Food and Faith: A Two-Year Study on the Impact of Service-Learning and Community Engagement Practices in a General Education Religion Course
- Jonathan H. Westover, PhD
- Apr 28
- 2 min read
Research Advances Section
Submission Date: March 31, 2025; Acceptance Date: April 22, 2025; Early Access: April 28, 2025
Title: Food and Faith: A Two-Year Study on the Impact of Service-Learning and Community Engagement Practices in a General Education Religion Course
Authors: Catherine Wright, Candace Lapan, Rickie Sarratt
Abstract: Identifying pedagogies that promote critical thinking, ethical leadership, and collaboration is essential to prepare students for a complex world and to achieve institutional goals. Service-Learning and Community Engagement (SLCE) is a vital pedagogy that integrates academic inquiry with real-world application to promote civic learning outcomes, enhancing student success, employability, institutional and departmental appeal, and knowledge democratization, while supporting underserved students (COPIL, 2021; Wright & Wall-Bassett, 2023). SLCE pedagogy offers a powerful way to demonstrate the real-world relevance of religious studies, aligning program goals with civic learning outcomes and underscoring the discipline’s role in cultivating engaged, informed citizens (Wright et al., 2018). This two-year study assessed the impact of SLCE pedagogy in a religion General Education course, Food and Faith. This study reveals significant gains in civic engagement, civic skill efficacy, civic responsibility, and 21st-century competencies—all of which align closely with the civic and ethical goals of religion programs. Notably, 68.8% of students expressed interest in further SLCE courses, and 61.8% found it more beneficial than other university courses. These findings underscore the potential of SLCE pedagogy in religion to generate transformative social impact and reinvigorate liberal arts education, particularly when supported by institutional backing.
Keywords: Civic Learning; Religion Pedagogy; Service-Learning Community Engagement; Twenty-First-Century Skills; High-Impact Pedagogy; Food and Faith; Social Impact
Suggested Citation:
Wright, C., Lapan, C., & Sarratt, R. (2025). Food and Faith: A Two-Year Study on the Impact of Service-Learning and Community Engagement Practices in a General Education Religion Course. Transformative Social Impact: A Journal of Community-Based Teaching and Research, 1(1). doi.org/10.70175/socialimpactjournal.2025.1.1.11
