Service-Learning through STEAM Courses

Amanda Gowin, Ed.D.

Tami Ensor (Streeter), Ed.D.

Westminster College

Fulton, MO

Service-Learning: What is it?

• Method of teaching, learning, and reflecting
• Incorporates community work into the curriculum
• Real-world learning experiences
• Experiential Learning – Learning by Doing
• Enhance academic learning + provide a benefit to the community
• Different than volunteering or community service

Common Themes of Service Learning

Weigert (1998) identified six common themes that should be considered as criteria for a true service-learning experience:

1. Students provide a meaningful service.

2. The service that students provide meets an identified need or goal.

3. Members of the community are actively involved in defining the need.

4. The services have a direct connection to the learning outcomes of the course.

5. Reflective.

6. Students are being evaluated on their reflections and learning—not on the

fact that they have provided a service.

Outcomes of Service-Learning

Service-Learning has been shown to influence:

• Cognitive factors
• Knowledge, Awareness, Attitudes, Values
• Environmental Factors
• Physical and Social Factors
• Behaviors
• Skills, Intentions, Reinforcement
• Self-Efficacy

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Key Component: Reflection Activities

• The Mirror: Reflecting on ourselves. What did I learn about myself? Will this experience change the way you act or think in the future? What strengths did you have?

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• The Microscope: Reflecting on ways that the small connects with the large. What happened? What more needs to happen? Does this experience support and strengthen my ideas about the things I have been learning in this course? What have I learned about this community or community need? Did I have an impact?

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• The Binoculars: Bringing the large and distant closer. What does the future hold? How is this agency or service provider impacted by the political climate? What can I do to support efforts in this area? Were you able to identify underlying issues that influence the problem? Is this sustainable?

Example of Service Learning: STEAM Night

Education majors collaborated with health, math, and science majors to create STEAM learning stations for 3rd-5th grade students in our community.

Goals for STEAM Night Service Learning

• To provide opportunities for elementary students and their families to learn about science, health and math and get excited about these subjects.
• To provide outreach opportunities for our students and faculty to the Fulton Community
• To provide opportunities for Westminster students to apply their learning about science, health, and math.
• To provide opportunities for Westminster students to learn soft skills that are necessary in all aspects of life.
• To identify and apply teaching strategies necessary for students to learn STEAM concepts.

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Design a STEAM Station

Students used this template as a guide to create their STEAM station

1. Sign up with a partner
2. Decide on a STEAM topic
3. Create/design your STEAM station (Learning)
4. Teach your STEAM station (Service)
5. Reflect on your experience (Learning)

Examples of Service-Learning in STEAM

Dr.David Schmidt: Meet Shady the Triceratops

Science

Engineering: design a robot!

ART

International students teach how to create clothing in their country .

Nutrition

Technology: Coding

Math

Student Reflections on STEAM Night

Jane:

“I learned that kids want to learn with hands-on experiments and not a slide show. We showed our slide show to the first group of students who walked in and they were very uninterested. We quickly realized that we can teach to them as they’re playing and have them repeat it back to us to make sure they are listening.”

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Sally:

I learned what the term viscosity meant. None of the students knew this vocabulary term either, so it was fun teaching them about that word. They got to answer fun questions about viscosity and Oobleck that made them think on a deeper level. I learned that science is about exploring! If the students think they know it all, they are wrong. There is always a question that they will need to explore and experiment with.

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Roz:

“This experience allowed me to understand science and how engaging it can be for students when they are given hands-on activities. I learned lots about electricity and how conductors and insulators work. I was actually surprised that play-dough on its own is a conductor.”

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Service-Learning Examples

• EDU/HES207: School Health, Nutrition, P.E., & Safety
• 8-week health education service-learning experience partnered with local elementary schools
• Students learn and work on curriculum in-class and then provide lessons and reflect

Service-Learning Examples, con’t

• HES357 Community Nutrition
• Students use the Public Health Approach to Create a Nutrition Intervention at a Community Site

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Service-Learning in Exercise Science

Classroom Outcomes

• Students are creative! (We knew this already)
• Reflections demonstrated that the students providing the service are changing their health behaviors after providing health education.
• Participants are assessed before and after – they are developing more skills, changing behaviors, and increasing knowledge.
• Relationship building
• Authentic experiences allow students to apply learning

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Capstones examples:

Nutrition at Day Solutions

Stay Strong Stay Healthy

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Action – what can you do to incorporate service-learning in STEAM?

Roadmap to Service Learning

Additional Ideas for Service-Learning

Campus Compact Resources

Questions

Amanda W. Gowin Ed.D

Associate Professor

Amanda.Gowin@westminster-mo.edu

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Tami Ensor (Streeter) Ed.D

Associate Professor of Education

Tami.Ensor@westminster-mo.edu

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REFERENCES

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Astin, A., Vogelgesang, L., Ikeda, E., & Yee, J. (2000). How service learning affects students. Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.

Bandura, A. (2004). Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health Education & Behavior, 31(2), 143-164.

Campus Compact. (2010). Looking in reaching out: A reflective guide for community service-learning professionals. Campus Compact.

Campus Compact. (2017). Resources for service learning in higher education.

https://compact.org/resource-posts/?wpv_post_search=service-learning+in+higher+education

Chen, T., Snell, R., & Wu, C. (2018). Comparing the effects of service-learning versus

nonservice-learning project experiences on service learning leadership emergence and meaning schema transformation. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 17(4), 474-495. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2016.0309

Glanz, K., Rimer, B., & Viswanth, K. (2015). Health behavior: Theory, research, and practice (5th ed.). Jossey-Bass.

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REFERENCES

Gray, V., Glavan, C., & Donlin, A. (2017). The integration of service-learning research into a community nutrition course. Family & Consumer Sciences, 45(3), 257-271. https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12199

Indiana Wesleyan University. (2007). The toolbox. Indiana Westleyan University. 5(6). https://sc.edu/nrc/system/pub_files/05_05.pdf

Jacoby, B. (2015). Service-learning essentials: Questions, answers, and lessons learned. Wiley.

Kuh, G. D. (2015). Continuity and change: 20 years of About Campus. About Campus, 20(5), 4-13. https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21215

Rasberry, C. (2006). Teaching nutrition concepts through service learning. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 38(1), 59-60.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2005.11.020

Salimbene, F., Buono, A., Van Steenberg Lafarge, V., & Nurick, A. (2005). Service-learning and management education: The Bentley experience. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(3), 336-344. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40214330

Worsley, A. (2002). Nutrition knowledge and food consumption: Can nutrition knowledge change food behaviour? Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 11(3), S579–S585. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-6047.11.supp3.7.x

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