director of the Office of Service-Learning, 308.865.8957
Area educators will be on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus this week to learn about the benefits of service-learning projects for their students, according to Geraldine Stirtz, director of the UNK Office for Service-Learning.
Nearly 30 teachers and administrators will attend the daylong Service-Learning Symposium on Thursday, Aug. 10, in the UNK Nebraskan Student Union Cedar Room. The symposium opens at 10 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m.
According to Stirtz, the symposium will provide basic information and training on how to successfully incorporate service-learning into pre-kindergarten through high school education.
“Some have implemented community service activities, but not service-learning,” Stirtz said. “People often confuse service-learning with community service, which is why so few people know about providing quality service-learning experiences for the students.”
In her presentations, Stirtz will cover six basic elements of quality service-learning including identification of community need, youth voice, curriculum integration, building community partners, assessment and evaluation, and structured reflection activities.
Among the goals of the symposium are the reinforcement of some structure in service-learning projects and the sharing of information about the benefits of integrating service-learning in the curriculum to enhance student learning.
