ABSTRACT
Students who are very active in service-learning have impressed the reader with their commitment and their practical knowledge as they apply their insights about social problems to projects in their communities. There are a number of parallels between the way cognitive scientists and service-learning practitioners think about effective instruction. Research on expertise attributes the level of skill of individuals’ performance in a domain to specific abilities acquired through experience rather than to inherited or developmental characteristics, or more general knowledge or strategies. Service-learning is a pedagogy that exposes students to types of learning experiences that can foster the acquisition of more usable cognitive skills than does traditional classroom instruction. The integration of service and learning through reflection activities is not easy but it is critical for successful service-learning. The field of expert-novice research may provide an especially useful lens through which to view the skills acquired through service-learning.
