Character Development Through Service and Experiential Learning

In the new environment of the 21st century, academic achievement alone is not sufficient. Different sets of socio-emotional skills are required of our youths to operate and thrive. When students learn through the experience of doing, contributing to the community, and relating to their peers while getting their hands dirty, it helps to develop the total person, something which many education systems have been striving to address through moral and character education. This type of learning equips students with useful skills and values for the real world. Many educational institutions are now embarking on service and other experiential learning strategies for precisely these reasons, often with the tacit backing of the state and non-governmental organisations. This book, arising from the first International Conference on Character Development through Service and Experiential Learning in 2007, is a collection of selected papers that provides a wide array of service learning models attempted by various institutions in Singapore and other countries including Canada and the US. This book is recommended as a useful reference volume for educators, teachers, policy makers and service-learning students for models they can adapt and use in their own settings as well as service-learning research they may conduct to evaluate their project outcomes. Target Audience Education Text Main/Reference Text Unique Features This book provides a wide array of service learning models in practice around the world It bridges the theory-practice gap with detailed examples of community-based service-learning efforts at different levels of education such as schools, colleges, universities Models presented in this book can be adapted for use in other institutions Table of Contents 1 Introduction Goh Kim Chuan, Alan Ch ng Teck Heong, Vilma D Rozario & Cheah Horn Mun 2 Connecting Character, Service and Experiential A Recipe for Effective Youth Development Robert Shumer 3 Community Engagement and Critical Essential Elements for Character Building Education in the United States and South Africa Timothy K. Stanton 4 Service-Learning in Teacher Education at the National Institute of Education, Singapore Alan Ch ng, Vilma D Rozario, Goh Kim Chuan & Cheah Horn Mun 5 Character Transformation through Education on Volition and Service-Learning Teo Chua-Tee & Lim Kam Ming 6 An Evaluation of Student Teachers Experience of Group Endeavours in Service-Learning (GESL) at the National Institute of Education, Singapore Goh Kim Chuan, Lim Kam Ming, Alan Ch ng, Vilma D Rozario & Cheah Horn Mun 7 International Service-Learning A Perspective from Character Strength and Positive Affect Tan Ai-Girl & Vilma D Rozario Victor Tan, Anne Marguerite Victor, Yeo Kok San, Akhilandeswari, Muhammad Salim, Siva Gopal Thailayan, Nanyang Junior College, Keming Primary School & the NIE Sikkim Project Teams 8 Building Youth Capacities and Civic Values through Overseas Community-Service Experience Dr Lee Mah Ngee & Tay-Koay Siew Luan 9 Building Castles Everywhere Tan Loo Sin 10 Service-Learning at Raffles Junior College, Singapore Low Hwee San & Chua Cheng Chye 11 The Service-Learning Experience & Character Development at Republic Polytechnic Eddy Chong 12 Reflections on an Effective International Service-Learning Programme Bianca Lee Ning, Sharon Chin Shuyan, Hauw Junying & Gerard Andrew James 13 The Case of Cedar Primary School, Singapore Zaki Jalil 14 Social It s about Transforming Lives Kwek Swee Hong 15 The Significance of Esteemed Partnerships in Academic Service-Learning and its Impact on Learners