Service-Learning Project Examples

Waste & Storm Water Technology for Candelaria, Honduras

Course: 14.570 - Waste Water Treatment & Storm Water Management

Semerter: Fall 2005

Instructor: Bill Moeller

Partner: Mesoamerican Development Institute (MDI)

 

Brief Description:
Students studied a technology of their choice in great depth, including the strengths and liabilities of their chosen technology relative to that location, etc.  Each student completed a report to be read by local folks (after translation.) that would serve as a format for any developing country.

 

Full Description:
MDI representatives presented information to a previous class about MDI in general, as well as a particular regarding Cedral, Costa Rica, and the analysis that they were looking for from the UML students.  Students were requested to develop a list of questions that MDI president, Raúl Raudales, could ask this and any other village anywhere in the world regarding: geography and hydrology, while designing coffee cooperatives for his coffee drying small business.  

During this semester, students studied a technology of their choice in great depth, including the strengths and liabilities of their chosen technology relative to that location, etc.  Each student completed a report to be read by local folks (after translation.) that would serve as a format for any developing country. 

 

Learning objectives met by the S-L project:

• To deepen the students’ knowledge of waste water and storm water technologies
• To practice writing a technical report for a non-technical audience
• To realize the complexities of a real customer, especially in dealing with a location about which little information is available.

 

Community objectives met by S-L project:

• To provide a model to MDI about the types of work UML students can deliver.