Service Learning Ideas

Service Learning Ideas

Please see below for Service Learning project examples that can be implemented in your classroom and/or club or done as an individual project.  This is by no means a complete list of projects so please feel free to think outside of the box and be creative.

Art

  • Scientists have found that specific colors facilitate emotional and physical healing.  Develop an art program at the local senior center, children’s hospital, or domestic violence shelter that EMCC students implement once a week for 8 weeks.  EMCC students would develop the activities, facilitate the activities, and create a final presentation in which they will share their project with the college or with the class.

 

  • Create an art program consisting of mini-lectures and hands-on activities and implement the program in local K-12 classrooms or the local Boys/Girls Club.

 

AJS

  • Create an anti-bullying workshop appropriate for middle school or high school students, and present these in order educate students in local schools.

 

  • Work on child abuse issues (Child Abuse Prevention Month – April) by developing an informational workshop, brochures, videos, and the like.
  • Raise awareness and funds for the prevention of human trafficking through an on-campus event/informational fair open to the public.

 

Business

  • Create a program or project in which Business students provide tax preparation assistance to the community.  Develop a target clientele, publicize your service, implement the program, and create a final presentation in which students share with the college or the class how this program assisted the community and what the EMCC students learned from this experience.

 

  • VITA -- Develop a free tax-preparation and counseling program tax preparation service for low-income individuals and families.

 

  • Work with neighborhood leadership/advisory boards to put on workshops for residents of low-income areas on household finances, budgeting.

 

Computer Science

  • Show elementary school students how to create a website, a PowerPoint presentation, an animated video, and the like.  Have students focus on their elementary school events, community service projects, or learning objectives to be shared with parents and perhaps the community.

 Culinary Arts

  • Create a program in which EMCC Culinary students teach families to create low-cost, healthy meals from canned food and boxed food items from the food bank.  This is a practical way to help families in local shelters to prepare healthy meals on a daily basis while on a tight budget. Have the students facilitate a presentation to the class or to the college on how this program enhanced their learning and how it impacted the community members.

 

  • Culinary Arts students can be volunteer cooks and food servers at nonprofit events on and off campus.

 

Dance

  • Start an after-school dance program for teens.

 

  • Organize a dance event/fundraiser to raise awareness for the Special Olympics.  Dance students can provide free dance instruction or perhaps host a high school Prom for students with special needs.

 

  • Create a healthy dance/chair exercise program for the elderly in a local nursing home.

 

Education and ESL

  • Organize a ‘study buddy’’ program in which the EDU students tutor the ESL students with their English language acquisition skills and/or provide peer assistance with research and editing to better assist them with their college coursework. For example, students can meet once a week for 8 weeks for one hour and journal about their interactions and how these meetings are beneficial to each.

 

  • Develop a Play & Recreation Program for Children. Students will plan and implement sequentially appropriate play and recreation environments in an early childhood kids’ camp during summer school.

 

English

  • Become writing partners or tutors with residents at local homeless or domestic violence shelters.  Assist residents with resume-writing and filling out job applications.

 

  • Develop and implement a tutoring program for local elementary school students.

 

  • Work with non-profits to develop hard-hitting brochures for use in recruitment and information.

 

Fire Science

  • Provide fire safety instruction in local elementary schools.

 

  • Develop an informational brochure or video on fire safety to be distributed to EMCC staff, faculty, and students.

 

Math

  • Create an after-school tutoring program in which EMCC math students tutor elementary school students 1-2x per week for one hour.  The math instruction can include fun, standards-based math games that will bring math to life and create a love for mathematics for the elementary students.  Have the EMCC students pre-test and post-test their pupils and create a PowerPoint sharing their successes and the many benefits of this program with their class or with the college.

Marketing/Video Production/Computer Science

  • Create and produce informational videos for non-profit agencies.

 

Nursing

  • Develop a campus event in which Nursing students give free blood pressure tests, provide free and relevant information on the importance of healthy eating, facilitate a blood donation, etc.  This will benefit the EMCC community as a whole and will provide authentic practice of the developing Nursing skills.

 

  • Provide free first aid and blood pressure checks at nonprofit events such as the Veteran’s Day Fun Run.

 

  • Host a Health and Wellness Fair on campus that is open to the public.

 

  • Create a healthy eating program and present at local shelters and/or to low income individuals.

 

Psychology

  • Students tie class text to service experiences as volunteers at local hotline services, working with victims of sexual assault, and assisting troubled families.

 

Political Science

  • Assist voter registration efforts. Write a reflective paper on the apathy/involvement/attitudes of the public.

 

  • Work with senior citizens groups to lobby for legislation to meet the needs of senior citizens or the needs of some other population or interest group. Grass roots organizing techniques would be stressed.

 

Sciences

  • Create and maintain a community garden at EMCC. Create a garden in highly visible area of campus, recruit volunteers to help work garden and then sell produce, plants to students.

 

  • Conduct workshops at elderly resident homes on "What’s Happening to My Body." In this way, students will learn about the particular nutritional needs of the elderly and physical changes they are going through.

 

  • Volunteer as guides, helpers and animal handlers at a non-profit nature study center which provides free education programs and tours for inner-city youth.

 

  • Create workshops for students on "greening" their rooms, homes, apartments. Installation of low-flow water heads, composting, strategic planting trees, etc.

 

  • Conduct presentations on the state of the environment to local schools and present action plan on how they can now just be aware of problem, but can get involved in bringing about a resolution.

 

  • Host a Science Day at EMCC for local elementary, middle school, or high school students complete with hands-on activities.

 

  • Host an Environmental Awareness Fair open to the public.

 

Sociology

  • Develop a questionnaire that asks students why they do or do not get involved with volunteering in their community, and use it to interview 100 EMCC students. Evaluate the findings and develop a plan that will motivate more students to volunteer. Present the plan to The Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement and help implement the plan.

 

  • Create an informational event to raise awareness for Child Abuse Prevention Month – April

 

Women’s Studies

  • Work with single mothers and their children in a variety of ways at the local homeless and domestic violence shelters.

 

  • Develop a day to celebrate single mothers and pamper these women with a nice lunch, free haircuts (solicit hairdressers from local businesses), arts and craft activities, and more.

 

Miscellaneous Service Learning Projects- Cross-Curricular

  • Adopt a highway
  • Beautification projects
  • Grocery shopping for the elderly
  • Fundraise or partner with one of our Agencies
  • Provide a meal for needy individuals
  • Participate in after school programs
  • Book Drive
  • Collect items for soldiers overseas
  • Provide a lesson at an elementary school on a subject in your area
  • Reading to elementary schools
  • Collect food for a food pantry and/or the EMCC Student Food Pantry
  • Support at-risk children
  • Set up a job fair for the unemployed in the community
  • Fund raiser for cancer research
  • Environmental sustainability programs
  • Organize a free yard sale in a low-income neighborhood
  • Partner with a homeless shelter
  • Provide textbooks and children’s literature for those who can’t afford them
  • Organize a community picnic to benefit low-income individuals
  • Start community vegetable garden for poor/homeless
  • Start a clothes closet
  • Support elderly, veterans, and other needy populations