Teaching and Learning in the Social Context: A Meta-Analysis of Service Learning's Effects on Academic, Personal, Social, and Citizenship Outcomes

Abstract

Service learning places teaching and learning in a social context, facilitating socially responsive knowledge. The purposes of this meta-analysis were to summarize evidence on (a) extent and types of change in participants in service learning programs, (b) specific program elements (moderators) that affect the amount of change in participants, and (c) generalizability of results across educational levels and curricular versus noncurricular service. We included 103 samples and found positive changes for all types of outcomes. Changes were moderate for academic outcomes, small for personal outcomes and citizenship outcomes, and in between for social outcomes. Programs with structured reflection showed larger changes and effects generalized across educational levels. We call for psychologists to increase their use of service learning, and we discuss resources for doing so.