Self-Driven Service Learning: Community-Student-Faculty Collaboratives Outside of the Classroom †
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Authors:
Verónica A. Segarra1,8,*,
Alexandra A. DeLucia3,††,
Alyssa A. DeLucia3,††,
Renee Fonseca1,††,
Michael P. Penfold3,††,
Katlyn M. Sawyer1,††,
Cecelia M. Harold3,9,
Courtney Reddig3,
Ashima Singh3,
Ibrahim Musri4,
Jacqueline C. Wright3,
J. J. Leissing2,
Samantha Dennis2,
Mary Catherine Pflug5,
Niki Fogle6,
Monique Moore6,
Sade Sims6,
Kelsey Matteson3,
Meredith Hein7
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Supplemental materials available at
http://jmbe.asm.org - *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, High Point University, 833 Montlieu Avenue, High Point, North Carolina 27268. Phone: 336-841-9507. E-mail: [email protected].
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†† These authors contributed equally to the work.8 Current affiliation: Department of Biology, High Point University, High Point, NC 2726,9 Current affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461
- ©2015 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
Abstract:
Service learning is a community engagement pedagogy often used in the context of the undergraduate classroom to synergize course-learning objectives with community needs. We find that an effective way to catalyze student engagement in service learning is for student participation to occur outside the context of a graded course, driven by students’ own interests and initiative. In this paper, we describe the creation and implementation of a self-driven service learning program and discuss its benefits from the community, student, and faculty points of view. This experience allows students to explore careers in the sciences as well as identify skill strengths and weaknesses in an environment where mentoring is available but where student initiative and self-motivation are the driving forces behind the project’s success. Self-driven service learning introduces young scientists to the idea that their careers serve a larger community that benefits not only from their discoveries but also from effective communication about how these discoveries are relevant to everyday life.
References & Citations
Supplemental Material
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Appendix 1: Call for volunteers
Appendix 2: Supplemental Table 1: List and descriptions of stations at Cell Day
Appendix 3: Supplemental Table 2: Museum staff feedback on station activities
Appendix 4: Supplemental Figure 1: Pages in the Cell Passport booklet
Appendix 5: Supplemental Table 3: Representative museum guest responses to KWL questions
Appendix 6: Supplemental Table 4: Student responses to reflection questions
Appendix 7: Supplemental Table 5: Constructive feedback to improve event in the future
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Abstract:
Service learning is a community engagement pedagogy often used in the context of the undergraduate classroom to synergize course-learning objectives with community needs. We find that an effective way to catalyze student engagement in service learning is for student participation to occur outside the context of a graded course, driven by students’ own interests and initiative. In this paper, we describe the creation and implementation of a self-driven service learning program and discuss its benefits from the community, student, and faculty points of view. This experience allows students to explore careers in the sciences as well as identify skill strengths and weaknesses in an environment where mentoring is available but where student initiative and self-motivation are the driving forces behind the project’s success. Self-driven service learning introduces young scientists to the idea that their careers serve a larger community that benefits not only from their discoveries but also from effective communication about how these discoveries are relevant to everyday life.

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Author and Article Information
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Supplemental materials available at
http://jmbe.asm.org - *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biology, High Point University, 833 Montlieu Avenue, High Point, North Carolina 27268. Phone: 336-841-9507. E-mail: [email protected].
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†† These authors contributed equally to the work.8 Current affiliation: Department of Biology, High Point University, High Point, NC 2726,9 Current affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461
- ©2015 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
Figures
The event logo for Cell Day—one of the ways in which students chose to tie all of the stations together and to give topic continuity to the event. On the day of the event, student volunteers wore a shirt with the Cell Day logo.

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FIGURE 1
The event logo for Cell Day—one of the ways in which students chose to tie all of the stations together and to give topic continuity to the event. On the day of the event, student volunteers wore a shirt with the Cell Day logo.