All first-year pharmacy students are required to take a year-long course called Experiential Practice. The course is broken into two parts. One part encompasses working with preceptors in community pharmacies and the other is teaching healthy eating and physical activity habits to grade-school children at four elementary schools.
Learning is a Process
Learning results from interactions between a person and his/her environment. While classroom learning is essential for certain portions of our Pharmacy curriculum, experiences outside of the classroom will help our Pharmacy students become better health care practitioners by challenging their beliefs and ideas.
What is Service Learning?
Service Learning is a structured learning experience for first year pharmacy students. Students deliver nine nutrition-based lessons, four in the fall semester and five in the spring semester, to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade children in four Aurora Public Schools.
Pharmacy students make a connection between community service and coursework. This is based on the belief that we all can learn from each other.
How are these Connected?
Healthy food habits and daily physical activity are important concepts for elementary students. The pharmacy students from the University of Colorado are charged with working in elementary school classrooms for one academic year, teaching these concepts in conjunction with elementary school teachers. The teaching experience is expected to benefit the elementary school students, as well as the pharmacy students by challenging their current beliefs, introducing them to new ideas, and allowing them to reflect on what they have learned.
Why are Our Community Partners Important?
The School of Pharmacy recognizes the tremendous value of community partners. Our partners have offered to invest their precious time and resources into helping our pharmacy students become actively engaged in learning by providing a service to the community. In return, it is our hope that the pharmacy students are able to gain tremendous knowledge and insight about the importance of serving the community. We have the opportunity to learn from each other.
In the coming years, we are committed to building strong, respectful relationships that are open, honest, and dedicated to mutual learning. We recognize that we are dependent upon each other to learn and grow as partners and we will work together to cultivate our relationships.