Community Based, Service Learning Approach To Teaching Site Remediation Design

A common difficulty in teaching environmental site remediation is how to consider both hard and soft constraints in course design, in a fashion that leads to students being able to drill down to the core of problem and formulate their design accordingly. This paper describes how hard and soft constraints were addressed in engineering design using community-based, service learning (CSL) design projects. In the site remediation course at Tufts University, three design projects required the development of a remediation scheme for actual brownfield sites in Boston, MA. In their designs, students had to consider both hard (limited and conflicting contaminant information for site soil and groundwater) and soft (the viewpoints of the various community stakeholders) constraints. Based on student, faculty and staff feedback, the design experience carried more meaning and encouraged greater learning because it involved a real problem. Additionally, the experience extended student learning beyond the technical aspects of site remediation as a result of working and interfacing with people from a variety of interests and professional backgrounds. By including service learning in the course design project, the students then had a dual vehicle in which to refine their designs in ways that deepened their understanding and learning. From our experience overseeing this course, we conclude that to truly realize the benefits of service learning, integration of CSL throughout the curriculum is needed along with better management of service learning components.