Preparing Vulnerable Populations for Science Literacy and Young Adults for Global Citizenship through Service Learning

Abstract

The establishment of links between the University and the community in which it is embedded is a permanent challenge. Exploring new ways to open university doors to vulnerable populations is a means of developing young adults’ civic responsibility and global citizenship. This relationship of enrichment and mutual benefit does not only crystallize through the transfer of knowledge but also through service. When, within the community, this service is aimed at students with specific needs of educational support (SNES), we enter fully into the field of inclusive education, developing competencies and reaching sustainable development goals, which go far beyond those of mere knowledge-sharing. This paper presents service-learning (SL) projects carried out in English class by undergraduate Engineering and Education students at a Special Education Center for adults. The main goal was to develop a basic linguistic competence in English so that SNES students could understand science texts and technological instructions to handle ICTs with some autonomy. Face-to-face versus online modality use, forced by the pandemic, are contrasted and results are compared over a three-year period. University students’ perceptions on how this pedagogical approach of service learning contributes to their personal growth and consolidation of global citizenship are presented.