Page 169 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

146 J. Ponder and A. Cox-Peterson

There are various ways to begin initiating service-learning, stewardship, and
civic involvement projects within science lessons. Example 1 outlines a step-by-step
plan that can help students and teachers begin taking action within their community.
While planning and implementing these projects, teachers should remember to
(a) dedicate a sustained amount of time, possibly the entire school year to the project;
(b) encourage participation from groups outside of the school such as families,
businesses, and community leaders; (c) connect the action-based activities to the
science curriculum; (d) make explicit connections between the science content and
the community service and action; and (e) provide ample time for student reflection,
discussion, sharing, and making decisions.
Example 1. Steps to Enacting Service-Learning, Stewardship, and Civic
Involvement (Ponder and Cox-Petersen 2008)
Take Action and Practice Active Citizenship!
This task will help teachers and students practice active-based strategies. First,
select an issue that you and your students are passionate about. Follow the five-step
process to action. Use the outline below to format your plan of action.
The tips below (based on steps recommended by Center for Civic Education
[2006] and Kielburger and Kielburger [2002]) are helpful when launching an active
citizenship project in your classroom:
1. Increase awareness. Explore current issues in your school/community, state,
country, and world. Encourage students to watch the news, read the local news-
paper, and search the web to help them identify problems in their immediate
environment and report back to the class. Use a four-quadrant chart and create
a list of current problems in each category. Encourage students to document the
issues by bringing in newspaper clippings or by taking photographs of problems
around the community or school (graffiti, litter, etc.). Make a list of the top issues
based on students’ interests.
2. Deliberate. Let the students choose an issue. It will be more meaningful if it
comes from their interests. Narrow down the issues that students have generated
in an attempt to choose one problem the entire class can attempt to resolve.
Follow the steps listed below to narrow down the problems:
(a) Ask students to list their top three choices on a small sheet of paper. Tally
the results and identify the top three issues selected by the students.
(b) Send home a letter and ask for parents’ support by involving them in a discus-
sion with their child about the issues identified. Ask the parents and the child
to discuss each issue at home, select one issue that they think the students can
resolve, noting ideas that students can put into action to encourage change, and
complete a required form to document their discussion and selected problem.
(c) Next, write a persuasive paragraph/essay. Ask each student to write a per-
suasive essay about the issue they selected with their parents and guide
students to support their opinions with reasons, examples, and commentary.
Encourage them to talk about possible causes, consequences, and solutions
to the problem in their essay.