SERVICE- Collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need
The aim of the “Service” strand is for students to understand their capacity to make a meaningful contribution to their community and society. Through service, students develop and apply personal and social skills in real-life situations involving decision-making, problem-solving, initiative, responsibility, and accountability for their actions. Service is often seen as one of the most transforming elements of CAS by promoting students’ self-awareness, offering diverse occasions for interactions and experiences, and opportunities for international-mindedness. Use of the CAS stages in developing a service experience is recommended for best practice.
Service within CAS benefits all involved: students learn as they identify and address authentic community needs, and the community benefits through reciprocal collaboration. Service fosters the development of abilities, attitudes, and values in accordance with the IB mission statement and the IB learner profile. As such, CAS service experiences are unpaid.
When defining “community”, consideration must be made to situation and culture. The community may be the school; however, it is recommended that service experiences extend beyond the school to local, national, and/or international communities. Community involvement includes collaboration with others, as students investigate the need, plan and implement their idea for service.
CAS coordinators should always consider the advantage of students conducting service locally. Local interactions allow for developing relationships, observing and participating in sustained change, and meeting challenges through collaboration. From the local context, students can extend their thinking and knowledge to understanding global issues. Students can also extend local service to global impact through partnerships with CAS students in other cities and towns, countries, and continents. Technology affords opportunities for networking, sharing of initiatives, partnerships, and impact.
As with all CAS experiences, students reflect purposefully on their engagement with service and may be guided to look for moments of personal significance or inspiration as a call for reflection.
Service experiences in CAS can be approached using a service-learning model. Service-learning is the development and application of knowledge and skills towards meeting an identified community need. In this research-based approach, students undertake service initiatives often related to topics studied previously in the curriculum, utilizing skills, understandings, and values developed in these studies. Service-learning builds upon students’ prior knowledge and background, enabling them to make links between their academic disciplines and their service experiences.
Using the CAS stages for service learning
Using the CAS stages is the recommended approach for students engaging in in-service experiences. All forms of service should involve investigation, preparation, and action that meets an identified need. Reflection on significant experiences throughout informs problem-solving and choices; demonstration allows for sharing of what has taken place. The CAS stages specific to service-learning offer students a helpful and supportive approach. As students progress through each of these stages, they can draw upon the skills and knowledge gained from their academic subjects to support their experiences.
The service-learning stages are:
Investigation: Students participate in social analysis of a selected issue, with identification and confirmation of a community need, often with the designated community partner. Having an inventory of interests, skills, talents, and areas for personal growth, students are able to make choices based on their priorities and abilities and the designated need.
Preparation: Students design a service plan appropriate to the identified need, with clarification of roles and responsibilities, resource requirements, and timelines to successfully implement the plan. Any community partners are likely to be consulted. Students also acquire and develop the knowledge and skills needed for the experience.
Action: Students implement the plan through direct service, indirect service, advocacy, or research. Their service may be a combination of one or more of these types of service. Students may work individually, with partners, or in groups.
Reflection: Students examine their thoughts, feelings, and actions applied to the context of self, community, and the world. With service-learning, reflection often occurs with greater frequency as students identify significant moments generated by new situations and insights.
Demonstration: Students make explicit what and how they learned and what they have accomplished, for example, by sharing their service experience through their CAS portfolio or with others in an informal or formal manner. Through demonstration and communication, students solidify their understanding and evoke responses from others.
Four types of service action
It is recommended that students engage with different types of services within their CAS programme. These types of action are as follows.
Direct service: Student interaction involves people, the environment, or animals. For example, this can appear as one-on-one tutoring, developing a garden in partnership with refugees, or working in an animal shelter.
Direct service example: In support of people with memory loss
Student document
Investigation: After reading articles about challenges facing people who have had strokes, head injuries, or dementia, I contacted a local daycare center for people experiencing memory loss. I interviewed the education director about what helped people the most; she said exercise and conversations. She agreed I could visit on Saturday mornings on a regular basis to lead sitting and standing exercises and visit.
Preparation: I developed a series of simple exercises, beginning with those someone can do sitting down. I showed them to a relative who is a physical therapist and she helped me make adjustments. Later, after leading the sitting exercises several times, I developed some for standing and again reviewed these with my cousin. I also began adding music since I found everyone liked moving to music. This led me to find songs from their era.
