Institutional Transformation: The Role of Service Learning and Community Engagement on the Ethical Development of STEM Students and Campus Culture

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Current and future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals produce products and services that touch nearly every aspect of human life. This proposed research will focus on the ethical responsibility of STEM professionals to critically examine the role of technology and to understand how its design impacts society at large. The proposed research will inform the design of undergraduate STEM, and other educational efforts. A key goal of the proposed research is to determine which specific facets of student participation in community engagement help students to become better attuned to promoting the public's well-being. The proposed research findings will inform curriculum development and training programs for STEM professionals. It will be of interest to universities, professional societies, communities and industry. This proposed research aims to determine whether appropriately structured community engagement, including service learning, actively contributes to the moral maturation of students and facilitates the broadening of their sphere of ethical concern. The research team aims to discover: (1) whether and how repeat exposure to the public through curriculum-based community engagement can promote the concern that students have for the public's well-being; (2) what role extracurricular community engagement activities play, if any, in increasing student concern for the public; and (3) whether a new service learning program focused on community engagement and sustainability can have a transformative institutional impact. The research team will rigorously evaluate the effects that various forms of community engagement have on students' perceptions of their ethical responsibilities to the public. A mixed quantitative and qualitative approach will be used to understand what, why, and how community engagement experiences affect the mindset of students. The project should reveal the institutional impact of a broad-based effort to increase opportunities in community engagement and could readily inform curricular design at numerous institutions.