Service-learning and student engagement in school

Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20004992
Title:
Service-learning and student engagement in school
Creator:
Laporte, Janis (Author)
Contributor:
Ewell, Sara (Advisor)
Ewell, Sara (Committee member)
Unger, Christopher (Committee member)
Oliveira, Lisa (Committee member)
Publisher:
Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University, 2014
Date Accepted:
February 2014
Date Awarded:
May 2014
Type of resource:
Text
Genre:
Theses
Format:
electronic
Digital origin:
born digital
Abstract/Description:
This study has the goal of engaging students in their education through the use of service- learning by making learning purposeful and relevant, enhancing their academic self-concept, improving their personal growth, and in doing so, having the potential to reduce student dropouts from school. The national dropout rate is high with students dropping out of school for a variety of reasons. Some of the more prevalent reasons are that they find school to be uninteresting, non-engaging, and its purpose to be insignificant. (Bridgeland, Balfanz, Moore & Friant 2010). An inductive approach based on qualitative research was used to collect and analyze multiple sets of data during and after implementation of a service-learning program in the natural setting of a middle school in the northeast. The three research questions for the study were: (1) How do students, teachers, and administrators at a Blackstone Valley middle school perceive students' participation in service learning impacting their learning and engagement in school? (2) As part of their service-learning experience, how did it impact their social and emotional growth as perceived by students, teachers, and administrators? And (3) How has the service-learning experience impacted students' perceptions of school and their choice to continue? Data was collected through multiple methods including reflective journals, observations, questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews, and was analyzed based on students, teachers, and administrators' perspectives and experiences as recorded through documents, observations, and focus groups. Categorizing and coding was used to sort data and evaluate whether implementing a service learning curriculum was effective in changing students' perceptions and behaviors towards their education.
Subjects and keywords:
dropout
dropout prevention
engagement
personal growth
service-learning
Curriculum and Instruction
Education
Educational Leadership
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17760/d20004992
Permanent URL:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20004992
Use and reproduction:
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