This study aimed to develop a deeper understanding of the longterm impacts of place-rich community-based learning on university students. This study was informed by transformative learning theory, which recognizes how learning experiences that expand the learner's worldview help develop autonomous thinking. A mixed-methods approach was used to…

Fungi mostly reproduce through spores that are adapted for airborne dispersal; hence, fungal spores (and fungi) are found virtually everywhere. Fungi can be "friends or foes." Our friends include fungi used in the food and biotech industries, fungi that contribute to the cycling of carbon and nutrients, and those involved in the…

Lead exposure has been linked to neurological, reproductive, and developmental effects, and approximately 3.5% of Chicago children under the age of 3 years have elevated blood lead levels. The aim of this research was to provide outreach opportunities to address the issue of lead exposure in water and soil. A series of seven community-based health…

BME HealthReach is an educational outreach program where undergraduate BME students participate in an out-of-class design thinking course to create and teach interactive STEM activities to K-12 students, where children with chronic illnesses are the primary clients. We detail research that seeks to answer the following: (1) what impact does this…

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of Reading for Ethiopia's Achievement Developed Community Outreach (READ CO) project intervention on students' oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, academic achievements, and listening comprehension. It also aimed at identifying the students and teachers' awareness and practices about the…

An extensive faculty partnership at the University of Connecticut (UConn) that reaches across college and departmental lines is engaged in a project that seeks to enhance, expand, institutionalize, and study a new model for community engagement. The model, called the Environment Corps (E-Corps), combines the familiar elements of classroom…

Numeracy has increasingly become a topic of importance and concern in our contemporary society. Student success in numeracy is influenced by the positive attitudes and values they hold about mathematics. This outreach project sought to foster the development of such attitudes and values through the design, implementation, and evaluation of a…

Public engagement is an important component of the operation of many physics organizations, such as physics departments. However, comparatively little work has been done to systematize the study of pedagogical approaches in these informal environments, which may contain unique affordances and challenges compared to formal settings. A 2016 study…

There is a concern in many countries with participation rates in science. One response to this has been a proliferation of university run science outreach programs that aim to both engage and retain students in science. Previous studies of outreach programs have tended to take into account the perspectives of just a few stakeholders in the…

This article was designed to explore the behaviors observed and document the interactions of older and younger siblings in a children's choir rehearsal environment. Observations by a music education student observer, the director/teacher of the group, and some parent recollections indicate that the sibling interactions do have a primarily positive…

This article examines the nature of, and need for, evaluation of community-engaged university teaching and research. The research was conducted as part of a larger project aimed at improving institutional understanding of how to best support community-engaged university people. We interviewed 25 community-engaged colleagues, and used a general…

Academic libraries are often called upon to support their institutions by demonstrating value to their community and their state. Outreach to K-12 schools is a common tactic of college and university libraries, but traditional methods can be expensive or time-consuming. This case study describes a joint outreach endeavor by six academic libraries…

In this study, a problem-based capstone course was designed to assess the University of Wyoming Microbiology Program's skill-based and process-based student learning objectives. Students partnered with a local farm, a community garden, and a free downtown clinic in order to conceptualize, propose, perform, and present studies addressing problems…

Using Kotter's model of change as a framework, this case study will describe the structure and efforts of a centralized unit within an urban, research university to deepen and extend the institutionalization of community engagement. The change model will be described along with details about the implemented strategies and practices that fall…

Higher education institutions are seeking greater community engagement through academic, social and civic activity. In response, researcher attention has turned to impacts on students' education, and benefits to both university and community partners. This phenomenographic study examines how a diverse group of teachers, researchers and…