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Volunteerism - education beyond the classroom by Karen Mattison Yabuno (Kanda University of International Studies) |
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Abstract Keywords: volunteerism, environmental awareness, fieldwork, service-learning, Earth Day |
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Volunteerism - education beyond the classroom by Karen Mattison Yabuno (Kanda University of International Studies) |
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Abstract Keywords: volunteerism, environmental awareness, fieldwork, service-learning, Earth Day |
I teach environmental content courses for upper division English majors at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba. These courses are electives for students who want to learn about environmental issues in English with minimal language support. Most of the students know little about natural systems and environmental problems at the beginning of the courses. However, as students gradually become more interested in the environment, many become motivated to do something to help.
Although students were required to attend environmental fairs and events off campus, there were no fieldwork activities in the original course. Students were encouraged to volunteer on their own for environmental organizations, but since there was no requirement to do so, many did not. Some students asked me to organize activities for them, such as collecting garbage along the highway or beach. Unfortunately, because most students have long commutes, club activities and/or part-time jobs, organizing class events was difficult.
As an undergraduate, I participated in a service-learning course. I volunteered for an environmental organization, and then wrote a term paper about my experience. I found volunteering to be a profound learning experience, and one that I really enjoyed as well. This was the kind of experience I wanted to give my students. Volunteering could make environmental problems more real to the students by experiencing them firsthand, and also give them a sense of empowerment by helping to solve some specific problems. By incorporating volunteering into the course requirements, students could receive credit for their time and effort in lieu of income. For the term project, students reported on their activities. In this way, students could also benefit from hearing about their classmates' experiences.
The course was entitled Japan and the Environment. Students learned about Japan's environmental history, environmental laws, and environmental organizations using information on the Internet and their volunteer activities. In the first unit of the course, students deepened their knowledge of Japanese environmental history, learning about Minamata disease, Itai Itai disease, and pollution from the Ashio Copper Mine. In the second unit, they explored Japanese environmental laws through researching case studies specific to various air pollution, water, waste management, and nature conservation regulations. In both of these units, students worked in groups on one topic, and presented their findings to their peers.
[ p. 73 ]
Class size at Kanda University is limited to thirty students. Each unit covered six topics with groups of five students per topic. While students were allowed to collect Internet research in Japanese, all discussions and student-generated materials had to be completed in English.
The third unit of this course focused on environmental organizations. Students attended an environmental fair to learn about environmental organizations in Japan, and then participated in volunteer activities for one of those organizations. Students volunteered 20 hours with various organizations, and made a scrapbook about their experiences. At the end of the semester, the students showed their scrapbooks to a small group of classmates and described what they did and what they learned from their experiences.
The students were not actually assessed on the volunteer work itself, but on the products reflecting on their experiences. There were two components to the assessment: a scrapbook, worth 20% of the final grade; and a reflective essay, worth 10%. For examples of the scrapbook, the students were shown scrapbooks prepared for a colleague's course on art history, and given the addresses of several websites about scrapbooks. Please see Appendix 1 for these web addresses.
The scrapbook could contain anything the student felt explained his or her activity and a reaction to it. Many scrap books contained information from their volunteer organizations, such as pamphlets and brochures; brief summaries in English of this material; photographs of the students at their volunteer sites; explanations of their activities; comments about conversations with other volunteers or the project leaders; their feelings about the activities; articles related to the organization or the organization's theme; translations of materials; and any other material they wished to include. Some students included items such as stickers, seeds, napkins made of kenaf, recipes for organic brownies, and instructions on how to build a solar oven.
The scrapbooks were then graded on organization, explanations, materials, and neatness (i.e. the "care factor"). For example, some scrapbooks contained virtually no materials; had little explanation of the activity or organization; were handwritten illegibly; had ink smears, cross outs, or pages glued together; and materials falling loose from the book. This made it very difficult to examine the work, and reflected very little effort or pride in the project. On the other hand, some scrapbooks were beautifully prepared, featuring tables of contents; carefully cropped and mounted photographs and materials; and typed, detailed explanations of all materials. Only one student failed the scrapbook component, and this was because he turned in his scrapbook three days late with no excuse. This student was still able to pass the course, however, as his other work had been acceptable.
The second component was a 500 word essay reflecting on what the student learned throughout the course, with a focus on the volunteer experience. Excerpts from their essays appear in Section IX.
Other assessments in the course included the presentations, presentation materials such as posters and handouts, discussions, and postings on the yahoo group reflecting on what they learned from each unit.
Students attended Earth Day events on April 20 and 21, 2002, in Hibiya Park, Tokyo. At these events, there were many booths staffed by various environmental groups. By visiting the booths, students could speak with members of environmental organizations and collect printed information. The students then brought this information to class to share and discuss with peers. Those who were not able to attend Earth Day events because of other commitments were required to visit the Global Environmental Information Centre at the United Nations University to collect similar information.
