Teaching of Psychology, Ahead of Print.
Introduction:The discrepancy between what is known from clinical research and what is done in applied clinical practice is called the “science-to-service gap.” Teaching students to bridge this gap must be a primary focus of graduate education in applied psychology sub-disciplines.Statement of the Problem:Since science is fluid, an exclusive focus on teaching current empirically supported practices is insufficient. To make a meaningful impact, graduate students need opportunities to practice scientific reasoning in community settings.Literature Review:Service Learning facilitates applied experiences for students to practice scientific reasoning in “real world” settings in collaboration with community partners.Objective:In this paper, we describe the SL pedagogy and model how to apply the pedagogy to a sample graduate-level course.Teaching Implications:SL courses facilitate high impact opportunities for students to practice data-driven decision-making while serving the community.Conclusion:SL benefits students and the community. Future work can build on the model course we describe by evaluating the outcomes of SL courses against other models of effective teaching.