A Decade of Plodding amongst the Plots: Service Learning as Recognizing the Contributions of Others in the Community

Service-learning projects help students make connections to their community and help them to think about civic participation. The projects can range from very simple short-term philanthropy to very complex direct involvement by the students across multiple years. Students learn both social problem-solving skills and academic knowledge through service-learning programs. Cemeteries hold large amounts of statistical data about the population and culture of the community. Students use this information to create knowledge about their community and interpret the data to determine more about life in the past in their area. Teachers have considered historical thinking in relationship with research done on cemeteries, and teachers use cemeteries with primary students in designing K-(what do you know?) W-(what do you want to know?) and L-(what did you learn?) experiences. In this article, the author discusses how students engaged in a civic service-learning project when they restored the Freedomland Cemetery. The students learned how they made a contribution by physically preserving the history of their community, and they learned the story of their community. (Contains 10 notes.)