After the students collected the information and discussed it with their classmates, they were required to contact three organizations to find out what volunteer opportunities existed. In some cases, the organizations they contacted did not have any volunteer activities or the event dates fell outside the timeframe of the class. When this happened, I suggested the students contact their local city hall or ward office to find out what environmental volunteer opportunities existed in their areas, such as recycling drives or trash collection.
Students weighed the pros and cons each of each potential volunteer site. Factors that attracted students to specific volunteer sites included location, topic, companionship, and low skill requirements. Factors that discouraged students from joining some volunteer organizations included time requirements, distance, money, and the tedium of some tasks.[ p. 74 ]
Because this class was offered in the spring, several fourth year students complained about the time requirement for volunteering (the requirement had not been included in the course description published in the university catalogue). Meeting a requirement of twenty hours during peak job-hunting season was stressful for them. I did not lower the required number of hours for them, but I did not enforce it either. I do not know for certain how many hours students volunteered. However, because all scrapbooks showed photos of them working, I am certain that all of them at least visited a site where a volunteer activity was taking place.
Some organizations are far from where the students live, so they could not participate easily. In this case, while they may have been interested in beach cleaning in Kanagawa, for example, it was easier to volunteer near their home in Saitama. The time required to travel to a site would lower a student's interest in that activity.
Some organizations charged a fee to join the organization or to pay for the lunch. In the case of lunch, students did not mind so much. However, paying membership fees for an organization made students uncomfortable. This was not only due to the cost, but also due to the perceived responsibility associated with becoming a member. As a member, students felt they would be pressured to continue interacting with the organization after the class had ended. Students preferred to participate on a one-shot or occasional basis in order to save money and maintain their independent status.
A final barrier concerned tedium. Picking up trash seemed to be the most common type of volunteer event offered. While students may enjoy doing this once, many did not want to spend all twenty hours doing the same activity. Therefore, some students volunteered with a variety of organizations to meet the time requirement.
Most students wanted to work near their homes in order to save time and money. To find organizations near them, they usually called their local city hall or ward office to ask about activities. Some also obtained information through local advertisements.
A few students decided to work with organizations specific to animals or recycling because of their interest in these areas. In these cases, they chose organizations they found through the Earth Day event. Some organizations had work that students could do elsewhere even if the organization was located in Tokyo. For example, Friends of the Earth Japan asked students to survey the amount of trash generated by fast-food restaurants near their homes. In cases like this, students could satisfy two of their criteria: location and topic.
Companionship was a key attractor. Activities that students could join with friends were more fun for them. Often, one student found an activity and then told three or four others about it. As a result, at the end of the semester many students had volunteered for the same organizations. This had the unexpected side effect of class bonding.
Students also enjoyed meeting people at their volunteer activities. They especially enjoyed the chance to talk to the activity leaders, who could tell them significant information about the volunteer organization, environmental history, local involvement, etc. I was pleased that students could find mentors and sources of information in the field, rather than relying solely on me or information from class.
At the beginning of the semester, students were concerned that they would need experience or special skills to participate in volunteer work, and were relieved when this was not the case. One student summarized the assets of the organization she chose with the following key points:
In this case, the student picked up trash, and was supplied with not only gloves and a bag, but even drinking water! She was impressed by this extra consideration.[ p. 75 ]
Table 1 is a compilation of the organizations and types of activities in which the students participated. Because many chose to work together for companionship, there was repetition among organizations. Many organizations also had the same kinds of activities; namely, trash collection along roads, rivers or beaches.| Volunteer Organization | Primary Activities | |
| Nichinichi Kai | Pick up trash by riverside | |
| Friends of the Earth Japan | Survey fast-food restaurants about packaging waste | |
| Hanamigawa hana no kai | Pick up trash by roadside and plant flowers in these areas | |
| Umi wo Tsukuru Kai | Pick up trash by roadside and plant flowers in these areas, Beach clean up | |
| Ichihara tonbo ike no kai | Make living places (ponds) for small animals and insects | |
| Japan Seaborn Art Association | Make art from waste collected from river | |
| JEAN | Clean up Sanbanse tidal flat in Tokyo Bay | |
| NICE | Pick up trash and plant flowers | |
| Repack Soka | Collect old clothes for recycling | |
| Urayasu City | Pick up trash | |
| Chiba City | Make solar ovens, bake organic cookies, sell cookies, buy kenaf seeds with money from cookie sales, plant kenaf | |
| Zushi City | Beach clean up |
In class discussions following the viewing of the scrapbooks, many students stated that they were impressed by the 'volunteer spirit.' By this, they meant the devotion and commitment of other volunteers, particularly the organizational staff and activity leaders. Many expressed a desire to continue volunteer work in the future. Numerical information is provided in Section VIII.
