Does service learning make a difference? comparing students’ valuations in service learning and non-service-learning teaching of psychology

Abstract

As a pedagogical approach, Service Learning (SL) has blossomed in the field of education, proving its effectiveness regarding academic results and in relation to social commitment. Our goal was to offer students the possibility of participating in professional scenarios measure the impact that SL benefits has on students’ valuations and perceptions of their respective learning processes and to see whether it differed from results coming from a non SL approach. To do this we compared two groups of undergraduate students enrolled in the same Psychology course, and in two different formats: SL and non-SL. Our hypothesis predicted that SL students would report higher levels of valuations and of changes perceived, and our results confirmed this: the SL group revealed a significantly higher level of satisfaction with the SL course. Also, SL students reported significantly more changes connected to a concept of learning that included contents, behaviors, and personal changes.