Implementation of service-learning in engineering and its impact on students’ attitudes and identity

The current paper outlines a concise engineering service-learning model and describes its implementation and logistics in the context of a typical heat transfer course for undergraduate engineering students. The project was executed in collaboration with a not-for-profit organisation. Summative reflections were conducted by the students by answering a set of carefully-phrased questions after conducting the project. The students had to write about their feelings, attitudes, identity, and the physical, social, ethnic and economical environment they had experienced as they performed the service. A quantitative method for analysing reflections is presented. Analysis of the students’ responses clearly showed that they became more aware and sensitive to their roles as engineers in a societal context.