Capturing the Experience: Transforming Community Service into Service Learning

Using a quasi-experimental design, this case study outlines the author's application of specific techniques necessary to implement a service learning component in an introductory sociology class. It also systematically compares the outcomes from two groups of students, one of which was involved in relatively unstructured community work and the other in a structured service learning assignment and examines the benefits experienced from this transformation. Although adding the structure necessary to accomplish effective service learning involved careful preliminary reflection, planning, and coordination, the study suggests that the service learning approach enhances students' development of a sociological orientation and understanding of structural linkages to poverty. It also indicates that students involved in structured service learning may better master course materials than students involved in less-structured community work, as measured by objective examination. Finally, the study supports earlier claims reported in the literature that service learning might be a particularly effective way of improving the efficacy of introductory sociology courses.