Service Learning In The Freshman Engineering Course

The College of Engineering at NC State University has had an NSF-sponsored GK-12 project for the past four years that sent engineering students in to K-8 classrooms as science and/or math resources for teachers. Using the same model, in fall 2002, the Introduction to Engineering course that is required of all freshmen offered a design project that included service learning as an option. The “Outreach Project” required students, in teams of four, to propose and design a project that they could take to a K-8 classroom that would teach about engineering, math or science. The projects were required to align with the NC Standard Course of Study and national science and technology standards. Projects could be interactive or passive (e.g. a hallway display) and were required to meet strict acceptability guidelines before the teams were matched with a particular K-12 classroom. This paper describes the lessons learned as fifteen teams participated in this pilot project.