Hildreth
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service-learning pedagogies into their courses, this passage confirms that students’ experiences
“in the field” can be difficult, emotionally charged, and full of unexpected outcomes. This
means that we not only have to prepare students for the unexpected, but prepare ourselves to hear
and act upon criticisms such as Elaine’s.
In this paper, I present the findings from a study of students’ “lived experiences” in the
political science course “Democracy and Education” and practicum “Coaching Public
Achievement.” “Democracy and Education” is an upper level political theory course at the
University of Minnesota. On Tuesdays students attend a seminar, discussing some of the major
texts in political theory that address the relationship between democracy and education. On
Thursdays, students “put their theory into practice” by serving as “coaches” (experiential
educators) for teams of young people who are designing and carrying out their own political
action projects as part of Public Achievement. The study used qualitative methods to better
analyze the complexities of students’ experiences and the learning that occurred through their
experiences.
This paper has two distinct goals. The first goal is to describe the course and practicum
as a potential model for instructors who wish to incorporate similar pedagogies and practical
experiences into their courses. The second goal is to better understand the nature of students’
experiences, what these experiences mean, how they learn through experience, and whether this
course fosters political engagement. Based on narratives from in-depth interviews and student
journals, this interpretive study aims at what Geertz (1971) calls thick description. While not a
causal analysis, the study seeks to document learning and personal change through critical
analysis of detailed narratives. I conclude the paper with a discussion of the findings. Narrative
descriptions of students’ experiences highlight the profound learning that occurred through the
Convention