Service-learning\´s effect on engineering students and K-12 teacher partnership in an "Introduction to mechanical engineering" course

This paper describes the engineering student and K-12 teacher partnership and impact on student learning from the four elements of service-learning: identify community need and form partnership; design and implement solution; evaluation; and reflection. Service learning is a method in which students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized activities that are integrated into and enhance academic learning for students while meeting a community need. Results based on evaluation of 83 students and 44 teacher partners over a two-year period indicate that the partnership in ME 125, "Introduction to Mechanical Engineering", has a positive impact on meeting the engineering education needs for a majority of students as well as meeting a community educational need for a majority of the teacher partners.