Service-learning Project: Senior Seminar (BIOL/CHEM 491)
Date: Fall 2007
Reflection written July 3, 2008
Standard: National Science Education Standards E and C. Standard E states that science teachers will develop communities of science learners that reflect the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry and the attitudes and social values conducive to learning science. Additionally, science teachers will engage in ongoing assessment of their teaching.
Describe: As described previously (see Teaching Responsibilities), Senior Seminar (BIOL 491/BIOL 492) is the capstone science course for our majors. In this course, students practice their oral and written communication skills while engaging in critical thinking about science topics. In order to better achieve these course objectives, I have added a service-learning component to the BIOL 491 Senior Seminar course.
Service-learning is a form of experiential education in which the students render a meaningful service to the community, while also learning course content. In this way, course content goals can be achieved while also allowing the students to gain “real-world” experience. The benefits of service-learning include increased interest by students, increased confidence, enhanced interpersonal skills, potential employment opportunities due to increased networking by the students, career clarification, and development of a community of learners within the course.
Briefly, the senior science majors work in small groups to design and plan hands-on science experiments for middle-school students. Each week a different group takes their experiment to George E. Peters SDA Elementary School where they use the hands-on activities to teach science concepts to the middle-school students. (For further details please see the Senior Seminar BIOL 491 syllabus). This service-learning project has been very beneficial, and has been a lot of fun for both parties. In November 2007, this partnership resulted in a night of science for the elementary school students (see the article on “Creative Science Investigations @ G.E. Peters).
Students in BIOL 491 are assessed based on their contribution to their group activity. They also write two reflection papers regarding their experiences at G. E. Peters. The reflection papers are a direct result of a workshop that I attended during the summer of 2007: “Service-Learning in Maryland’s Community Colleges”. This workshop highlighted the benefits of adding a service-learning component to science classes. One point that was continually emphasized was the need for students to reflect on what they accomplished, and learned, during the service-learning project. Although the concept of reflection was foreign to me in my fact-intensive science classes, I decided to test the process in the Senior Seminar course. The addition of the reflection papers allows the students to review how the project has utilized the knowledge they have gained at Columbia Union College*; this is beneficial as the seniors begin to implement explicit career plans.
Analyze: I have chosen to include these artifacts in my teaching portfolio because the service-learning project at G.E. Peters Elementary School demonstrates how I am building a community of science learners. This community begins with the senior science majors at Columbia Union College as they plan and design their age-appropriate experiments. The community expands to include the G. E Peters middle-school students and their science teacher when the Columbia Union College students visit their classroom with the hands-on science experiments. The community is reinforced when the senior science majors write the reflection papers.
These artifacts also demonstrate my ongoing assessment of my teaching since the project grew out of my readings on the benefits of service-learning. Furthermore, the reflection papers are a direct result of my attendance at the summer workshop on service-learning. Taken together, these artifacts demonstrate how I have used knowledge gained from workshops and books on teaching methodologies to enhance my teaching curriculum.
Appraise: Although the seniors are often initially hesitant about “teaching” the middle-school students, they quickly see the application of their science knowledge, and the necessity to communicate this to non-scientists, as valid learning outcomes, and most students enjoy the experience. This project has shown great potential, and both parties have benefited from this arrangement. It is difficult to resist the enthusiasm of the middle-school students, and the Columbia Union College students return to the college campus excited about science. The seniors receive positive feedback regarding science and their ability to share this topic with others, while the middle-school students acquire hands-on exposure to widely different topics in science. The senior science majors also get exposure to alternative career opportunities as they plan and implement the science exercises. Additionally, as the groups of seniors work together to plan and implement the age-appropriate experiments, they begin to build their own community of learners. These positive benefits will serve the seniors well as they prepare to graduate and take their place in society.
The reflection papers were a new addition to the project in the fall of 2007; as previously mentioned, they were a direct result of the summer workshop on service-learning. When reading the reflection papers, I was impressed with how articulate my students were, as well as by how useful the writing project was. Most science students spend little time in “reflection”. Although reflection is important during the observation phase of the scientific method, it is not usually emphasized in the science curriculum. As a result, the seniors were initially confused by the request that they reflect on their teaching project at G.E. Peters. (This preliminary confusion suggests that reflection should play a larger role in my science curriculum.) Despite this early puzzlement, the seniors submitted well written, articulate reflection papers that demonstrated thoughtful analysis of the service-learning project.
Based on these reflection papers and conversations with students, the service-learning project is fulfilling the course objectives: to give the seniors practice with critical thinking and with communicating science in both oral and written formats. Therefore, I will continue to include this teaching project in the Senior Seminar course.
Transform: Based on the success of this project, I am considering expanding the project to include Columbia Union College students who are not seniors. I am also considering adding service-learning projects to other courses, since this particular project has been so successful in getting students excited about science.
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To read the story in the "Reunion" about the Creative Science Investigations @ G.E.Peters, click here.
To read excerpts from the student reflection papers, click here.