Service Learning: Fostering a Cycle of Caring in Our Gifted Youth

: Service learning, a method of instruction that combines learning with service to the community, can foster mutual respect and caring between gifted students and their communities. Using examples from various service learning experiences conducted by young gifted adolescents, the authors relate how service learning can be instrumental in infusing the qualities of caring in gifted youth. A K-12 best-practice model for service learning that incorporates the Creative Problem Solving process, the cognitive apprenticeship model, cooperative learning, reflection, and celebration is described. INSETS: Awards for Service Projects;Material Helpful for Service Learning

Community Problem Solving Works for Middle Level Students

Describes benefits of service learning for middle school students. Describes the Community Problem Solving (CPS) Program, a competitive program in which students use the creative problem- solving process to identify community problems and develop and implement solutions. Differentiates community problem solving from other service learning initiatives. Maintains that CPS is important for the future of the communities and their children

Blueprint for Incorporating Service Learning: A Basic, Developmental, K-12 Service Learning Typology

: Citing the need for a basic, K-12 developmental framework for service learning, this article describes such a model. This model, an inclusive typology of sendee learning, distinguishes three levels of service learning: Community Service, Community Exploration, and Community Action. The authors correlate this typology to Piaget\u27s cognitive developmental stages tying in Bradley\u27s three-factor Criteria for Assessing Levels of Reflection. Two types of service, direct and indirect, are explained. Implications for education, research, and the community are discussed

Vision With Action: Developing Sensitivity to Societal Concerns in Gifted Youth

At the 2006 National Association of Gifted Children Conference, a panel presentation addressed the importance of providing gifted children with opportunities to take positive social action through service-learning; this article is a result of that discussion. The Future Problem Solving Program (among others) has a community problem-solving component to help instill the habits of responding to community needs in socially constructive ways. A service-learning project conducted by secondary gifted students is discussed. The highest level of service-learning is an effective curriculum for gifted students that exposes them to community problems and encourages them to solve those problems creatively. Through service-learning, gifted youth have opportunities to expand their global awareness, practice skills of positive action, and make real their vision of a better future