community partners.Engineers typically find benefit in consulting with the client at key stages in the design process,especially when defining the problem for the engineering team and when evaluating prospectiveideas.6 Engineers operating with human-centered design methods should take time to discernneeds of various stakeholders in order to define good engineering design problems.4 The purposeof this paper is to discuss how engineering students responded to a problem-finding task whenthese students were expected to find evidence of a design challenge during a site visit to acommunity organization. I will discuss the targeted student population, detail the design of alearning experience that matched key features of service-learning pedagogy, reflect
OpportunitiesAbstractLearning through Service (LTS) is an umbrella term that includes, both curricular andextracurricular activities, reflecting that there are many models that exist currently for howfaculty use opportunities for students to learn while providing service to a community. Over thepast decade, Learning through Service has proliferated in higher education as an effectiveteaching and learning method. As the pedagogy continues to gain momentum, and manycolleges and universities in the United States have designed their engineering curriculum andextra-curricular activities to include experiential learning, including service-learning.Nevertheless, despite the curriculum overhaul and increase in the use of LTS in engineering,there have been limited studies to
engagement indicators, student retention, and percentage of alumni who are active incommunity engagement, and (3) discuss major lessons learned during the course of 15 years as acommunity engaged faculty member.IntroductionService-learning is defined as “a credit-bearing, educational experience in which studentsparticipate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect onthe service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broaderappreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.” (Bringle andHatcher, 1995). Service-learning in higher education was pioneered by Ernest Boyer (1990,1996) and by a number of others (Harkavay, 2004; Eyler and Giles, 1999
. Details on some of the relational learning opportunities are briefly presented below, with afocus on the educational purpose of the relationship and any key factors related to establishingand supporting the relationship. It is important to note that the interactions between theparticipants in a learning-centered relationship should be as clear and focused as possible toencourage appropriate dialogue, but with some room for teachable moments to spontaneouslyemerge. But it is also important to remember that deep learning can be both messy and hard (interms of effort and openness to change), and relational learning is inherently messy since itinvolves people instead of clean ‘textbook’ problems.Student – self relationshipsSelf reflection on
students enrolled in a Strength of Materials course were required to create andimplement an outreach activity. The activity was designed to engage the students in anengineering concept while also learning what engineers do and the broad scope of engineering.Working with students one morning at the local middle school with hands on activities, theundergraduates presented concepts of buoyancy, electricity, strength of materials, andmechanics. The middle school students were asked to fill out a survey designed to gauge theirperceptions of engineering before the activities began. In addition, the undergraduates weregiven an open ended reflection framed as a “What happened?” “So what does it mean?” and“Now what will you do?” prompt. The
professors “felt the students were able to demonstrate adeeper understanding for the subject areas than in earlier versions of these courses.”4 Thestudents, while agreeing that their learning was enhanced by the service aspect of their projects,were unsure about the net benefit of participating. Biology students were concerned thatperformance in traditional laboratory courses would be weighed more carefully thanparticipation in S-L courses by graduate schools and employers, and many students worried thatthe perception of a lack of scientific rigor would reflect poorly on them. A barrier to faculty’simplementation of S-L was a resistance to the idea of reflection as a learning or evaluation tool,in spite of its integral nature in the effective
PhilosophyThe overall assessment philosophy of EPICS is guided by two core values of EPICS. First,EPICS seeks to provide an educational experience that will prepare students for professional Page 23.151.3practice. Second, we seek to meet compelling human, environmental and community needs.The assessment processes are integrated into the curriculum and designed to create artifacts thatcan be assessed. A key concept in PBSL assessment is to utilize authentic project artifacts(papers, reports, notebooks, blogs, reflections, etc.) that can be assessed and used to demonstratestudent learning. Whenever possible, the assessments are integrated into processes
expanded to include increased utilization as a collaboration tool betweenteams and community sponsors as well as a tool for peer to peer evaluation of project teamprogress.ReflectionFor the fall semester 2012, students were given reflective work as part of the course study.Students were asked to reflect on the following questions: 1. Did having a “real” customer improve your performance? Explain 2. Did you feel that you were helping the community with the project? Explain. 3. Do you see yourself doing service in any community in the future? Has this class experience changed that outlook?Eighty-five percent of students felt that having a “real” customer improved their performance,while 11.5% stated that their experience was improved
Summer 2012. Student participants included10 civil engineering students (9 undergraduate and 1 graduate) at a large urban researchinstitution in the southeast United States. With the first author, they designed pre- and post-tripquestionnaires, focus group interviews, and written reflection activities to assess students’perceptions, attitudes, and learning as a result of the experience. This paper addresses threeresearch questions: 1) What is the profile of engineering students who choose to participate in a study abroad/ service learning experience, in terms of motivation for enrolling in study abroad, reasons for volunteering, and previous educational, organization and service activities
