Definition of Service Learning

According to the National Community Service Act of 1990, "The term Service-Learning means a method:

• Under which students learn and develop through active participation in…thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet actual community needs;
  
  
• That is integrated into the students' academic curriculum or provides structured time for a student to think, talk, or write about what the student did and saw during the service activity;
  
  
• That provides students with the opportunities to use newly acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities and that enhances what is taught in school by extending student learning beyond the classroom and into the community and helps to foster the development of a sense of caring for others."