Introduction
Over the past several years there has been a growing crescendo of voices in support of
implementing service learning more fully into a college curriculum. The values and benefits of
service learning are well known, especially within the Political Science Discipline. Research
shows that service learning assignments can help connect students to their learning in remarkable
and innovative ways.
As a political scientist and the director of a service learning program, I have a unique
perspective on the values and benefits of service learning. Merrimack College, a small Catholic
liberal arts college in North Andover, Massachusetts, has had a formal service learning center
and program since 1999. Over 3,300 students from all majors and backgrounds have participated
in service learning over the past six years. More specifically, an overwhelming number of these
students have been either political science majors or students enrolled in political science classes.
This paper attempts to examine the effect of service learning assignments inside the
classroom. During the Fall 2005 semester there was service learning components offered in all
five sections of our US Politics survey course and in five upper level major courses. Since there
is no one model for service on our campus, these service assignments varied according to
professor in terms of length and how the projects were graded. The similarity was that all ten
were optional assignments. Students selected a service learning component for extra or
substitute credit to supplement their grade.
This paper will look at these five introductory political science classes in order to
compare the students who selected a service learning opportunity against those that did not. This
paper will also compare and contrast results from these introductory political science courses
with the five upper level political science major courses. Did students who selected a service
assignment participate more often in the classroom? Were they more engaged in that class? Did
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Convention