ABSTRACT
Students learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, but authors also hope that they will learn to be better people during their time in school. This starts by having awareness—first of those immediately around them. Global awareness helps students to understand and appreciate personal and social context. Personal context refers to the intrapersonal environment that shapes an individual’s experience. Such environmental factors play a role in determining the student’s response to experiences and interactions. If a person is prejudiced against someone else or another group or culture, it is probably due to an experience or something that was relayed to him or her that caused such a response. Community service projects are an excellent way for students to learn about contemporary issues, as well as use the engineering design process to problem solve.
