service learning
Service-learning is an integral part of the Liberal & Civic Studies Program. In Forum 1, Forum 2, and Senior Forum, service-learning is integrated into the curriculum so that classroom knowledge informs community service, and knowledge gained through service enhances classroom learning. In the process of working with others, students have the opportunity to learn that all persons are of unique worth and have gifts for sharing with others, and that our mutual survival on the planet depends on the more able and the less able serving one another .
In Forum 1, service-learning projects generally take the form of direct service, such as helping the needy in places like soup kitchens or shelters, while in Forum 2 students work in systemic (preventative) projects that attend to the root cause of the problem. For example, instead of feeding people at a homeless shelter, a Forum 2 student might be involved with a project that seeks to develop more low-income housing units or to develop jobs that pay a living wage. In Senior Forum, students participate in collective group projects.
While taking the Liberal & Civic Studies courses (except Assessment & Portfolio), students perform 2.5 to 3 hours of community service every week and meet in a lab every other week. In the lab, students are asked to analyze and evaluate the insights garnered from their community service and to integrate these with the ideas generated from their readings and class discussions. Students are also asked to describe and assess the service experience in a journal. To encourage exposure to diversity, most service-learning projects in Forum 1, Forum 2, and Senior Forum are done outside the Lamorinda area.
In addition to the above service-learning projects, Liberal & Civic Studies students are encouraged to enroll in Praxis: Community Service [.25], where academic credit is received for involvement in the community. Other service-learning courses offered at the College include:
- Christian Service Leadership (January Term)
- Education 122, Field Experience in Education (required of SMP students)
- Education 195, Internship
