Dr. Monique Mironesco, a professor of Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu, published an article in the Journal of Political Science Education entitled, “Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: Environmental Awareness in Hawai‘i.”
“Service-learning enables students to make connections between the course material and real-world environmental issues, showing them how various communities are attempting to solve certain environmental problems,” Mironesco said.
The focus on problem-solving skills in this particular domain enables students to see themselves as agents of change, she said.
“This paper argues that environmental awareness and activism reflect civic engagement through changes in environmental behavior,” Mironesco said.
The article was published in the Journal of Political Science Education, which reaches a wide variety of scholars within the discipline of Political Science at different kinds of higher education institutions, Mironesco noted.
“It addresses a range of pedagogical issues on the scholarship of teaching and learning,” she said. “While service-learning is certainly not new, its impact in Political Science is not regularly addressed, much less so with Hawaiʻi as a case study.”