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SERVICE LEARNING CONSTRUCTION STUDENTS LEAD DISASTER RELIEF PROJECTS INTEGRATING CLASS AND LIFE EXPERIENCE

D. Elder Stewart, Jim Carr, and Jeffrey F. Anspaugh

The Ohio State University

Wooster, Ohio

Introduction

Parker Palmer explains that the "way we know has powerful implication for the way we live." (Palmer, 1987) Service Learning, a twenty-year-old educational construct based on the concept that effective integration of community service in a structured setting with classroom learning enables participants to develop a habit of critical reflection about their actions and experiences as well as an ability to perform better service, has been widely accepted in four-year liberal arts education. (Porter Hornet, Poulsen, 1989, Kendall, 1990) Sociologists and educators contend that the main threat to American society is the loss of ability to care about others. (Steele, 198 With personal mobility and the decline of the extended family, youth experience an alienation from the communities in which they live. Community service and involvement are the best response and essential for the community college and state university which are accountable to the community and whose primary task is to prepare its students to be productive citizens. In order to develop the skills and competencies necessary for living in the world beyond the institution, students therefore must come face to face with the social, political and economic problems that will confront their generation. (Williams, 1980)

While many construction programs include internships or cooperative education as apart of their curriculum, service is rarely an expectation and certainly not a requirement. This approach, which focuses education at the intersection of theory and practice expecting participants to accomplish task which meet human needs in combination with conscious educational growth, is a benefit to this population. (Stanton, 1988) Other positive outcomes for the technical college student include more motivation to learn and an increased retention of knowledge (Coleman, 1977), an awareness of the implications of commitment to a group, cause, and career, (White, 1970) leadership skills, personal pride, a sense of accomplishment, and an ability to develop innovative solutions. These are abilities essential to success in the workforce. (Carnevale, 1989)

Construction technology students are encouraged but not required to plan and carry out a project offering their skills and expertise in rebuilding disaster areas. They also take responsibility as supervisors for non-majors who participate in this work. All students are offered the option of academic credit for this service-learning.

Planning Procedure

Labeling service learning as engagement over exposure, Levison (198 has identified four areas as important in making service-learning a valuable experience rather than simply a field trip. These include identifying the purpose, preparing carefully and intentionally, putting effort and care into the experience, and giving participants recognition for their work.

Under the laissez-faire but available guidance of faculty members involved in the course, students have:

1. scouted out relief efforts seeking volunteer labor and established contacts with an agency,

2. reserved work dates and accommodations,

3. arranged transportation, including raising funds to pay for it,

4. publicized the trip to recruit additional student volunteers and inform the campus of the event, informed local newspapers and radio stations,

5. organized side trips,

6. developed crew plans, matching up some crews as skilled and others as mixed skilled and less skilled, and served as crew leaders on site,

7. helped organize and lead several group meetings prior to the trip to establish guidelines and expectations, and

8. presented speeches, slides, charts, photo displays and videos at the Brown Bag Discussion.

Students who have shown an interest in community work are encouraged to plan a larger venture. One or two student coordinators then seek out agency possibilities and interact with the not-for-profit, non-government agency. Students form committees of students as necessary to handle other details. A fundraising committee solicits funds from Home Builder Associations, local businesses, churches and individuals, including the university's faculty and staff. In one case, an individual offered a large donation in exchange for a half day's work crew at his farm which another committee then planned and supervised.

Course Outline

Faculty in the construction and social science departments work collaboratively developing course syllabi relating to both technical and sociological issues and needs. They enroll students in the course for credit and not for credit. Some students work for social science credit focusing their term paper research on social issues learning a little about construction issues and problems; while others work for construction practicum credit choosing a construction focus with less emphasis on the social and cultural issues. All students are expected and agree to participate fully as a team member in all work activities of the group.

Students working for credit must read journal and popular articles descriptive of problems faced by those who will be served, write abstracts of these articles, keep a thorough daily journal of experiences, attitudes and (earnings relative to the project, write a final paper, and participate as a presenter (by invitation or by volunteering) or observer at a Brown Bag Discussion, a campus presentation open to the entire faculty, staff and student body held three weeks following the trip.

Hurricane Hugo Relief (March 1992)

Fourteen construction students worked with Habitat for Humanity International in North Carolina rebuilding an all racial ethnic neighborhood. One expressed that he learned what it meant to be a minority as he became one for a week. Many reflected that they learned to relate to and accept another culture. One volunteered to take care of as electrical problem in a house and said afterward that in the classroom he was impatient having to learn WHY things were done a certain when he wanted only to know how. He realized on the job that he could not have solved the problem without the theory and he would not have worked effectively. One student learned what a bidet was when he installed one for an armless man.

Hurricane Andrew Relief (March 1993)

Forty-nine student participants spent their spring break in Florida engaged with People Helping People, Inc., in relief activities ranging from rebuilding the relief volunteer compound which had been blown away by a tornado a few days before our arrival to reroofing homes and laying a foundation in a mixed racial ethnic, lower income neighborhood. One student built a dog house for a blind woman who was worried that her dog would not survive the hot summer sun. One group constructed several covered busstops which they put in place at various points in the neighborhood the day before they headed home. Several students worked a day in a soup kitchen. Some sorted and passed out food boxes. One group spent two days cleaning up and repainting a local playground. A student supervised a busload of inner city high school students who had come to paint in the compound.

