Service-Learning and Community Engagement: Cognitive Developmenta ...

In order to learn more about the potential cognitive development of this subset of students, this study examined the conditions that bring about prolonged involvement. This study explored the characteristics and motivations of the exemplars as well as the conditions that bring about a developmental transition from interest in service to long-term commitment to an issue of social concern. Service-learning presents students with concrete challenges to their intellectual and ethical knowledge, skills, values, and developmental capabilities. This study considered how the exemplars may have progressed along the continuum of Perry’s scheme of intellectual and ethical development (1970). This study is a step in the direction of determining if there is any cognitive development in exemplars.

Framework

Three theoretical constructs established the framework for this study. They were (a) William Perry’s scheme of intellectual and ethical development, (b) the service-learning model, and (c) motivation theory. Each is described in more detail in the text that follows.

Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Ethical Development

This qualitative study utilized William Perry’s scheme of intellectual and ethical development to examine whether exposure to and immersion in a service-learning program is in any way related to cognitive development. William Perry’s developmental scheme helped to frame and categorize the impact of service experiences. Perry’s scheme is a model of the process through which undergraduates develop, or fail to develop, in their intellectual, moral, and ethical competencies.