It also provides opportunities for more than 70 Berkeley students each semester who volunteer in exchange for units. It also gives Martinez the chance to use the concepts and theories he's learned in the classroom to help solve social problems. By collaborating with their parents and teachers, local merchants and law enforcement, we've really come a long way. Martinez, who is graduating this spring, said his service-learning project has been the highlight of his college career. While more than 150 service-learning courses are currently taught on campus, some faculty are reluctant to use service learning, said Furco.
Some professors think service learning means picking up trash in the community.
Junior faculty worry that integrating community service field work in their courses may hurt their chances for tenure in the campus' research-based climate. The data collected from service-learning projects can be used for research, thereby integrating the theoretical and practical sides of academia. Nationally, service-learning is becoming recognized as a teaching strategy that helps students build upon their course work. The Service Learning Center is currently engaged in a number of national, state and local research studies to explore the impact of service-learning on students, faculty and schools. Copyright 1999, The Regents of the University of California.