Mississippi System Flood Relief (December 1993)

Nine student participants saw the devastating effects of flood waters in one Des Moines, Iowa neighborhood of 220 homes. They were coached by a Lutheran Social Services volunteer coordinator to understand the guidelines of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) in regards to rebuilding rather than razing and replacing badly damaged homes. They worked to reblock basements, lay linoleum, insulate, drywall and do finishing work. They worked in below freezing temperatures.

Expected Outcomes

Faculty expected that students would gain in the areas of personal growth (self-esteem, self-awareness, independence, assertiveness, developing a conscious set of personal values and beliefs, openness to new experiences, roles and identities), intellectual growth (increased level of thinking skills, ability to learn from experience, construction skills and ability to practice, adapt and learn new skills, improved attitude toward education), social growth (increased concern for others in a broadened circle, increased understanding and skills in caring, knowledge of a few service related careers possibilities, realistic ideas about the work world, contacts for future work). (Conrad and Hedin,1987) Students returned from these projects, evaluated their work and reported significant increases in all three areas. There is a plan for an external evaluation of this program within the next three to six months.

Unexpected Outcomes

Increased school spirit and friendships across technology barriers which must increase bonding and retention is the most noticeable effect of these trips. Students cooperate to teach and encourage each other. They exhibit patience and resilience despite heat and fire ants, cold and snow. The best comes out in each student as they consider their own much easier circumstances at home. These groups continued to be a cohesive unit quarter after quarter. Many worked together on other local projects including a barn teardown, fundraising effort.

The volunteer agency workers serve as positive role models. Students see professors as real people capable of working in the real world with all sorts of personal and technical problems. The students made friendships with students on break from a liberal arts college working side by side. Both groups had a lot to learn about their own and the others+ abilities, gifts and prejudices.

Students learned about social class in America first hand. They reported they believed their parents would have had the resources and family support to rebuild in a matter of months. The people we worked with were still trying to maintain at a very basic survival level banking on government and non-profit agency support.

While expecting to be challenged, even excited, by the experience, students and faculty report that these trip are life changing.

Conclusion

What was learned as avenging midnight angels painted the men's room pink to make a point about their feeling about the males' need to be more open to women on the job site? What was learned when one student was incapable of even pretending to work like the rest? What was learned from working with volunteers from Canada, Great Britain, and all over the United States, some of whom were drifters and others who were very motivated to do something important then return to their "real" lives?

As continued successes stack up, students and faculty agree that this process of planning and implementing service learning projects is one of the most valuable integrative learning projects in which they have ever participated. An old Chinese proverb warns and promises, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand."

Student leaders report significant pride in the work the students accomplish and discuss the belief that even though their work may only make a dent in the problem, it does matter. They must do something.

Bibliography

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Carnevale, Anthony S., Lelia J. Gainer, Ann S. Meltzer. "Workplace Basics: The Skills Employers Want," Monthly Labor Review, August 1990, p. 47.

Coleman, James S. "Differences Between Experiential and Classroom Learning," Experiential Learning: Rationale, Characteristics and Assessment, Ed. by Morris T. Keeton, Jossey-Bass, 1977.

Conrad, Dan and Diane Hedin. "Learning from Service: Experience Is the Best Teacher-Or Is It?" Youth Service: A Guidebook for Developing and Operating Effective Programs. Independent Sector, 1987.

Kendall, Jane and Associates. Combining Service and Learning: A Resource Book For Community and Public Service. Raleigh, N.C.: National Society for Internships and Experiential Education, 1990.

Levison, Lee M. "Community Service Programs in Independent Schools," National Association of Independent Schools, 1986.

Palmer, Parker J. "Community, Conflict, and Ways of Knowing: Ways to Deepen Our Educational Agenda," Change, Volume 19, No. 5, September/October, 1987, pp. 20-25.

Porter Hornet, Ellen and Susan J. Poulsen. "Principles of Good Practice For Combining Service and Learning," Wingspread, Special Report. Racine, Wisconsin: The Johnson Foundation, October 1989.

Stanton, Timothy. "Experiential Education," National Society for Experiential Education, Volume 12, No. 1, January-February, 1987.

Stanton, Timothy. "Service Learning and Leadership Development: Learning to be Effective While Learning What to be Effective About," Educational Leadership Conference, Center for Creative Leadership, La Jolla, California, June 28, 1988.

Steele, Gary. "News Report," Student Press Service, Youth Policy Institute, Volume 11, No. 6„ November 15, 1986. White, Mary 10. -The Perry Model of Development: Ideas for Educators,+ Experiential Education, National Society for Internships and Experiential Education, Volume 13, No. 2, March/April 1988,

Williams, W. Clyde. "The Community Service Tradition of an Historically Black College," Synergist, National Center for Service Learning, ACTION, Volume 19, No. 1, Spring 1980.