Service Learning 293H - Learning/CommEngmnt

This is the first course in the four-course Citizen Scholars Program. In this course, we ask how society would be organized if it truly were good, and students are encouraged to unleash their imaginations?to envision the social structures and shared understandings that would characterize a truly good society. Cross-cultural examples and models from utopian fiction will help generate ideas about alternatives. The vision of the good society articulated by each student by the end of this course will serve as a point of departure for the next 3 semesters in the program, as students develop tools to enable them to work toward their vision. Throughout this course (and throughout each of the following 3 courses), each student will participate in a weekly service placement with a community-based organization which works to improve the quality of life for its constituents. Preparing for and learning from these experiences will be a major component of the course. Other major components include inquiry into the meanings of the social identities we each carry, and practice in the skill of dialogue with people whose perspectives and life experiences differ significantly from our own.

Restricted to CHC students participating in the Sophomores-Serve program.

This is the first of two courses in the Sophomores-Serve program. It prepares and places students with a community partner. Each student participates in a weekly service placement with a community-based organization that works to improve the quality of life for its constituents. Preparing for and learning from these experiences are a major component of the course. Student experience in service placements are brought into conversation with readings and other course materials as a source of their learning. Students apply observations from their service-learning to discuss the process of public policy, how science informs public policy and why research findings often don't translate to policy decisions.