Service (LTS) is an umbrella term that encompasses service-learning (SL) andextracurricular activities such as Engineers Without Borders (EWB) that teach students valuableskills while also benefitting community partners. Although EWB is primarily an extra-curricularactivity for students, some projects are designed and structured to teach specific skills andinclude reflective writing assignments for student participants. Research has shown that LTSactivities can successfully meet a variety of learning outcomes for engineering students andprovide benefits to community partners.6,14 This paper will present a summary of LTS activitiesbased on a literature search and recent activities associated with the NSF-grant on EngineeringFaculty Engagement in
pedagogy that attempts to balance the needs of a non-profitorganization from the community, while providing academic credit for students.1 Through thisexperiential learning style, students have the opportunity to apply their engineering skills to areal-world problem for a community organization.1- 3 Students who participate in SL projectsbetter realize an engineer’s role to help society2, 4 and are forced to examine their beliefs onsocial issues they may not have previously considered.5 As a part of SL projects, students reflecton the project throughout the design process to activate their meta-cognitive abilities; theybecome aware of what they are learning through active reflection.5 Students are expected tocommunicate with the community
government reflect her interest in the intersection between medical device innovation, development, and regulation. She also has educational experience in leadership studies through several training programs, including a vigorous course on ”The Art and Adventure of Leadership” taught by recognized leadership gurus, Drs. Warren Bennis and Steven Sample.Jennifer Wang, University of California, Berkeley Jennifer Wang is a graduate student in the Graduate Group in Science and Mathematics Education, fo- cusing on Engineering Education at the University of California, Berkeley. She also obtained her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Berkeley. Wang has several years
national average of 18.8% women inundergraduate enrollment.9BackgroundA commonly utilized definition of service-learning is “a credit-bearing, educational experiencein which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified communityneeds and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of coursecontent, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility."10Many past studies, (e.g. Eyler and Guiles11) have shown service-learning to result in positiveoutcomes in cognitive and affective measures for students as well as benefits to the community,faculty, and institution. Astin et al. found with longitudinal data of 22,000 students that service-learning
better able to identify cultural aspects as relevant factors when solving a given design task? 2. How did students reflect upon the re-evaluation of their proposed solutions as compared to their initial approach?MethodsResearch Context and InterventionData for this paper were collected from a skill session titled “Partnering with DevelopingCountries.” This three hour learning module was open to any student enrolled in the EPICSprogram at Purdue University. The skill session was developed by the first author, incollaboration with the second author and three EPICS teaching assistants, in part to fulfill a Page 23.1017.4requirement of a
of service as amotivating factor for students to choose engineering and how perspectives differ alongdisciplinary lines are examined. The ways in which students talk about these topics, includingthe examples they use to highlight their views, shows directly and indirectly what studentsbelieve the role of the engineer in society is and is reflective of the view of the profession thatthey have formed through their college experiences. This paper examines different perspectivesof engineering students.MethodsThe data for this study were obtained in 25 interviews conducted with engineering students at alarge public university. The interviews lasted 30-60 minutes and were non-incentivized.Students’ names were solicited from professors in Civil
such as teachers, family members, and members of theoutside community. There are many reasons to engage in community-centered instruction: toexpose students to real-world ethics and government policy; to practice communication withpeople outside their own academic and social community; to promote student reflection on howtheir work affects their community and how community affects their work; to provide a benefitto the community (a design of a useful device, information gathering and analysis); to engender asense of professional responsibility; to provide a cultural context for their work, and additionalfocus on social issues. Experiential clinical and service-learning programs involving localcommunities have been performed in the health
- develop their identities as engineers, through greater understanding of actual practices of engineering and enculturation into these practices 11, 12.In this study, we explored the challenges students face as they worked to formulate and solve ill-defined problems in and with community members. The three emergent themes that arediscussed in this paper reflect the advantages of “project based” engineering noted in theliterature and align with the practices of development in engineering. We explored thesechallenges as students moved across contexts to make sense of a wider range of practices integralto becoming an engineer 6, 13. Page
