| Schools have become increasingly multicultural, and many students are coming from families of lower socioeconomic status. Current educators are responsible for improving students' social behavior and community awareness, and are accountable for student academic achievement. For this reason, educators are continually seeking initiatives that engage students with a passion for learning and hold a positive outlook for the future, while preparing them to be contributing members of society. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine a service learning experience from the perspective of a diverse student population of low socioeconomic status in a small urban elementary school. This study further explored the students' perceptions of how the implementation of service learning affected student learning, and the development changes students perceived in themselves throughout the service-learning experience. The participants of this study were low-income sixth-grade students from a small urban community. Through observations, field notes, student reflection, and surveys, this study identified emerging themes and relevant learning when service learning was incorporated with the core curriculum. The qualitative data collected detailed aspects from the research setting and then looked for patterns of relationship among the data. |
