participants are capable of change and that it is important to be actively

involved.

36
The university student participants felt that their efforts increased the likelihood that

the elementary students could resolve their conﬂicts and create a peaceful environment in
their school setting. An extension of this perception would be the development of a
mediation center in the community for the resolution of conﬂicts between neighborhood
residents. At a time when political apathy is prevalent, service learning programs may
provide a model for engaging students in the democratic process. The results of this study
provide support for the conclusions of Giles and Eyler (1994) that service learning
participants reported that they could make a difference in their community. The ability to be
an active participant in the process of change is the crux of the democratic process and
suggests an area for further research on the impact of service learning programs.

There was a moderate relationship between emoatheﬁgmderstand’mg and axial
W, with signiﬁcance levels close enough to be important. This
ﬁnding would indicate that as the university service learning participants gathered more
information regarding the social/structural issues that communities were faced with, they
became more empathetic, and the more empathy they had, the more likely they were to
understand the social structural issues. Empathy involves a personal encounter that the
student can relate to, rather than something that he or she has heard about and sympathizes
with. Students may be sympathetic to a cause, but empathy comes only through
experience. The service leanring method provided the experiences that led to empathy. An
example was the ﬁeld trip utilizing the bus. The participants who had never used the bus
could begin to empathize with bus riders, once they had experienwd it themselves. They
could have been sympathetic before the experience, but true empathy occurs as a function
of experience.

There was also a moderate relationship between the importance of participation and
continuing community service. Those students who felt that it was important to participate
were more likely to express a desire to continue in community service projects. The crux

of social responsibility is a life-long commitment to community service. However, even

37
though the students expressed the behavioral intention to continue community service, data

were not gathered to determine if they actually did continue community service.

The use of the service learning method has shown that students will develop
attitudes that reﬂect social responsibility. The development of attitudes that reﬂect social
responsibility is important for the ongoing development of urban communities, as they are
often are overlooked in the allocation of funding, due to a lack of understanding or empathy
for the populations that inhabit those areas. The service learning method is one way to
impact future policy while providing university students with experientially—based
knowledge of the issues that communities and their inhabitants face. A democratic society
provides equal access for all people to the beneﬁts of the society. It is only through
creating a better knowledge base, not built around stereotypes, but around facts and
experience, that we can hope to bring change to urban centers.

This study took a myopic look at one community issue, poverty and violence in the
schools, and showed that with the proper methods the university student would become
more socially astute and empathetic and would desire to continue to be involved in these
types of projects. It is by this means that the university will become more relevant to the
needs of all of society.

I . . . E l S I
This study could have beneﬁted from a larger sample. More data might have been

gathered if a modiﬁed questionnaire had been used to assess the pre- and post-service
learning levels of social responsibility. The nanatives of ﬁrst-time service learning
participants should be analyzed and reported separately. Perhaps the results indicating a
development of social responsibility would not be as signiﬁcant for ﬁrst-time participants
as for participants who had had previous service learning experiences. If the nanatives of
ﬁrst-time participants were analyzed separately, this could provide information as to the

long-term or cumulative effects of service learning. Also, the collection of data should

38
occur at intervals so that the researcher would have a date for each narrative and a

continuum on which to base any attitude change that occurred over time. Some students
may well have written all their journal entries at the end of the project, just to fulﬁll the
requirement, rather than using the writing as a reﬂective exercise throughout the entire
experience. The best approach would be to design a longitudinal study that follows up on
the participants one year following the experience to determine if they are engaged in
service learning activities or community service projects. There should be a pre-service
questionnaire to determine the amount of community service experience that students have

had prior to participation in the service learning projects.

I I. . E E l B I

To test for the presence of dissonance, the design of the study could include a
pre/post inventory of social responsibility. For example, if students indicated initially that
they felt that it was important to participate, but did not feel that they were making a
difference, then their participation could cause dissonance. If those students then stated
that they thought they had made a difference at the end of the program, it could mean that
they had reduced their level of dissonance in order to justify their participation. It would be
necessary to conduct a follow-up interview or survey with the program participants at some
future point to see if they were still involved in service learning programs or community
service and to what they attributed their involvement. The students whose attitudes were a
result of dissonance should no longer be involved in community service, because the stated
attitude change was based on the resolution of the dissonance.

To test for the effects of self-perception, a similar design could be used, with a
pre/post inventory for service learning participants and for a control group. The students in
the control group would be engaged in community service that did not include the academic
content or the journals for reﬂection. If the attitudes are a result of the degree of

involvement in the program, it would follow that the students involved in the service

39
leanring program would have the stronger and the more enduring attitudes. This group

would also be a part of a follow-up study to see if they were involved in community
projects and to what they attributed their involvement.

To test for the effect of direct methods on the magnitude of attitudes and the
building of a behavioral foundation for attitudes, the design of the study could include three
comparison groups. The three groups would consist of students who study about the
social issue, students who are involved in community service that addresses the social
issue, and students who are engaged in service leanring. Theoretically, the students in the
service learning group should have the stronger attitudes, due to the academic and the
enhanced behavioral component of the program design. These students would need to be
surveyed at a speciﬁed point in time to determine their attitudes and their level of continued
community involvement.

Further research needs to be conducted on how service learning impacts students
who have never been involved in community service projects. 18 service learning
participation affected by the socioecononric background of the university participant? Also,
what is the socioeconomic level of students who are ﬁequently engaged in service learning
projects? In this study most of the students had automobiles to travel to the program site.
Would the result have been different for students who had to use public transportation?
Wlmt types of academic majors are most frequently represented in service learning projects?
Are social science majors more likely to participate in the project rather than students in the
"hard" sciences? These are just a few of the possibilities for future research as the

emerging ﬁeld of service learning evolves.

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