Service‐learning pedagogy can provide future educators a meaningful introduction to the field of TESOL and the English language learners (ELLs) it serves. This article briefly describes one approach to integrating service‐learning into an Introduction to TESOL course and presents research findings on TESOL students' learning outcomes, which included a better understanding of TESOL practices and a sense of advocacy for ELLs.
This article shares results from a multi-institutional study of the role of writing in college students' lives. Using case studies built from a larger population survey along with interviews, diaries, and a daily SMS texting protocol, we found that students report SMS texting, lecture notes, and emails to be the most frequent writing practices in college student experience and that these writing practices are often highly valued by students as well. Our data suggest that college students position these pervasive and important writing practices as coordinative acts that create social alignment. Writing to coordinate people and things is more than an instrumental practice: through this activity, college students not only operate within established social collectives that shape literacy but also actively participate in building relationships that support them. In this regard, our study of writing as it functions in everyday use helps us understand contemporary forms of social interaction.
This paper presents an experimental lab designed for undergraduate students which focuses on soil science and chemistry. Students perform a series of tests to classify soil's phosphate retaining characteristics, texture, pH, organic matter content, and permeability with the addition of a novel soil amendment, Al Mg biochar. This lab has minimal cost as most chemicals are inexpensive and a soil column is crafted from a used water bottle, filter paper, and masking tape. Students apply their measurements to understand how agriculture plays a role in ocean and watershed health and how soil-testing, soil amendments, and responsible farming practices can minimize agriculture's footprint. It is important for agriculturally focused students to understand how soil chemistry relates to crop yields, and the importance of responsible agricultural practices. Learning outcomes and student attitudes from this experiment were assessed to evaluate the experiment.
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