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Session 1076

Promoting Civic Involvement through Project-Based Learning? Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Interactive Qualifying Projects and the Worcester Community Project Center

Rob Krueger, Ph.D., Lance Schachterle, Ph.D. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

Introduction:

Today’s American political culture seems to be hopelessly swamped by apathy. In 1996, President Clinton won a majority of votes from a minority of the population (39%). In our hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, last fall’s mayor’s race was won with 17,909 votes, representing 27% of the total population. Numerous organizations are working to combat this state of affairs: Jesse Jackson, Labor Unions, feminists and Pat Robertson all seek to increase their voting blocks through voter registration drives. But is this apathy a cause or a symptom? More frightening are Putnam’s (2000) findings that Americans are participating less and less in civic organizations; that our sense of civic responsibility is in a state of free-fall. Americans are not showing up at the polls because they do not have the civic connections they once had and therefore their interest in and knowledge to express their political demands continue to atrophy (cf. Barber and Battistoni 1993).

College campuses, once fomenting with student activism, are faring only marginally better. It is true that students recently became outraged thanks to companies like Nike and the Gap, and once esoteric acronyms like GATT and WTO. Harvard student s no longer buy sweatshirts made in sweatshops, the Gap changed its labor practices at oversees plants to placate its outraged customer base, and the Seattle round of the WTO ended in failure. College students have shown a penchant to educate themselves around macro issues like globalization. What about local issues? Interest in macro controversies seems to be ephemeral, at best. Responsible civic engagement requires a sustained and determined effort, not a mere catharsis coming from the pervasive inequities of global capitalism. Do students have the ability to engage in local public affairs? If Barber and Battistoni are correct about expression, how do we “educate” current and future generations to be engaged citizens?

Service learning has been advocated widely as a method for advancing civic awareness and citizen responsibility among college students (Hepburn et al. 2000; Hunter and Brisbin 2000; Ehrlich 1999; Neimi et al. 1999; Battistoni 1997; Campus Compact 1994; Schumer 1994). Hunter and Brisbin (2000) define service learning as “a form of experimental education that combines structured opportunities for learning academic skills, reflection on the normative dimensions of civic life, and experimental activity that addresses community needs or assists

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Krueger, R. (2002, June), Promoting Civic Involvement Through Project Based Learning? Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Interactive Qualifying Projects And The Worcester Community Project Center Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--10088