Service Learning: Ideas

SERVICE LEARNING IDEAS

The following is a list of some of the service learning ideas:

Food Bank - Students organize a food drive, visit a food bank, research issues of hunger and interview people about the causes of poverty and hunger in our city. They can write reflections about the experience as well as writing poems, developing a website or creating a short video about their experiences.

Flower Power - Students decorate pottery and place flowers in each pot. From there, they deliver the flowers to a nursing home, where they interview the residents and create a podcast. Afterward, they reflect upon generational differences and their own feelings about age and agism in society.

Graffiti Busting - Students do a community Needs Assessment, where they interview neighbors about the influence of graffiti on the community. They can go beyond this, into research and explore their own ideas. Then, on a weekend, they paint over graffiti in the community. Afterward, they write reflections on the process and can even write new reflections if the areas get tagged up again.

It Takes a Village - Students find ways to honor the people in their community (and at the school) who make their education happen. They can write thank you notes or put on a breakfast for classified staff members.

Nothing But Nets - Students research the effects of malaria on the body and use Google Maps to find areas of Africa with high malaria rates. Afterward, they find innovative fundraisers to raise money for nets. Within their reflections, they should consider the difficulty of serving people who live so far away.

Soldier Letters / Care Package - Students write thank you notes and create care packages for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. This can work well with additional interviews with soldiers.