The role of reflection on social and emotional learning outcomes in service-learning programs

This empirical research project investigated the nature of service-learning outcomes in two studies. Service-learning can be defined as the "service to the community and academic learning" (Eyler & Giles, 1999). Given the lack of empirical information on the topic, this study explored the relationship between various factors in a service-learning experience and service-learning outcomes. The first study analyzed outcomes of Education students (n = 123) in a total of twelve sections of a service-learning class (EDTE 400). The goal of this evaluation study was to determine if social and emotional learning (SEL) outcomes occurred in students participating in a service-learning project. The second study used an intervention in a comparative research design (additional reflective or didactic activity) with Psychology students (n = 23) participating in an after school program for emotionally and academically challenged middle school students. The goal of this small pilot intervention study was to investigate the influence of reflection on student outcomes. For both studies, a third hypothesis was also tested to see whether more reflective students had greater outcome gains than less reflective students.;Results from the studies indicate that students do seem to gain SEL outcomes after participating in a service-learning experience. Different amounts of reflection, when encouraged by different intervention activities, did not seem to create differential service-learning growth outcomes. However, additional possible connections between reflection and outcomes emerged that warrant future study. Findings suggest that different types of reflection might be linked to different service-learning experiences and outcomes. These results helped to detail the type of relationship that exists between reflection occurring during a service-learning experience and service-learning outcomes.