high quality service learning project: high school students learning experience.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20004871

Service learning is a well-recognized form of experiential learning and 21st century pedagogy that connects classroom knowledge and skills with real world experience. While research has provided plenty of evidence that service learning has multiple benefits for students, there is very little empirical research on well-established high-quality service-learning projects. Through the lens of experiential learning theory, this single case study explored how high school students participating in a high-quality service-learning project were affected by their lived experience, determining what specific elements and activities provided the most benefit and meaning for them. Common themes associated with students' high-quality experience included increased student involvement and interaction with peers and community, gaining a sense of teamwork/cooperation/collaboration, feeling of greater community awareness and involvement, a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction and a feeling of making a difference in their community. Additionally, this research identified partnerships, diversity and mutual respect, strong youth voice and curriculum connections as the most important essential elements for quality practice, and student involvement and role as the most important meaningful and satisfying components of their experience. These findings can help add to the gap in empirical research of what constitutes high-quality service-learning programming and can also provide valuable practice information for educators so that they can design and implement more effective and quality service-learning projects that ultimately lead to greater student outcomes.