The RWC Department of Behavioral Sciences offers many different courses, including psychology, sociology, criminal justice, and education, which are all involved in service learning projects. For example, students in education sign up for credited service learning hours. During those courses they observe actual classroom activities and help out with the tutoring. In a few sociology courses, students are asked to work with people in different life situations, such as working with younger students with disabilities to gain a better understanding of the struggles that these people face.
Professor Joe Zurad’s Introduction to Social Welfare Systems class is participating in service learning by helping out the FreestoreFoodbank in the Feeding America national study on hunger. The participation in this organization will help gain more information for the government to contribute more funding policies, fundraising efforts on the part of different food banks, and information released to the media to be reported to the general public.
Zurad’s class will be trained to conduct interviews with those who are in need of support from the FreestoreFoodbank. This will provide an important service for those who study hunger in this country while learning more about this aspect of our social welfare systems, and the process of data collection in the behavioral sciences.
If you’re interested in volunteering for the National Hunger Study, you can contact Michon Woods at 531-482-4509. If you have a social science course requirement for your program, and would like to find a class that fits your needs and also provides an opportunity for service learning, Behavioral Sciences faculty can help you out with any questions you might have and help you choose the class that is right for you.