In terms of content knowledge, what students learned from their volunteer experience depended on their organizations and activity type. For example, students who surveyed fast-food restaurants learned about packaging and waste disposal issues, while students who baked cookies with a solar oven learned about renewable energy.
After collecting trash, many students voiced anger about the carelessness of litterers, and expressed a desire to stop this kind of behavior. A couple of students decided to carry pocket ashtrays after they saw how many cigarette butts are thrown on the ground. Students who planted flowers by roads felt a reconnection with nature, and felt pride in helping to beautify the world. Those who collected and sorted discarded clothing were shocked at the waste of money and resources the little-worn or never-used clothing represented.[ p. 76 ]
Tables 2 to 5 were compiled from a survey in Appendix 2, which was distributed on the last day of the class. The surveys were anonymous and completed in my absence. There were 28 respondents. Of the original 30 enrolled, two students dropped the course: one due to her heavy interview schedule for job-hunting, and the other never appeared.
| Question | Yes | No | Other | |
| After taking this class, do you feel more interested in the environment? | 27 | 0 | About the same: 1 | |
| Do you think your behavior will change as a result of this class? | 27 | 0 | Maybe: 1 | |
| Do you think your behavior will change as a result of this class? | 27 | 1 | 0 | |
| Had you ever participated in volunteer work before this class? | 11 | 17 | 0 | |
| Will you do volunteer work again in the future? | 21 | 0 | Maybe: 7 |
From Table 2, we can see that vast majority of students felt that their interest in the environment and their behavior towards the environment changed since entering the course. This may or may not have been directly related to the volunteer work, as it is difficult to attribute reasons for such changes. Prior to the course, only 11 of the 28 respondents had participated in volunteer work, but after the course, 21 said they planned to volunteer again. The 7 remaining students indicated that they might volunteer again.
For Tables 3 to 5, students wrote their own responses to the how or why questions on the survey, and these were grouped into similar categories. Some students gave several reasons, which resulted in instances were the total number of responses was higher than 28.| Expected Behaviour Change | Responses (N=28) | |
| I'll volunteer again | 7 | |
| I'll separate garbage (recycle) | 6 | |
| I'll stop using disposable chopsticks | 5 | |
| I'll be a role model for others | 3 | |
| I'll collect garbage (litter) | 2 | |
| I'll save electricity | 2 | |
| I'll refuse plastic bags at the store | 1 | |
| I won't throw cigarettes on the ground | 1 | |
| I won't buy products tested on animals | 1 |
Table 3 explains in more detail the changes in behavior the students expect. As we can see, 7 of the 28 responses felt a desire to volunteer again. Furthermore, separating and recycling garbage, picking up litter, refusing plastic bags and disposable chopsticks, and no longer throwing cigarette butts on the ground were all expected behavior changes.| "Why did you like this class?" | Responses (N=28) | ||
| I could learn a lot | 15 | ||
| I could share opinions and discuss with classmates | 6 | ||
| I learned something useful | 4 | ||
| My classmates were friendly | 4 | ||
| I could practice making presentations | 3 | ||
| Everyone worked hard | 2 | ||
| I like the teacher | 2 | ||
| Did not like the class: There were too many tasks | 1 |
[ p. 77 ]
In Table 4, respondents were asked why they liked the class. 15 of the respondents liked the class because they could
"could learn a lot." One disliked the course because there were too many tasks. This course had more required assignments
than a typical course at Kanda University of International Studies.
Possible reasons that 21 respondents expressed a willingness to volunteer again are outlined in Table 5.| "Why will you do volunteer work again in the future?" | Responses (N=21) | |
| It's important for the earth | 6 | |
| I can make friends | 5 | |
| I can learn/grow | 5 | |
| I enjoy it | 4 | |
| I want to keep the area clean | 2 | |
| I can do something | 2 | |
| My company has volunteer activities | 1 | |
| I want to volunteer when I retire | 1 |
There were no students who stated that they would not volunteer again. Of the 7 who said they might volunteer again, 3 stated that they did not have enough time now. One student felt there were too "few opportunities" in her/his hometown, while another indicated s/he might volunteer if an organization were "easy to join and withdraw [from]." One student stated that he or she might be willing to volunteer again if the worksite offered a chance to learn new things.
The results of the survey were very positive, and as a result I have continued the volunteer project in my course this semester. Unfortunately, due to cold weather, there are fewer opportunities for outdoor activities, like collecting trash or planting flowers, so students have not been able to find volunteer work as easily as in the spring. As a result, for the fall term I have allowed participation in lectures and seminars held by environmental organizations to count towards the volunteer time.
