Gerontology and youth-focused service learning: the relation between service recipient age and student responses

Service learning is a pedagogical technique that integrates traditional coursework with activities outside the classroom that meet the needs of the community. Gerontology-focused service learning has been incorporated into many courses that cover aging content and is believed to be beneficial to the learning process. Other research has demonstrated that service learning in general has benefits, regardless of the age of the service recipient. It is unclear whether benefits associated with gerontology-focused service learning are unique to experiences with older adults or are a product of the general benefits associated with this pedagogy. This study examined student responses to gerontology-focused service learning compared to youth-focused service learning. The results revealed that students working with older adults reported more negative expectations related to the assignment, more positive experiences interacting with the service recipients, and more reports of learning benefits attributed to service learning.