Creation of a paradigm shift in student humanitarian service-An experience of one third century

Abstract

A strategy for integrating student learning and humanitarian service was developed and successfully utilized in two sections of CEE 2011 Civil Engineering Materials in Spring 2016 and SP 2018, and one section of Transportation Engineering in SP 2018. The strategy was based on the author's three decades of experience in engineering, education and community service. The students actively took part in the national Sound the Alarm program conducted by the American Red Cross (ARC). They received extensive training with ARC officers and the course instructor. After the training students formed teams of three and visited homes in the most fire prone neighborhoods of Philadelphia to install smoke alarms, replace alarm batteries and help residents make home fire escape plans. The students also provided education and materials on home fire preparation. In the past five years they distributed materials and provided information to over ten thousand people in homes and on the streets of the city. The students were required to submit a technical report about the behavior of steel under high temperatures (i.e., home fires). The report also required a two-page reflection on the service. The Environment class was taught 23 times from Fall 1991 through SP 2013. An optional assignment without Red Cross participation was given to students with the same requirements. During the semester breaks 161 students from the 23 sections conducted the household surveys at some of the worst fire-prone areas of cities near their homes. In Civil Engineering Materials SP 16 course grades went from an average of 68% in the control group to 78% in the required public service group. Course grades increased from 66% to 75% in Civil Engineering Materials SP 18 and from 71% to 81% in Transportation Engineering SP 18. The weighted average improvement of the 58 students was 14%. In the Environment classes, the controlled and experimental groups' course grades were 64% and 76% respectively, an improvement of 19%. The grade increases were statistically significant at an alpha value of 0.05.