Chapter 3: Probing and Promoting Teachers’ Thinking about Service-Learning: Toward a Theory of Teacher Development

Data from a study of service-learning partnerships in K-12 school districts in California are used to describe dimensions of variation in teachers’ thinking about service-learning, as well as relationships between teachers’ goals and their implementation strategies. More specifically, the study suggests that the design and quality of teachers’ service-learning activities may be substantially affected by: (a) the clarity and specificity of teachers’ goals, (b) the degree to which these goals are discussed with students, (c) the roles established for teachers and students, and (d) the degree to which concepts targeted in service-learning are interconnected with content and activities in other curricular areas. A constructivist model of teacher development is proposed as a potentially useful way to understand qualitative differences and changes in teachers’ conceptualizations and actions regarding service-learning.