Service Learning . Service learning is an activity where students learn and develop through organized service experiences that meet actual community needs. Service learning is based on the philosophy that the most effective learning is active and connected to experience. It uses the community as part of the curriculum and helps students to learn to value their community. Examples of service learning include the community health clinic in Balmorhea, TX, through one of SEDL's RD CATs.
Students help run the community health clinic which is now located at the school.
The clinic, which serves an average of 15-20 patients a day, is a part of the school's vocational health curriculum. Both of these views have merit, and the two do not necessarily produce mutually exclusive outcomes. For example, a service learning project to help the homeless might begin with a study of the local housing situation. Services to the homeless may be provided as a charitable activity, but there is a different kind of reflection and research necessary to understand why homelessness exists, and, perhaps, to develop solutions. Other themes for service learning might include issues of health and the environment.