From Global to Local: Service-Learning in a Comparative Politics Course
By Chelsea N. Kaufman, Wingate University
Setting out with a goal of increasing civic and community engagement among my students, I implemented a service-learning approach in my comparative politics course. Students chose community partners to work with and designed, carried out, and evaluated their own projects that met the partners’ needs. They were also required to reflect on how these projects connected to the course content. Although the results do not indicate that I achieved the goal of increased engagement, I recommend this pedagogical approach. Students still recognized the importance of civic and community engagement and were generally satisfied with the approach.
The Journal of Political Science Education is an intellectually rigorous, path-breaking, agenda-setting journal that publishes the highest quality scholarship on teaching and pedagogical issues in political science. The journal aims to represent the full range of questions, issues and approaches regarding political science education, including teaching-related issues, methods and techniques, learning/teaching activities and devices, educational assessment in political science, graduate education, and curriculum development.