MESSAGE TO MAINE
"BACK TO SCHOOL LESSONS FOR A VIBRANT DEMOCRACY"
BY U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM ALLEN
1ST DISTRICT OF MAINE

Across Maine, students are returning to school and for many it will be a pivotal year. These children will participate in a particularly exciting approach to learning, one that motivates while also instilling values fundamentally important to a successful democracy.

"Service learning" is a method of teaching that combines service to the community with curriculum goals. It differs from mandatory community service (often required of high school students) which tends to be a stand-alone volunteer activity after school. Service learning is designed to help students improve academic skills by applying what they learn in the classroom to the real world. In the process, the community benefits, too.

The nature and value of service learning are best understood by specific examples. Recently, I visited students in North Haven who were working on a project to convert a gasoline-powered van to electric power. They wrote grant proposals, shopped for the van and supplies, met with consulting engineers and designed and built the system. Each student researched a relevant physics principle and then taught it to the rest of the class. The North Haven students not only learned an enormous amount about electric vehicles, but they acquired valuable business skills and are making a meaningful contribution to the island they love.

Last spring at Greely High School in Cumberland, I listened to students enthusiastically describe their projects. One class had researched the lives of nearly 40 abstract artists who worked on Monhegan Island in the last century. The biographies prepared by the students are being used in connection with an exhibit of the artists' work now at Bates College. Because many of these painters are not well known, little was available in libraries. Students turned to original sources, interviewing the artists' friends and relatives and tracking down personal journals, correspondence and other revealing material. The project honed students' research and writing skills, educated museum goers and preserved history that otherwise might be lost.

In another project , Greely students concluded that a path along a public road for walkers and bikers would improve safety for children going to North Yarmouth's Memorial Elementary School. They surveyed children and parents, worked with engineers and land surveyors, operated radar guns, created videos, maps and website materials, met with State transportation officials, reviewed applicable laws and presented their findings at town meetings.

Younger children, too, can benefit from service learning. At Baxter Elementary School in Portland, 1st and 2nd graders observed the habits of birds and built birdhouses for the community. They shopped, measured, designed, glued and hammered, watched and discussed. The field and woods behind the school became the focus of 4th and 5th graders, who undertook projects to improve sports facilities and to create a nature trail.

This is a small sample of service learning projects going on in Maine. Thanks to federal, state and private foundation funding (primarily for teacher training), projects are underway in schools from Lubec to Wells.

Despite their diversity, these projects have much in common. Repeatedly, students told me that working on "real" problems that they had identified made their work exciting and meaningful. The North Haven students, for example, gave up much of the summer to the project they felt they "owned." Even students whom teachers had found difficult to reach became engaged, not just in the service learning project, but in other school tasks. Numerous studies have shown that students in service learning have a greater sense of responsibility toward their school and community, lower risk behaviors, and improved grades, achievement test scores, basic skill scores and attendance records.

Not bad for a low cost program. (In Brunswick, students stretched a grant of $8,000 to cover more than a dozen projects.) But the benefits go even deeper. By directing their learning towards community needs, students understand that they are part of that community and can make a difference. The experience encourages a greater sense of civic responsibility and ethic of service. The rewards of giving back to their community reinforce behavior that will serve them and their communities well. Indeed, studies show that 15 years after participating in service learning, students are more likely to be engaged in a community organization and to vote than those who did not participate.

Service learning is an effective way to strengthen our communities. It also is a proven way to bring the joy of learning to children and to see real academic progress. When examining ways to improve public education, local, state and federal officials should consider giving more students this exciting opportunity.