Action: Leading 30-minute exercise routines on Saturday mornings, twice per month was the initial plan, though I went more often. Because these became popular, I would lead two or three sessions a visit, offering one sitting session, one sitting and standing session, and one walking session (added later). Also, I would stay and have conversations for 30-45 minutes each visit.
Reflection: I found writing after each session was so important for me to describe what happened because sometimes I was upset. My grandmother had passed away and she had Alzheimer’s and sometimes the residents reminded me of her. Other times I was so excited that I just had to write about a new accomplishment I noticed for one of the participants. In IB Art I found myself drawing some of the faces so I began sketching on occasion to accompany my writing. I found reflection to be an unexpected helpful way to put all the pieces together.
Demonstration: I created a virtual space that had a video of me with some friends doing my exercise routines, written reflections, a thank you letter from the agency, my sketches, and an email my cousin sent me about how I inspired her to donate her time—she came with me on occasion to help me develop more exercises. What was most enjoyable was leading some of the routines on the day we showcased our CAS experiences and also showing photographs that the agency gave me permission to take and use.
Ideas for direct service
With people
Coaching children in sports
Delivering meals to people living with a medical condition
Leading resume-writing workshops for people who are unemployed
Organizing or assisting at a blood drive
Playing music with elders to have an exchange of skills and learn about each other’s music preferences and talents, and then performing as an ensemble for others
Distributing plants at a farmer’s market to promote home-grown container gardens
Serving food at a soup kitchen
With the environment
Restoring a stream
Preparing the soil and beds for an elementary school garden and planting with the children
Growing seedlings for distribution
Installing raised-bed gardens for a senior center
Establishing a recycling program at city hall
Making a storm-water garden
With animals
Helping at an animal shelter with data entry and dog-walking
Assisting with a pet adoption outreach program at community events
Leading a workshop on pet care
Setting up a turtle sanctuary in partnership with a community organization
Indirect service: Though students do not see the recipients of indirect service, they have verified their actions will benefit the community or environment. For example, this can appear as re-designing a non-profit organization’s website, writing original picture books to teach a language, or nurturing tree seedlings for planting.
Indirect service example: Providing content for an organization website
Student document
Investigation: I remembered from a school-wide food drive that the receiving organization had a fairly undeveloped website. I had been studying issues of local and world hunger in an IB subject, and thought to address this topic, and remembered that website. After reviewing the site again, and talking with the director of the organization, they agreed I could make a written proposal of what I could offer. Since I want to study graphic design and technology, this is a great fit.
Preparation: I looked at other websites that seemed to be rich in content and took notes. A few of my friends were helpful in brainstorming with me and helped come up with categories of content. I decided to focus on providing content that would help schools learn about local hunger and be more effective in doing food collections that more effectively meet local needs. The organization let me visit several times as part of my planning so I assisted with food collections, sorting, community networking, and, along the way, interviewed different staff members.
Action: I created a set of materials for elementary children to learn about hunger; this included a short story to read that provided useful information, a puzzle to complete, and a document to download with items the food bank needed; this document could easily be updated. After receiving comments from the organization’s education director, I made revisions and prepared a comparable set for secondary students. Then I wrote a short guide to run a food drive based on our school’s experience and what I had learned at the organization. All were uploaded to the website.
Reflection: Since this was all about technology I uploaded all of my reflections onto a blog. I recruited several people to read the blog (including the education director from the agency) so I had continual feedback. In this way, I could air frustrations and get immediate suggestions when needed, and also received a few accolades when I had successes which kept me motivated.
Demonstration: I made a short video that compiled elements from the entire experience, with photos, interview commentary from people at the food bank, and visuals from the website and my blog.
