Perceived benefits of service-learning in teacher education

Preservice teacher education candidates reveal personal and professional benefits of participating in a service-learning project. University students actively engaged in connecting content knowledge and pedagogy with authentic experiences in K-12 classrooms. Reflections revealed a service learning component had an impact on participants' sense of their own diversity and the diversity of the students they taught, noticed a relevance to career and a greater commitment to teaching. Data uncovered 1) female participants perceived a greater improvement in the students they tutored; 2) participants' perceptions of their own diversity seemed to make a difference on their perception of diversity in their students; and 3) participants' perceived personal gain decreased linearly as the grade level of their students increased.