Child Connect (formerly Project Child)
Duke's Program in Education partners with the Office of Durham and Regional Affairs, Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, and Duke's Service-Learning Program in sponsoring Child Connect. This program is open to all first-year Duke students interested in tutoring or mentoring children in the local community. Approximately 75 freshmen participated in Project Child in 2008-09, each providing approximately 25 hours of tutoring per semester.
Ann Atwater and Birchwood Community Center
The Program in Education deepened an established partnership with local activist Ann Atwater by working to obtain new, high-quality library books and computers for the recently renovated Birchwood Community Center in East Durham. These resources will enhance the afterschool programs, summer day camps, and other community-building programs that Durham Parks & Recreation offers at Birchwood.
Arts and Engagement
In 2008-09 the Program in Education partnered with Vice Provost for the Arts Scott Lindroth to offer the Arts & Engagement Project, an opportunity for Duke students and faculty in Arts courses to engage with students and teachers at public and charter schools in Durham. This year the project included a music focus, with Duke and middle school students exploring Orff instruments, African drumming, and vocal pieces.
Learning to Teach, Learning to Serve
The Learning to Teach, Learning to Serve (LTLS) network is a consortium of 12 North Carolina teacher education programs funded by Learn & Serve America to infuse the pedagogy of service learning into teacher education. Through participation in this consortium, the Program in Education has enhanced the service learning components in both introductory and upper-level Education courses: most Duke Education courses now facilitate the placement of undergraduates as tutors for K-12 students and the intentional integration of this experience into course content. In particular, LTLS has enhanced opportunities for pre-service teachers to examine and utilize service learning as a pedagogy for K-12 classrooms.