Transcript service learning & critical thinking in a writing course

SERVICE LEARNING & CRITICAL
THINKING IN A WRITING COURSE
Danielle D. Brown, Ph.D.
Psychological & Brain Sciences
University of Louisville
Course Overview

PSYC 366-WR: Multicultural Psychology
 Multicultural
psychology is the systematic study of
behavior, cognition, and affect in settings where people
of different cultural backgrounds interact.

Course structure
 team-based
learning
 service learning
 focus on developing critical thinking skills
Team Based Learning

Up to 6 people per team

Teams developed by survey
Rank service learning opportunity
 Have you completed/are you enrolled in a WR course?
 Have you completed the experimental psychology/statistics
sequence?
 Do you have a laptop that you can bring to class?
 What is your current level of
employment?
 Were you born or have you lived
outside of the US?

Unit Structure
Service Learning

Includes:
 Community
engagement
 Reflecting on community service experience
 Integrating intellectual knowledge

Americana Community Center
 4801
Southside Dr.
Louisville, KY 40214
502-366-7813
Preparation for Service Learning

Attended semester-long workshop on SL
 Prepared
by Kim Shaver (Student Affairs) and Lora
Haynes (Psychology)

Contacted community partner earlier semester
Americana Community Center


Non-profit (est. 1990) that provides a spectrum of services
for the diverse residents of Metro Louisville. Services
enable people to discover and utilize resources to build
strong families, create a safe, supportive community, and
realize their individual potential.
2300 refugee, immigrants, and low income people from
south Louisville



27 languages; 42 countries
Communities: Vietnamese, Somalis, Bosnian, Sudanese, Haitian,
and Hispanic Latino
26% below poverty line
Key Features of ACC

Population served is consistent with course material

Can accommodate 50+ student volunteers

Close to campus/on direct bus line

Multiple options
SL Course Requirements

24 hours of SL (5 pts X 24 = 120 pts)


Service learning log signed everyday by ACC staff
SL Opportunities at Americana Community Center (ACC)

After School Program


Family Education


Volunteers provide assistance with daycare or programming (for adults)
Americana Fiberworks



Volunteers can provide assistance with homework, snack, arts activities,
recreation, and computers.
Program strives to empower women through fiber arts and education.
Women with sewing skills only
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)

Volunteers are needed to provide free tax preparation
SL Course Requirements

Reflections combine course content with SL
experience
 Individual:
2
– 4 pages
 Team:

1 written reflection per unit (total=7)
1 in-class reflection per unit (total=7)
Final Team Project
 Combines
course content with hands-on activity for SL
opportunity
 Combined with an individual reflection
Individual SL Reflections

Unit 2 discusses how the worldview or values of a culture can
influence communication. Do the people in your service
learning opportunity use mostly high-context or low-context
communication? How do you think their worldview and/or
cultural values influence they type of communication used?
Find an article regarding the population of interest that
supports your opinions.



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Identify the aspects of communication that are high- or lowcontext.
Relate the culture’s worldview and/or cultural values relate to the
communication style.
Incorporate a relevant article using the elements of thought and
provide the full citation.
Intellectual standards: clarity, accuracy, depth, and relevance.
Individual SL Reflections
Individual Reflection: Example 1

Many of the children at the Americana Community
Center are from Africa and the Middle East.
African and Middle Eastern cultures, as well as
Asian and Indian cultures, are high-context cultures.
Eastern European cultures are typically low-context
(Gupta, 2006). Although the children at Americana
come from a high-context culture, they primarily use
a low-context communication style when conversing
with American/English speaking volunteers.
Individual Reflection: Example 2

…these behaviors relate to the cultural perspectives of
many Asian and African countries and influence high
context communication amongst those serviced at
Americana Community Center. I assume that different
cultural perspectives such as personal space, gender
roles, eye contact, and authority figures also can
influence the type of communication that is used within
their cultures. Most of the volunteers at The Americana
Community Center are Americans who, I assume,
communicate more directly, with low context
communication. The different communication styles could
cause a language barrier between volunteers and
participants.
Team SL Reflections

Unit 3: Acculturation, Socialization, & Identity
Development
 Describe
2 hardships people in your service learning
opportunity have experienced? What were the
conditions of their family/ies’ ancestral homeland
before coming to the United States? What information
forms the basis of your inferences?
 Intellectual
standards: clarity, accuracy, relevance,
depth, and breadth.
Team Reflection: Example 1

In the case of a woman whom [student] has worked
with, she was an accountant in Laos before
immigrating to the US. Since she cannot speak
English well enough to pursue her career here, she
will have to attend school and be trained
appropriately before she can receive her
credentials.
Team Reflection: Example 2

Another woman from Cuba told her story about
receiving a masters degree and teaching at a
university within Cuba. When she immigrated to the
US, her teaching degree was worthless in America.
She was forced to go from a very prestigious job to
a minimum wage job.
Final Team Project
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Develop a hands-on activity to implement in your
team’s service learning opportunity. Document the
activity using pictures, narratives from people in the
service learning opportunity, products from the
activity, etc.
Provide a 20 minute in-class presentation that
describes the activity and the multicultural
psychology concepts evident within the activity.
Intellectual standards: all
Procedure
4. Instructed children to
count the number of
selected goldfish
5. Allowed children to
eat the goldfish
6. Repeated steps 3-5
for each of the
goldfish colors
Final Team Project
Final Team Project
Extra Credit Reflections

Critical Incident Reports
 Based
on SL opportunity at Americana Community
Center

Reflections related to multicultural events in the
community
Changes to next course


Revise format of reflection for better integration of
SL experiences with course material
More integration of standards in
assignment
 Revised
rubric