Ideas for indirect service
With people
Assembling a photo exhibit about poverty for a gallery
Preparing meals in a soup kitchen
Taking part in a walkathon to raise money for humanitarian causes
Preparing activity kits for children for an emergency shelter
Writing brochures for organizations
Assisting with the creation of a museum exhibit
Making exercise videos to give to homeless shelters
Creating a newsletter for a retirement community
Recording audiobooks for people who are visually impaired
With the environment
Preparing signage for a local wetland
Growing seedlings for distribution
Initiating a school compost to reduce food waste in landfills
Creating a website with information about flora and fauna for a local park
With animals
Making zoo toys for animals
Collecting needed supplies for a wildlife rescue center
Baking dog biscuits for an animal shelter
Making coloring books on local endangered animals for elementary schools and for tourists with protection tips
Advocacy: Students speak on behalf of a cause or concern to promote action on an issue of public interest. For example, this may appear as initiating an awareness campaign on hunger, performing a play on replacing bullying with respect, or creating a video on sustainable water solutions.
Advocacy service example: An eat-well food campaign
Student document
Investigation: After talking with a relative recently diagnosed with diabetes, I became curious about how diet and nutrition impact our health. I read a current nonfiction book about eating and nutrition, interviewed several people I know who seem very structured about their eating habits and learned about different approaches to health, and surveyed students in four of my classes to find out what they know or believe to be true about the relationship between food choices and health. As an athlete, this topic is important, and my investigation revealed a need: there is a lack of knowledge among youth about the importance of food choices.
Preparation: I wanted to do a poster campaign in the cafeteria, offer recipes to the school cafeteria based on my research, and cook some recipes (which I have never done before) and bring in food samples if they tasted good enough. Then I discussed with some friends and a few suggestions helped, including having students select which posters were best and then make sets for display around the school. Each of these ideas required approvals so I wrote a proposal that was accepted by my CAS coordinator and school officials. I was allowed to offer two recipes for review and if that went well provide others to the school cafeteria.
Action: The poster campaign was held over a six-month period with a new poster added each month. In the end, there was a vote on the top two posters and about 75 students voted. The first two recipes were successful, two more were permitted, and my cooking talents improved over time.
Reflection: I wrote my reflections though one of my friends said I should also keep a food diary to show how my eating habits evolved. I did this on and off for the duration of my CAS experiences.
Demonstration: My portfolio included posters, samples of surveys, video interviews with students who tried my recipes and the school dishes I influenced, and letters from local schools who received copies of posters. I also had food samples at a CAS event showcasing our accomplishments.
Ideas for advocacy service
With people
Leading a town hall meeting on solar energy
Organizing a letter-writing campaign for a cause
Hosting a speaker and film series to raise awareness for the community
Creating comic strips or comic books to teach about emergency safety and readiness
Planning a conference to raise awareness about education equity
With the environment
Providing reusable water bottles to replace single-use water bottles
Creating public service announcements on energy reduction in homes
Organizing a flash mob to teach about recycling
Promoting a “just useless” campaign to reduce quantities of what is put in trash and recycling bins
With animals
Making beach signs to protect local waterways from rubbish
Dressing as animals at risk for a public event
Creating posters, videos, and public service announcements to promote animal adoption for a shelter
Research: Students collect information through varied sources, analyze data, and report on a topic of importance to influence policy or practice. For example, they may conduct environmental surveys to influence their school, contribute to a study of animal migration, compile effective means to reduce litter in public spaces or conduct social research by interviewing people on topics such as homelessness, unemployment, or isolation.
Research service example: Reducing energy use
Investigation: Our school aims to be caring about the environment, however, could we do more? I decided to research how much electricity the school uses and see if the reduction was possible. To do this I interviewed the school custodian, collected copies of the school electricity bills to create a graph on monthly use to see highs and lows based on time of year or events, and do an energy audit (I found existing resources for this) which involved observation, notations, and documentation with photography. The findings showed the school community could be more proactive in reducing the usage of electricity.
Preparation: I organized my investigation findings to see behavior patterns that could be changed through information, and made several modest cost-efficient recommendations for structural changes. As I added to my initial findings through continued research, I occasionally met with the custodian and maintenance staff to assure their ideas and opinions were valued and included.
Action: I presented my findings and recommendations to administrators who approved by presenting at a faculty meeting. The teachers then approved the implementation of my ideas. This included a school assembly and distribution of a We Can Save checklist to every member of our school—students, teachers, administrators, and support staff.
