How does the service-learning experience, which may also be associated with career preparation, foster civic responsibility?
Service-learning can instill in students the following five core elements of civic responsibility: values, knowledge, skills, efficacy, and commitment. • Students gain a sense of civic values and what they “ought” to do. By learning this value, students can become connected to their communities. Instructors can guide students in a consideration of civic values by asking students to describe what civic responsibility means to them. • Students begin to understand problems in their communities through knowledge of why they must act. They become problem solvers in their communities. Instructors can guide students in acquiring community knowledge by encouraging students to think critically about what they see as important for creating a quality community and how they can apply community knowledge individually, at the family level, nationally and globally. • Students learn how to proceed by applying skills learned for interacting with others, for strategic planning, and leadership developmen
