The impact of service-learning (SL) on various psychoeducational variables of university students: civic attitudes, critical thinking, group work skills, empathy and self-concept. A systematic review

Abstract

In the last few years, service-learning (SL) has proven to be an effective educational methodology for the acquirement of knowledge and the personal and professional development of university students. However, there is a lack of specific research about the impact that SL has on psychoeducational variables. Therefore, the objective of this article is to study carefully the relationship between SL and civic attitudes, critical thinking, group work skills, empathy and self-concept of university students. A systematic review of 50 experimental studies about the implementation of the methodology published in the last five years and obtained from the Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and PsycInfo databases was carried out. The results show that SL provides students with a context which helps the development of their self-efficacy and self-esteem while learning to reflect and solve problems more effectively. Furthermore, by connecting with realities different from their owns, their empathy and their social conscience increase, becoming responsible citizens. Future studies should analyze the long-term results.