Student Voices, Global Echoes: Service-Learning and the Gifted

Implementing service-learning programs in schools for our gifted may help nurture the development of more highly moral people. Service-learning, a method by which students learn and develop through curriculum integration and active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that address needs in their community, has three levels: community service, community exploration, and community action. Community action, most appropriate for gifted youth, involves a high degree of service that produces a broad community impact and the highest degree of learning. This article discusses case studies of four gifted, middle-grade students who participated in community action service-learning projects that positively impacted both the community and the students. Could service-learning be helpful in creating more people like Thoreau and Gandhi by developing co-cognitive traits in gifted youth?