Reflection: I prefer to do talking reflections so I kept a self-interview video blog. I also monitored the changes in the monthly bills in comparison to prior years and this always elicited a response—often cheers! This always led to very upbeat reflections!
Demonstration: My demonstration became a school walk-through where I had information posted at key points in the school. In the end, everyone understood what an HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system is and how our participation in reducing energy saves money for the school. Copies of my study were available on the school website.
Ideas for research service
With people
Assisting with a city-wide needs assessment by running focus groups
Conducting hands-on research about how interaction improves the quality of life for residents at an elderly care facility
Preparing a public service outreach process to identify local veterans willing to be interviewed, and then conducting the interviews for a historical society
Learning about the history of people buried in a cemetery from the 1800s to support a local museum
Observing play habits of children in an orphanage or refugee center to identify what skills are developed or need support
With the environment
Using photography to collect images that inform about the first flush from a storm drain by your school
Interviewing administrators at local landfills to learn about community habits that support collections of trash to recycle and food waste for composting
Analyzing items collected in a community or beach clean-up to develop a campaign (advocacy service) that prevents the items from being littered again
With animals
Conducting a behavior study of zoo animals or shelter animals
Monitoring numbers of stray animals, combining findings with interviews and surveys to determine opinions of advocates, opponents, and the general public, and offering recommendations to improve local policies
Assisting with tracking and monitoring of butterfly migratory paths
There are many approaches to service, such as:
Ongoing service: When investigating a need that leads to a plan of action implemented over time, students develop perseverance and commitment. They observe how their ideas and actions build on the contributions of others to effect change. Their reflections may show deeper awareness and knowledge of social issues.
School-based service: While students are encouraged to participate in meaningful service that benefits the community outside school, there may well be appropriate service opportunities within the school setting. In all cases, an authentic need must be verified that will be met through student action. Service needs met at a school may prepare students for further action within the larger community; for example, by tutoring within the school, students may then be better prepared to tutor at a community center.
Community-based service: Participating in service within the local community advances student awareness and understanding of social issues and solutions. However, single incidents of engagement with individuals in a service context can lack depth and meaning. When possible, interactions involving people in a service context best occur with a regularity that builds and sustains relationships for the mutual benefit of all. For example, rather than a single service experience at a retirement facility, students can decide to establish regular visits when they realize their efforts are valued and have a reciprocal impact.
Immediate need service: In response to a disaster, students often want to move towards immediate action. Typically they quickly attempt to assess the need and devise a planned response. Later, the students can be reminded and encouraged to further investigate the issue to better understand the underlying causes. This provides greater context even if the service action has already taken place. With increased knowledge, students may commit to ongoing assistance, for example, such as joining with the prevention or community resilience initiatives regarding an environmental issue.
Fundraising: The preferred approach is for students to initially develop their understanding of the organization they choose to support and the issues being addressed. Students can draw from their interests, skills, and talents to plan the method and manner of fundraising. Ideally, students directly communicate with the organization and establish accountability for funds raised. Sharing the rationale for the fundraising educates others and advocates the chosen cause. Students can also be asked to consider other ways to augment their contribution through direct, advocacy, or research service.
International service: Students are encouraged to participate locally in service before considering service opportunities outside their country. When participating in international service, students must understand the background and the circumstances of an identified and authenticated need to support their involvement. When direct communication with an overseas community is not possible, students could cooperate with an outside agency to provide an appropriate service. Students do benefit from serving in an international context when able to make clear links to parallel issues in their local environs and they understand the consequences of their service. Schools must ensure that commercial providers if used, act in accordance with the aims of the IB mission statement and CAS requirements. Additionally, schools must undertake risk-assessment to ensure the safety of students.
Volunteerism: Students often volunteer in-service experiences organized by other students, the school, or an external group. In such cases, students benefit from prior knowledge of the context and the service need. Being informed and prepared increases the likelihood that the student's contribution will have personal meaning and value. Utilizing the CAS stages prior to volunteering is highly recommended.
Service arising from the curriculum: Teachers plan units with service learning opportunities in mind, students may or may not respond and act. For example, while studying freshwater ecology in environmental systems and society, students decide to monitor and improve a local water system.
