Community Engagement through a Health-Related Honors Biology Service-Learning Project
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Date
2018-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ohio State University. Office of Outreach and Engagement
Abstract
Faculty, staff and community partners are invited to learn how a model for community/university partnerships supports student engagement in service and learning. Members of an honors biology instructional team, the director of the Central Ohio chapter of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and a laboratory manager at The Ohio State University Medical Center will present a four-part service-learning model that includes components conducted in and out of the classroom. Participants will discuss how to apply the engagement principles of integration, advocacy and accountability through student activities and program implementation. They will also reflect on how they may use the model in their own context. Sample student activities and evidence of their success will be provided.
Description
In response to national recommendations for scientific literacy and a well-prepared workforce (AAAS, 2011), The Ohio State University honors introductory biology class includes service-learning, a high impact educational practice (Kuh, 2008). In the service-learning model used at Ohio State (Bernot et al., 2017), students interact with community organizations to complete a service activity and a related learning activity. During this session intended for faculty, staff, and community partners, participants learn the four components of the model, how it illustrates principles of engagement, and how they may apply it in their own context. Members of the honors biology instructional team, the director of the Central Ohio Chapter of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and a laboratory manager at the Ohio State Medical Center will explain their roles in implementing the model in and out of the classroom. Specifically, they will share how students engage in service associated with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and learn about the related research happening at Ohio State. Both activities drive home the relevance of students' biology course concepts. The planning and implementation of the activities associated with the model illustrate three engagement principles: integration, advocacy, and accountability. The integration principle is illustrated through the collaborative work the instructional team and the community partners complete in planning service and learning activities. When the honors biology students provide meaningful service to the community partners, university assets are applied to community problems. As students learn how their biology course concepts apply to community problems, the partners have an opportunity to advocate to the students, making students more aware of health issues and ways they can contribute to the organizations. Students advocate to the scientific and layman communities during a poster session that celebrates their work with the community partners. In their posters, student groups identify connections between classroom biology topics and their service activity, which reinforces the relevance of the abstract concepts they are learning. Students share ideas for future contributions with peers, faculty, and community partners who attend the session. In this way, students have the opportunity to identify, investigate, and communicate solutions to specific challenges the community partners face in achieving their missions. Finally, the accountability principle applies in two ways. First, students use the scientific method to hypothesize solutions and choose metrics for analyzing the efficacy and significance of their contribution to the community partner. Second, the instructional staff uses student and community partner feedback to determine the success of the program. Specific course materials and evidence of the usefulness of the model will be provided.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Amy Kulesza, Majors Course Coordinator, Center for Life Sciences Education, The Ohio State University, kulesza.5@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Judith Ridgway, Assistant Director, Center for Life Sciences Education, The Ohio State University; Breana Shawver, Executive Director, Central Ohio Chapter, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; Amber Gordon, Clinical Laboratory Manager, Experimental Hematology Laboratory, the Ohio State Univesity Comprehensive Cancer Center; Kelsie Bernot, Assistant Professor of Biology, North Carolina A&T State University.
AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Amy Kulesza, Majors Course Coordinator, Center for Life Sciences Education, The Ohio State University, kulesza.5@osu.edu (Corresponding Author); Judith Ridgway, Assistant Director, Center for Life Sciences Education, The Ohio State University; Breana Shawver, Executive Director, Central Ohio Chapter, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; Amber Gordon, Clinical Laboratory Manager, Experimental Hematology Laboratory, the Ohio State Univesity Comprehensive Cancer Center; Kelsie Bernot, Assistant Professor of Biology, North Carolina A&T State University.
Keywords
service-learning, model, community, classroom
Citation
Engaged Scholars, v. 6 (2018).