4
elections in the past year to a low in 1996 of just 23% reporting that they had engaged in
this type of activity in the past year.
While Niemi and Junn (1998) have provided convincing evidence that traditional
civics courses are far more influential in shaping political knowledge than they were in
the past, increasingly scholars have been interested in the potential of service-learning
requirements in civics and government courses in shaping not only political knowledge
but also political attitudes and behavior. Service-learning has been defined as “a method
of experiential education in which students apply what they learn in class to a real-world
situation by performing needed community service" (Morgan and Streb 2001, 158).
Service-learning courses have increasingly become part of the high school and college
curricula (Raskoff and Sundeen 1999; Gyles and Eyler 1994; Campbell 2000; Niemi
2000). The belief that it is important to work to increase student involvement in the
community and political world is evidenced in recent governmental initiatives including
the National and Community Service Trust Acts of 1990 and 1993 and the creation of the
National Service Corporation and expansion of the Vista*Americorps programs under the
umbrella organization of the USA Freedom Corps, all of which promote and facilitate
student service to the community (Waldman 1995). These initiatives appear to be having
at least some impact as student volunteerism is at an all time high (Hodgkinson and
Weitzman 1996; Niemi 2000).
A number of recent studies have found that service-learning courses have a
positive impact on students. In particular, studies have found that among other things
service-learning courses can increase social capital (Putnam 2000; see also Campbell
2000), enhance young people’s sense of political efficacy and create a commitment to
Convention