Volunteering is a great way to learn about social issues firsthand. Since the course is about Japan and the Environment, volunteering is a great tool for learning firsthand about environmental problems and how the non-profit sector is addressing them. Students could become directly involved with an issue while helping to solve it. As a result, the students also learned social responsibility and experienced personal growth. Students realized how their own behavior affects the environment, and that what they do helps. As one student told me, "many a little makes a mickle!"
This article concludes with several student comments drawn from the scrapbooks and reflective essays on the volunteer experience.[ p. 78 ]
On volunteerism:On Japanese volunteerism:
"I [felt] bad for volunteering at first, but now I feel volunteering is very good. It is fun to do it!" - Takumi
"These were the first time of participating in volunteer projects. If I didn't do volunteer in this class, I might never [have done so]. But now I'm very pleased with volunteer. Before I experienced, I thought it was difficult to do volunteer, however doing volunteer was very easy. Thanks to this experience, I may attend other volunteer projects in the future." - Minako
"This event [at Sanbanse tidal flats] was large one, I thought there were a thousand people who gathered [at the site to collect trash], but many people came here not to do volunteer work [but instead] to do shellfish gathering, because it is prohibited everyday people from entering here. ... I felt that, including me, Japanese didn't have volunteership. ... Before I do volunteer work, I felt I was hypocrite, because I did not have any [prior] volunteership. But after the event I felt great, because anyway the sea became clean." - Tohru
"While at work, I saw many foreign families picking up refuse. ... They were more eager to clean up than Japanese were. Most of Japanese sunbathers did not work as a volunteer. I thought that foreign people had a deep interest in the volunteer activity. Because of their effort, the beach clean[ing] went on at a smart pace." - Toshiaki
"The children study lots of important things [at the volunteer activity]. [For example, they learn] what is important for us, [and] for earth, [they learn that] the fertile nature is very precious and important and why we should save or protect the nature. These things [can't be taught] in the class[room]. The children study it by touching, seeing, feeling the nature by their body and this is very important." - Minako
"When I was in elementary school or junior high school student, I have [pulled weeds] out as one of school event, so I squatted down and touched soil after a long separation. I noticed how I've not contacted with nature in my daily life. Next Sunday, I planted seedling at last! I was really happy!" - Akiko
"The girl who is 18 years old established this organization. ... I hadn't think about the establishment of volunteer group. Japan should teach environment and volunteer, etc. These things are very important and essential for our life." - Mayumi
"There were many litter at a river-course. When I saw that sight, I was shocked. ... Our leader said, 'we cleaned this area once.' As I was hearing him say such a thing, I was filled with anger. I wanted to question the man who threw [trash] away severely as to why did he do such a thing." - Akira
"I don't think it is effective way to clean. A week or two later, the place will be dirty again. ... However this little action is not effective but it is important for people to get opportunity to know the present condition of the waste problem. ... It's also opportunity to make responsibility of waste we made." - Tatsuya
"I wondered that there is many people who throw trash away such area. I thought this area has already become like trash dump. If trashes were already there, people might think, 'Even if I throw a can away here, nothing would get worse.' Then the vicious circle is made." - Aya
[ p. 79 ]
"I learned that mindless act makes people poor. If you throw away cigarette butt, you'll dirty your nature and also your heart. I don't want to be poor person, so I'll bring pocket ashtray, and I'll never throw away wastes [on the ground]. I learned to do something what I can do is important. I don't need to do outstanding, I should do in my range." - Eri
Bodega Books. (2003) The Memory Maker Scrapbook. http://www.bodegabooks.com/. [5 Feb. 2003].
PRIMEDIA Inc. (2003). Scrapbook Basics: Getting Started. http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/letsscrapbook/basics/. [5 Feb. 2003].
Scrapbooking.com. (2003) Scrapbooking. http://scrapbooking.com/. [5 Feb. 2003].
Shop A-Z Com.Inc. (2000) Learn 2 Scrapbook: Information for Beginners. http://learn2scrapbook.com/. [5 Feb. 2003].
[ p. 80 ]
1. After taking this class, do you feel: a. more interested in environmental issues b. less interested in environmental issues c. about the same as when you started 2. Do you think your behavior will change as a result of this class? a. yes, for example I will _________________________________________ b. no, because _________________________________________ 3. Do you think you needed (circle all that apply): a. more explanations of the vocabulary b. handouts of new vocabulary c. vocabulary quizzes d. same as this semester 4. When presenting, do you prefer: a. working alone b. working in groups c. a little of both 5. Did you like this class? a. yes, because _______________________________________________________ b. no, because _______________________________________________________ 6. Had you ever participated in volunteer work before this class? a. yes b. no 7. Will you do volunteer work again in the future? a. yes b. no c. maybe Why or why not? _____________________________________________________________________ 8. This class had an Internet component. Did you like using the Internet in this class to find information and pictures? c. yes, because _______________________________________________________ d. no, because _______________________________________________________
