Earth Force
From Service-Learning Wiki
| This program was profiled in Growing to Greatness 2004. |
In 1996, Earth Force shifted its focus to encourage young people to act in deeper, more meaningful ways to address environmental problems by taking part in Community Action and Problem Solving (CAPS) civics-related service-learning projects. Earth Force now operates local offices in nine metropolitan areas around the country and supports programs in about 400 schools nationwide. The nine metropolitan regions are: Charleston, South Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Erie, Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Florida; Washington, DC; and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Contents |
Service-Learning in Earth Force
Earth Force focuses its efforts on helping youth in grades 5 thorough 9 acquire the knowledge, skills, and experiences to take civic action, leading to long-term improvement of the local environment. A critical component of the Earth Force process is enabling young people to direct their own community problem-solving process by choosing action projects that work to change local policy (school, government, or private policy), or effect a widespread change in community residents’ behavior or practices.
Community Action and Problem Solving (CAPS) combines the best practices of environmental education, civic engagement, and service-learning in a classroom setting. Using CAPS materials, middle school youths explore and take action on environmental issues. The Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN) helps young people protect the rivers, streams, and other vital water resources. GREEN offers educators and watershed organizations integrated services and tools to engage youths in improving water resources.
Earth Force After School adapts Earth Force’s CAPS for use in after-school programs At the core of the program is a self-contained kit of materials and information to guide students through the study of local issues and development of action projects.
Scope of Service-Learning
About 35,000 students in about 400 schools around the country participate in Earth Force programs each year. Programs are located primarily in the nine metropolitan communities where Earth Force operates regional offices
Intended Outcomes
Since 1997, CAPS field offices, educators, and youths have participated in a national program evaluation conducted by researchers at Brandeis University.A combination of on-site visits, observations, interviews, questionnaires, and pre- and post-program surveys has provided Earth Force a wealth of information.These results address both what is working well, suggestions for improvement in the areas of training, program materials, and program delivery. Self- and teacher-reported studies have shown that Earth Force students make substantial gains in civic action, problem-solving, ability to use community resources in the classroom, leadership, commitment to the environment, and an ability to talk and work with adults.
