Teachers once used a switch to instill character in their pupils, but today's teachers use a much more subtle technique.

Service learning projects are cropping up from kindergarten to college and aim to develop students' character while nurturing their academic goals.

At Gainesville State College, sociology professor Jessica Ziembroski required her students last month to obtain donations to support a "Trunk or Treat" Halloween party. All of her students collected candy and community donations and held two Halloween parties benefitting impoverished children at local schools and the YMCA.

Ziembroski said she believed it was important for her students to have first-hand experience with poverty and diverse racial groups to have a deeper grasp of the dynamics that shape society.

There also are opportunities for elementary schoolers to do good in the community while learning.

Michele Taylor, a fourth- and-fifth grade writing and grammar teacher at Riverbend Elementary in Gainesville, joined forces with first-grade and kindergarten teachers last week to engage students in a service learning project.

The project partners fifth-graders with first-graders and fourth-graders with kindergartners. Older students help the younger students become better readers, public speakers and mathematicians.

Taylor said her older students play math games with the young ones, listen to them read aloud and help prepare them for Accelerated Reader tests. She said her students have blossomed into caring little teachers.

"I think it's an opportunity for them to get beyond themselves and help somebody," she said. "Like teachers, they see the growth in their kids."

Taylor said the partnerships are the subject of graded journals her students are required to write in each day.

"I cannot wait to work with my little person today," wrote fifth-grader Maris Mongero in her gem-studded journal.

Fifth-grader Cayse Power said he, too, looks forward to spending time with his "little person," first-grader Taylor Vogel.

"I love it. I love spending time with Taylor. She's so funny and loving and caring," Cayse said. "I feel like I'm her older brother."

First-grade teacher Susan Canaday said her kids have enjoyed their relationships with the older students, who serve as role models.

"If we pass them in the lunch room or in the hall, they say, ‘Oh my gosh, there's my buddy!'" she said. "My kids really look up to the fifth-graders."

Canaday said the project worked so well last week that teachers plan for students to continue their service learning partnerships on the first and third Friday of each month.