of listening to community members, and for instructionalpurposes offers numerous case studies and poses many reflection and discussion questions.Mihelcic et al.’s Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers: Water,Sanitation, and Indoor Air similarly emphasizes community participation.9 Yet it is somewhatmore specifically scoped as an environmental engineering field guide, with extensive technicaldiscussion of appropriate technologies for water supply and treatment, latrine building,sanitation, etc. The design firm IDEO, on the other hand, has developed a Human CenteredDesign Toolkit, which is organized around processes, methods, and tools that can be used toidentify problems and design solutions for communities in need
asfollows: “ „Service-learning is a credit-bearing, educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.‟ Robert Bringle and Julie Hatcher, “A Service Learning Curriculum for Faculty.” The Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. Fall 1995. 112-122.”The design component of the SEECS seminar has focused on projects which apply STEMlearning to support service-learning and community-based need. However, the assessment
measures ANOVA was used to determine anywithin-subject and between-groups effect by service, resulting in no significant (p<0.05) within-or between-groups interactions. Students in all three groups had similar changes in attitudes andperceptions over the course of the semester, reflecting the overall course patterns.Are female students differentially impacted by service-based projects?In an effort to understand the impacts of instructional practices in service-learning on femalestudents, we also analyzed our data set with respect to gender. Specifically, we compare thedifferences in self-reported technical and professional skills by female students between the threetreatment groups. Descriptive statistics were generated using a paired-samples t
carry high stakes for students since both are required for graduation. Thus,negative comments reflect a fundamental observation: for engineering, servant-leadershipprojects are more time-consuming than conventional course projects due to the need to serve anoutside stakeholder on a deadline. A best-practice, therefore, is build more time into courses forservant-leadership projects than is typically given for conventional projects.To further place negative aquaponics miniature project comments in context, it is helpful tocompare this project against design-and-build projects selected by instructors in previousofferings of this thermodynamics course. Examples include 1) calorimeters to identify mystery
#0969287. Findings, conclusions,opinions, or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do notnecessary reflect the views of NSF.References1. Tsang, E., and Halderson, C. (2008). “Create Learning Communities to Enhance Success for Students with Diverse Academic Preparation Background,” Proceedings of Frontiers In Education Conference, October 22-25, 2008, Saratoga Springs, NY, Session S1D.2. ABET, http://abet.org3. http://www.wmich.edu/cce/b_civil.php4. http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/saferoutes/5. McCahan, S., Ault, S., Tsang, E., Henderson, M, Magleby, S., and Soisson, S., 2012. “A Multi-dimensional Model for the Representation of Learning through Service Activities in Engineering,” Proceedings of the
service were reported with anadditional 1,400 hours each of A Walk For Education and traditional community serviceactivities. Of the recorded TORCH activities, 48 percent were hosted by chapters located in eastcoast urban environments. This distribution is reflective of the distribution of members overallbut is biased by stronger communication between regional leadership and chapters in areaswhere all chapters are located geographically closer to each other.In addition to the programmatic objectives, a set of research interests were also established.Research areas of interest center on motivations for STEM careers and the impact on the collegestudents volunteering in this capacity. Some data has been collected from the membersparticipating in the
recommendations expressed in this material are those of the Page 23.670.11author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.References[1] D. Horwedel, "Operation STEM," Issues in Higher Education, pp. 36-39, 2006.[2] J. Jarosz, "Enginering for Native Americans," Winds of Change, pp. 52-57, 2003.[3] NSB, "Higher Education in Science and Engineering," in Science and Engineering Indicators 2012, Arlington, VA, National Science Foundation, 2012.[4] Idaho State Department of Education, "AYP Preliminary Data 2011. 2010-11 Adequate Yearly Progress Report: Lakeside Elementary School (0752), Plummer-Worley
led to sustainable LTS efforts by engineering faculty.AcknowledgementsThe EFELTS effort, and the workshop material presented in this paper, is supported by the Page 23.1401.10National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1022927, 1022883, 1022738, 1023022, and1022831. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in thismaterial are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NationalScience Foundation.The authors would like to thank the participants of the 2012 EFELTS workshops and lookforward to their continued support and pursuits in applying LTS in engineering education.Bibliography 1. ABET
to move forward legally to upgrade a long-standing summer research program. The views expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Page 23.395.4IntroductionThis paper introduces a novel and unique way forward to upgrade a long-standing summerresearch program at a government institution to include components that are now standard atcivilian programs, such as National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experiences forUndergraduates (REU) programs. Critical to the success of this new paradigm
to tell.36Finally, the post-conference survey asked participants to provide a written response to the open-ended question, “As a result of the Public Works for Public Learning conference, whatopportunities/outcomes would you most like to see developed to advance this field of work?”Participants’ answers were diverse and reflected the conference’s broad professional audience.The most common response though was a request for increased dissemination via related projectpresentations at other professional conferences for engineering, public works, and informalscience education practitioners. In particular, these comments voiced a need for the continueddevelopment of interdisciplinary collaborations and for more information regarding