Serve. Learn. Change the world.™

National Service-Learning ConferenceApril 11, 2012

Designing Academically Rigorous Service-Learning Experiences

Welcome and Introductions

Presenters: • Susan Root, Research Director• Caryn Pernu, Program Strategies Director

Facilitators:• Lana Peterson, Professional Development Manager• Whitney McKinley, Professional Development Manager

What is your current position?

Elementary School teacher (P-4 or 5)

Middle School teacher (5 or 6-8)

High School teacher (9-12)

School/ district Service-LearningCoordinator

School Administrator

Community organization staff

Student Higher Education faculty/ staff

Rank these challenges to implementing s-l in K-12 schools

Lack of resources to plan and implement projects

Difficulty including service-learning in the “packed” P-12 curriculum

Need for more evidence of academic impacts

Lack of support from administration and/or colleagues

Forming and maintaining partnerships in the community

Most challenging (1)……..(2)….….(3)….….(4)….…. (5) Least challenging

Agenda & Goals

Participants will learn a method for increasing the academic rigor of service-learning

– Understand models of service-learning planning

– Understand why to use backward design in planning service-learning

– Work through the first two stages in backward design of service-learning units

Planning Service-Learning

IPARD/C– Investigation– Planning and preparation– Action– Reflection– Demonstration/Celebration

UbD and Service-Learning

• In the U.S. academic achievement = mastery of content standards

• Wiggins & McTighe define mastery as understanding: the ability to use knowledge and skills with flexibility and insight.

Impacts of service-learning on understanding

Findings are mixed: • Positive impacts on test

scores or grades in some subject areas but not others.

• Improved performance at some grade levels, but not others.

Possible explanations

Flaws in assessmentsState assessments = poor measures of service-learning outcomes

Low-quality projectsOften have weak link to content standards

Instructional design* The way projects are planned may limit students’ opportunities to access and explore academic content during service-learning.

In planning service-learning, typically:

1. A problem students care about becomes the organizing center for learning.

2. Students and teachers investigate the problem and design a service project.

3. Teachers then identify the standards & benchmarks that will be touched on as students plan and carry out the project.

The result

• Students may learn deeply, but what they learn is local and specific, e.g., knowledge about the specific problem, community context, service activity

• Abstract concepts and general skills embedded in content standards may not be covered or learned.

Effectiveness varies

Depends on:• The specific project• Teacher planning and implementation• Student’s role (e.g., researcher, interviewer)• Student’s motivation to explore academic

resources

Using Understanding by Design

• Can increase access to content in service-learning.

• Uses “backward planning” to design instruction.

• Begins with learning goals, not learning activities.

In backward planning of service-learning, learning outcomes are identified first —before students choose a community problem and service project.

Three stages in backward planning of service-learning

1. Identify the desired results of instruction.

2. Determine acceptable evidence of learning.

3. Plan learning activities.

Stage1: Identify desired results

a. Select a topic for the s-l unit.

b. Identify content standards, benchmarks, and other outcomes.

c. Write Big Ideas that encompass several outcomes.

d. Rewrite the Big Ideas as Essential Questions.

e. Unpack what students need to know, be able to do, and believe.

a) Select a topic for the s-l unit

– ScienceImpacts humans have on the environment

– English Language ArtsWriting persuasive text

– Social StudiesHistory of our state and region

– HealthThe influence of personal and social factors on health choices

Drawn from the subject area & grade level:

Activity #1

Select a topic for a possible service-learning unit.

b) Identify content standards, benchmarks, and other outcomes

Service-learning has dual purposes: – Make learning meaningful through opportunities to

gain and apply academic learning in a real-world context

– Help students meet the citizenship and character goals of schooling

Service-Learning Definition

An inquiry-oriented, project-based approach to teaching and learning in which young people address a public problem while meeting academic and civic or character outcomes.

--NYLC

Service-learning aims to help students

•Gain and apply academic learning in a real-world context•Develop knowledge, skills, and traits for active citizenship and democratic character

Draw from–Standards and benchmarks for academic subject(s)–Civics and character frameworks (e.g., civic education goals, social-emotional learning goals, ethics in the subject area)

Outcomes for service-learning

Subject area: Environmental ScienceTopic: Impacts humans have on the environment

Academic StandardsStudents will understand:• Natural systems have many

parts that interact to maintain the living system.

• Humans change environments in ways that can be beneficial or harmful to themselves and other organisms.

Students will be able to: • Analyze the relationships

between parts of a system and the system.

Students will: • Demonstrate scientific

processes as they investigate environmental issues and make…conclusions about effective solutions.

Civic/Character GoalsStudents will:• Take individual and collective

action toward addressing environmental challenges.

Subject: HealthTopic: Choosing health

Health Standards

Students will be able to:• Analyze the influence of

individual, family, media in health behavior.

• Demonstrate ability to access valid information about health.

• Use communication, decision-making, goal setting skills to enhance health.

Civic/character goals

Students will be able to:•Show concern fro the rights and welfare of others.•Demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health.

Subject: HistoryTopic: Our town in history

History StandardsStudents will understand: The people, events, problems that created the history of their state.• The history of indigenous peoples

who first lived in his state or region.• The history of the first European,

African, or Pan-Asian settlers who first came to this state or region.

• Multiple perspectives on historical events

Students will be able to: • Draw on data…to hypothesize about

the cultures of indigenous people

• Examine visual data to describe the ways in which early settlers adapted to, utilized, changed the environment.

• Analyze some of the interactions between indigenous peoples and early settlers.

