Service Learning Experience Essay

For my final service learning experience, I was recently inspired to perform my last lessons, based on my classroom discussion post on: Cognitive Theories in Practice. Since the new school year will be approaching soon and fall following a few months after, I decided to conduct a couple of activities with apples. By doing so, I stared out by asking a series of developmental survey questions regarding each student’s background knowledge in apples (done separately). For the purpose of this activity, I decided to do a side-by-side comparison in the follow order and layout:

(Me): “Where do apples come from?”

(Rose): “From trees.”

(Casper): “They come from the trees.” Student Analysis: From these answers, both students understand that yes, apples do in fact come from trees. However, a child in the Formal operational stage, would be able to think abstract and be more specific with their answers by mentioning that apples first come from a seed, which grows on a tree.

(Me): “Have you ever eaten an apple before? If so, describe how it tastes.”

(Rose): “Sweet and yummy. I love apples!”

(Rose): “If you put apple seeds in them with water, and they will grow.”

(Casper): “They grow from a seed and basically, the seeds softens and when it rains, the seed coat bursts open. Then the plant starts to grow.”

Student Analysis: From both of these answers, the children show different levels of understanding when it comes to making observations in their environment, more specifically with apple trees. Rose is thinking egocentrically, when she says that all an apple needs to grow is “water and a seed.” Her older peer, Casper on the other hand goes more in-depth about the process of a seed transforming into an apple. This thought process, shows that he is explaining his thoughts through seriation; logical progress. Also, Casper displays good choice of vocabulary words, such s bursts, to tell a story.

(Me): “How long does it take for an apple to