Service-Learning: from the Escola Nova (the New School) to education today

The idea of activity takes shape in pedagogical practice and thought when it becomes clear that we cannot acquire knowledge only by listening to the teachers’ explanations and that we cannot learn to live together merely by obeying the rules of educators. The Escola Nova movement, which accepted the pedagogical principle of activity, initiated a course that would eventually lead to projects such as Service-Learning (SL), which consists of combining learning activities with services to the community under the same project. The article considers four precursors of educational strategy who used different aspects of the principle of activity (Dewey, James, Makarenko and Baden Powell) as forerunners of SL, and discusses why servicelearning should be promoted and why the practices of service-learning are good pedagogical strategies for education today.