Chapter 1: History and Precursors of Service-Learning Theory, Development, and Research

The history of service learning is rooted in three concepts: the common good, civil society, and learning by doing. Each plays a major role in laying the foundation for the ideas contained in the term. As these constructs have evolved and developed over time, they provide a framework to understand service learning in today’s world.

What is the common good? In Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World (Parks Daloz, Keen, Keen, & Daloz Parks, 1996), the authors struggle with an understanding of something they call “the commons.”

The commons was a place where people shared a joint interest they all understood, that required participation and a sense of responsibility. In early societies the common good was not abstract, but rather a shared role in society understood by all. Life was relatively simple.