Larry P. Nelson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Department of
Kinesiology, College of Nursing and Health
Innovation

Service Learning Course(s):

• Teaching Secondary Physical Education
  (KINE 4320)
• Fitness and Outdoor Adventure Activities
  Education (KINE 4319)

“The magic and power of education at that moment was something that I always wanted to recreate. It was so rewarding to be a part of that transformation and process."

Dr. Larry Nelson has been involved with service learning since 1996. He became interested after his mentor at the time partnered with an organization that worked with at-risk gang kids. Together they did challenging outdoor activities, such as hiking and rock climbing, with gang kids from rival gangs. He saw these kids slowly begin to support and trust each other as they were put in intense situations. He wanted to recreate such a rewarding experience in his own classroom, so he began to implement service learning.

One of the organizations Dr. Nelson works with is the Tarrant County Youth Collaboration where he helped write a grant for Dancing Classrooms of North Texas, an organization that focuses on teaching dance steps to students from 5th-8th grade in order to build confidence, break down social barriers, and much more. He has also partnered with the Young Men’s Leadership Academy, which has allowed his students to teach outdoor adventure fitness.

Dr. Nelson advises faculty interested in service learning to focus on what they want their students to gain from the experience. He knows that creating service learning projects can be a lot of hard work, but he believes that the rewards will outweigh the challenges at the end of the day.