Civic/Character Goals• Have moral or civic virtues,

such as tolerance and respect• Participate in their communities

through membership in or contributions to organizations working to address an array of cultural…interests and beliefs

Activity #2

• Identify content 2-4 standards in your area to address. • Review civic/character goals handouts and select 1-3 to

address.

c) Write Big Ideas

• Curriculum of U.S. schools is a mile wide and an inch deep.

• Teachers are encouraged to cover material, not explore deeply..

Goal of teaching & learning

Deep understanding of a limited number of core ideas in the subject that students can use with “flexibility and insight” (Wiggins & McTighe).

Students “understand” when they can:

• Explain• Interpret • Apply • Show perspective, empathy, and self-

knowledge

Big Ideas

• Core ideas students should retain after instruction

• Not specific concepts, skills, but broader ideas • Recur across grade levels; provide a framework

for future learning• Answer the question, “Why should I learn this?”• Have value, use beyond classroom

Examples of Big Ideas

Core Concepts •Pattern•Natural selection•Genre

Theme •The alphabet is historic•Fairy tales around the world•All organisms grow

Issue or Debatable Topic •Nature vs. Nurture•Rights vs. responsibilities of democratic citizens•Technology pros and cons

Problem or paradox •Pollution•Social class differences in access to quality nutrition

Organizing theory •Evolution•Microeconomics

Big Ideas in Service-Learning

• Should be written for both academic standards and civic/character goals of service-learning

• Can link subject area standards and civic/character goals

Big Ideas in S-L Examples

Core Concepts •Ecosystem•Personal health choices have consequences for individuals and society.•The U.S. has always been a multiethnic society

Theme •Life is interconnected•Taking charge of our health•History is the story of how some things change and some stay the same

Issue or Debatable Topic •Rights of use vs. conserving the environment? •Who is responsible for our health choices?•Whose story does history tell? Whose story should it tell

Problem or paradox •Endangered habitats•People make unhealthy choices•Truth in accounts of history

Ideas Bridging Academic and Civic/Character Education goals

Because we are part of ecosystems, we should act personally and together to protect them.

In a democracy, history should tell the stories of all groups.

Activity #3: Writing Big Ideas

• Review your goals.• Write 1-3 Big Ideas that capture each cluster.• Review the Big Ideas

d) Framing Essential Questions

• Big Idea reframed as a series of 3-4 questions• Guide inquiry during s-l, giving students a reason to

master the desired results• Should be thought-provoking, no simple answer• Worded in interesting, student-friendly language• Suggest learning activities that will enable students

to answer the questions

Examples of Essential Questions

• Who were the first residents in our area? What was important to them? How did their culture affect how they used the land?

• How has the geography of our city changed throughout history; how has it stayed the same?

• What makes a food choice healthy or unhealthy? • Why do people eat junk food even when they know it isn’t good for

them? • Are one culture’s food preferences better than others?

Activity #4: Writing Essential Questions

• Revisit the Big Ideas for your unit. Write questions for students to answer.

• Try to create sets of interrelated questions. • Review the questions to make sure they relate to the

goals.

e) Unpacking outcomes into learning targets

• Learning targets = knowledge, skill, and attitude building blocks for proficiency on standards

• What students must know, be able to do, and believe to gain understanding of the unit Big Ideas

Activity #5: Unpacking End Outcomes into Learning Targets

• Review 1-2 academic standards and 1-2 civic/character education goals for your unit.

• What are the building blocks for these outcomes? – What must students know (e.g., definitions, vocabulary,

concepts)?– What must students be able to do? (essential thinking

skills)– What attitudes/values must students develop?

Stage 2: Determine credible evidence of student learning

Designing classroom assessments for service-learning

The Assessment Triangle

Learning Outcomes (Desired Results)

Tools for InterpretationAssessment Tasks

The plan should also be balanced:

• Assessments of learning• Assessments for learning

Assessments of learning: Occur at end of service-learning cycle

Investigation

Planning and preparation

Assessment

Service project

Demonstration/celebration

Assessments of learningTargets Users Uses

Student performance on the “end” outcomes of service-learning

Teachers

Students

Parents

Educational decision-makers

Decisions related to student learning (e.g., grades, mastery of educational yardsticks)

Evaluation of instructional approaches and programs

Assessments for learning: Occur throughout the service-learning cycle

Investigation

Planning and preparation

Assessment

Service project

Demonstration/celebration

Assessment

Assessment

Assessments for learning

Targets Users Uses

Learning targets, i.e. knowledge, skills, and attitude building blocks for end outcomes

Teachers

Students

Monitor student progress and adjust instruction

Monitor own progress and adjust learning strategies

High-quality service-learning assessment plan

Assessments Of Learning Assessments For Learning

Desired Results

Tasks

Tools for Interpretation

Aligned

Aligned

Possible assessment tasks for service-learning:

Type Description

Informal (e.g., questioning, observation) •Ongoing during instruction•Usually not scored

Activity #6: Drafting an assessment plan

Assessments Of Learning

Assessments For Learning

Desired Results Academic StandardsCivic/character ed goals

•Indicators of progress toward proficiency on academic standards, civic/character ed goals

Tasks Authentic performance assessments requiring students to integrate complex knowledge and skills

•Simpler tasks (e.g., quizzes, short essays) requiring students to demonstrate building blocks for proficiency on standards and goals

Tools Rubrics •Objective scoring (Correct/Incorrect)•Rubrics

Stage 3: Plan learning activities

• Using the IPARD/C model

The Generator School Network

gsn.nylc.org

Place to learn, plan, and connect for service-learning

Contact information

Susan Root, Research Director

sroot@nylc.org

Caryn Pernu, Program Strategies Director

cpernu@nylc.org

Lana Peterson, Professional Development Manager

lpeterson@nylc.org

Whitney McKinley, Professional Development Manager

wmckinley@nylc.org