To Serve or Not To Serve: That Is THE Question!

An Integrated, Interdisciplinary, Thematic Middle School Unit on Service Learning Service Learning is a powerful educational experience where interest collides with information, values are formed, and action emerges. (Sawyer 1991). It provides students with a sense of civic and social responsibility, connects them with their communities, and dramatically changes the dynamic of learning from static to participatory. In 1994, South Carolina passed School-to-Work legislation that emphasizes participation of students in work-based learning of which service learning is a component. Service Learning is allowing students who do not do well as measured by traditional instruments to succeed. The old saying, "Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn," applies to service learning. Service learning is truly "linking learning with life."