The following classes are offered regularly and include service learning. Plus we have many additional classes offered each semester which include service learning and/or community-based research. Contact Donna Chambers at [email protected] for the current semester offerings.
HDFS 287Y, Intercultural Community Building
Students in Alexa Hodge’s HDFS 287Y had an experiential introduction to how individuals both affect and are affected by the various cultural/community contexts in which they develop. Students identified and explored their own unique and shared assumptions, and the influence of those assumptions on their experiences and communities. By engaging with a local community groups/agencies for 15 hours of service learning, students become aware of the dynamics of how communities are formed and function.
EARTH 002, The Earth System & Global Change
Earth 002 students capturing water bugs to analyze.
Course Description: An interdisciplinary introduction to the processes, interactions and evolution of the Earth’s spheres (geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and anthroposphere). The Schuylkill River in northwest Reading will be used as a case study to investigate each of the Earth’s spheres. Earth 002 students and members of the local Olivet Boys and Girls Club will test and evaluate the Schuylkill River’s water quality and participate in a riverside clean-up.
Instructor: Jayné Park-Martinez, Ph.D.
BiSC3 students improving an elementary school yard.
BiSC3, Environmental Science
Course Description: Course includes a major component to enhance students’ understanding of environmental issues and their willingness to take an active role in their local and global community. Students will choose an Environmental Awareness and Community Action Project (EACAP), a service learning project in which students work in teams to research and take action to address an environmental issue of their choice (local, national, or global). Over the years, students have been involved in a variety of projects with our partner organizations.
Instructor: Mahsa Kazempour, Ph.D.
Sociology 119, The Sociology of Race and Ethnic Relations
Soc119 students with their Reading SD PEPP students.
Course Description: Students become PEPP Learning Assistants (PLA’s) with the Penn State Educational Partnership Program, or PEPP, while being introduced to sociological concepts in race and ethnic relations. PEPP is an after school program partnership between Penn State Berks and the Reading School District (RSD) that encourages academically underrepresented youth to pursue their full academic potential and encourages its RSD participants to pursue a college education. SOC 119 students engage in PEPP at one of the two RSD high schools as PEPP Learning Assistants or PLAs. SOC 119 PLAs gain a unique sociological perspective by examining the role of education as a system that aids in dictating US race and ethnic relations.
Instructor: Guadalupe Kasper