Introduction
Service-learning is a practice in which students carry out community service as part of the requirements of a course so that the experience and reflection about it helps them meet their learning objectives. I have been doing it in my own English Composition courses at the Miami Dade College InterAmerican campus for about three years, and I've seen examples of effective service-learning in fields as diverse as Medieval History and Algebra. In addition to supporting the learning of skills and concepts, service-learning helps students build an emotional and social foundation for what they're learning. Because students meet real people in real places with real problems as they complete their assingments, they have an opportunity to link their heads and hearts. The pedagogy connects with an educational philosophy that says educators have a responsibility to not only teach skills and facts, but to encourage citizenship and critical thinking about issues of power and oppression.
