National Service-Learning Conference April 11, 2012

1. National Service-Learning Conference April 11, 2012 Designing Academically Rigorous Service-Learning Experiences Serve. Learn. Change the world.™

2. Welcome and Introductions Presenters: • Susan Root, Research Director • Caryn Pernu, Program Strategies Director Facilitators: • Lana Peterson, Professional Development Manager • Whitney McKinley, Professional Development Manager

3. What is your current position?

4. Rank these challenges to implementing s-l in K-12 schools Most challenging (1)……..(2)….….(3)….….(4)….…. (5) Least challenging

5. 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

6. Planning Service-Learning IPARD/C • Investigation • Planning and preparation • Action • Reflection • Demonstration/Celebration

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Possible explanations Flaws in assessments State assessments = poor measures of service-learning outcomes Low-quality projects Often 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.

11. In planning service-learning, typically: A problem students care about becomes the organizing center for learning. Students and teachers investigate the problem and design a service project. Teachers then identify the standards & benchmarks that will be touched on as students plan and carry out the project.

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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.

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

16. Three stages in backward planning of service-learning Identify the desired results of instruction. Determine acceptable evidence of learning. Plan learning activities.

17. Stage1: Identify desired results • Select a topic for the s-l unit. • Identify content standards, benchmarks, and other outcomes. • Write Big Ideas that encompass several outcomes. • Rewrite the Big Ideas as Essential Questions. • Unpack what students need to know, be able to do, and believe.

18. a) Select a topic for the s-l unit Drawn from the subject area & grade level: • Science Impacts humans have on the environment • English Language Arts Writing persuasive text • Social Studies History of our state and region • Health The influence of personal and social factors on health choices

19. Activity #1 Select a topic for a possible service-learning unit.

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Outcomes for service-learning 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)

24. Subject area: Environmental ScienceTopic: Impacts humans have on the environment Academic Standards Students will: Demonstrate scientific processes as they investigate environmental issues and make…conclusions about effective solutions. Civic/Character Goals Students will: Take individual and collective action toward addressing environmental challenges. Students 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.

25. 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.

26. Subject: HistoryTopic: Our town in history History Standards • 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 • Students will understand: • Thepeople, 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

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

28. 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..

29. 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).

30. Students “understand” when they can: Explain Interpret Apply Show perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge

31. 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

33. 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

36. Activity #3: Writing Big Ideas • Review your goals. • Write 1-3 Big Ideas that capture each cluster. • Review the Big Ideas

37. 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

38. 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?

39. 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.

40. 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

41. 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?

42. Stage 2: Determine credible evidence of student learning Designing classroom assessments for service-learning

43. The Assessment Triangle Learning Outcomes (Desired Results) Assessment Tasks Tools for Interpretation

44. The plan should also be balanced: • Assessments of learning • Assessments for learning

45. Assessments of learning: Occur at end of service-learning cycle Assessment Investigation Demonstration/ celebration Planning and preparation Service project

46. Assessments of learning

47. Assessments for learning: Occur throughout the service-learning cycle Investigation Demonstration/ celebration Assessment Assessment Planning and preparation Service project Assessment

48. Assessments for learning

49. High-quality service-learning assessment plan Aligned Aligned

50. Possible assessment tasks for service-learning: