Civic and Public Engagement
SERVICE LEARNING
Service Learning, or community based learning, is an experiential way of learning. Community and students are mutual beneficiaries. The goal is authentic partnership.
CKI - The Community Knowledge Initiative
Service Learning encourages students to learn and explore issues vital to society inside and outside the classroom, and to instill in students a sense of social responsibility and civic awareness.
Over 1,400 University of Galway students learn through service learning each academic year through their participation with over 500 community partners.
These students connect theory to practice within the community sector, in over 60 academic modules that are led and supported by University of Galway lecturers and community partners.
History of Life Project
Since 2011, final-year undergraduate science students taking the class History of Life have worked in small teams to produce short, documentary-style films on a diverse range of topics, including the origin of life on Earth, the evolution of the first forests and land animals, catastrophic past mass extinctions and the emergence of early human ancestors.
Created on shoestring budgets, these short films are uploaded to our YouTube channel, where they have reached a wide global online audience (180k + views!)
The History of Life project has also picked up two international awards:
1 - Best practice in the use of media in education
2 - High quality public engagement in palaeontology
