Activist Learning vs. Service Learning in a Women's Studies Classroom (original) (raw)
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A lthough an emphasis on formal service-learning courses is relatively new within the academy, feminist pedagogy has a long and fruitful history implementing a broad conception of service learning. In particular , the critique of the banking model of education and the authoritative professor/passive student model examined in the field of critical pedagogy has wide circulation within feminist critiques of education, notably in the emphasis on the classroom as a communiry, professors as facilitators or collaborators , and students as engaged learners. Moreover, the feminist theoretical emphasis on praxis, or putting theory into practice in real-life contexts, and on extending what happens inside the classroom into all areas of life outside the classroom, constructs feminist disciplines as extremely conducive , if not dependent on, a service-learning, community-based model of education. In this chapter I focus on service-learning pedagogy within the Introduction to Women's Studies (WMST ror) course I teach at California State Uni-versiry, San Marcos (CSUSM). This course broadly uses service learning in various ways; however, I focus in particular on the Student Discussion Leader program and the Activism Project in order to illustrate that successful models for service learning promoting active citizenship must incorporate appropriate pedagogical practices and what I term engaged assignments. I28
The Women's Studies Experience: Impetus for Feminist Activism
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The impact of women's studies courses on students' feminist activism and related behaviors was assessed through quantitative and qualitative methods. At pretesting, women's studies students (10 classes: 161 women and 18 men) did not report significantly more activism than nonwomen's studies students taught by women's studies faculty (9 classes: 73 women and 48 men) or nonwomen's studies students taught by nonwomen's studies faculty (12 classes: 107 women and 47 men). At posttesting, women's studies students, relative to the comparison students, reported more activism during the semester of evaluation, stronger intentions to engage in future feminist activism, and more important and more positive course-related influences on their personal lives (p < .0001). Since 1970, over 600 women's studies programs have been established in the United States. Women's studies programs challenge sexist, androcentric assumptions, provide information about women that is missing from traditional curricula, and present a feminist perspective in which women are the focus of study. Primary goals of women's studies programs are to develop a feminist consciousness and to bring about an understanding of the political, economic, and social forces that affect the roles of women and men (Lee, 1989; Weiler, 1988). This understanding is expected to lead to increased feminist activism and more egalitarian roles and relation-We thank the teachers at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who graciously allowed us to evaluate their classes and Cathy Giotto for her assistance in data collection.
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Learning about the historical traditions of social change movements is critical for today's students. Students need social justice role models to understand what has changed as a result of people's organized and individual efforts over time. Students need to learn from the successes and challenges of past movements in order to know that change is not only possible but that they, too, can be change agents. When exposed to the depth and breadth of activist histories -histories of which they usually have little to no knowledge of -students start to think more critically about their own education. They begin to consider what narratives they have been taught and what/who have been left out.
Activist Feminist Pedagogies: Privileging Agency in Troubled Times
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Putting Feminist Pedagogy to the Test
Psychology of Women Quarterly, 2000
Critics of women's studies (WS) have charged that WS teaching overemphasizes students' personal experience and is overly politicized. They claim further that WS classes discourage critical, independent thinking and stifle open, participatory learning, causing student dlssatisfaction. This study provides empirical ebidence of the process of WS teaching from the perspective of 111 teachers and 789 of their students from 32 campuses in the United States. Contrary to WS critics, WS faculty and students reported strong emphases on critical thinkindopen-mindedness and participatory learning and relatively weaker emphases on personal experience and political understanding/ activism. In addition, student ratings of positive class impact were higher for WS than non-WS classes. The results support the pedagogic distinctiveness of women's studies.