The application of community service learning in science education

In the past decade, the agenda of SL has become prevalent in school settings. The positive educational outcomes cited for the adoption of service learning are increasing student knowledge, understanding of the community and its real needs, as well as students’ altruism (Billig, 2000). However, there is still limited empirical research on the community service learning and its educational outcomes. The term “CSL” is not as commonly used as “SL”. In a recent review by Grange (2007), there has been an increasingly interest in CSL as it was placed on a higher agenda of higher education. However, there is no empirical research that conducts the implementation of CSL into a science curriculum of a local tertiary institutional setting. Hence, there is a need to investigate the application of CSL in the higher science curriculum and its positive educational outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the learning outcomes of the integration of CSL into academic curriculum of the students and provide sufficient time for the students to reflect on such learning experience. This study also aims that CSL will enhance students’ conceptual understanding on biogas production and the principle of bioreactors.