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

当前和未来的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）专业人员生产的产品和服务几乎触及人类生活的方方面面。这项拟议的研究将侧重于STEM专业人员的道德责任，以批判性地审视技术的作用，并了解其设计如何影响整个社会。拟议的研究将为本科STEM的设计和其他教育工作提供信息。拟议研究的一个关键目标是确定学生参与社区参与的哪些具体方面有助于学生更好地适应促进公众福祉。拟议的研究结果将为STEM专业人员的课程开发和培训计划提供信息。它将引起大学、专业协会、社区和工业界的兴趣。本研究旨在确定结构合理的社区参与，包括服务学习，是否对学生的道德成熟有积极的贡献，并有助于拓宽他们的道德关注领域。本研究小组旨在发现：(1)透过以课程为基础的社区参与，与公众重复接触，是否以及如何促进学生对公众福祉的关注；(2)如果有的话，课外社区参与活动在增加学生对公众的关注方面发挥了什么作用；(3)以社区参与和可持续性为重点的新服务学习项目是否能产生变革性的机构影响。研究小组将严格评估各种形式的社区参与对学生对公众道德责任的看法的影响。将采用混合的定量和定性方法来了解社区参与体验影响学生心态的内容、原因以及方式。该项目应揭示为增加社区参与机会而进行的广泛努力对机构的影响，并可随时为众多机构的课程设计提供信息。

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.