Abstract:

A closed collaboration between the university and the society, especially with the most vulnerable sectors, is one of the key objectives from Higher Education Institutions of Ecuador in recent years. Through the application of the service-learning (SL) methodology, students are getting involved on the necessities of the community, which allow them to developed people and professional skills. This work shows the application of the SL methodology by a group of undergraduate students enrolled in Mining Engineering at the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL). Students were assigned to work in real condicitions with 11 artisanal and small-scale mining concessions that operate at the Marcelino Maridueña district in Ecuador. These concessions explore for arid and stony materials in riverbeds, under significant technical and environmental deficiencies. The project lasted for 12 months and was divided into three components: 1) Mining operations; 2) Environmental management, and 3) Occupational safety and health. The students were selected in function of the required profile, ensuring the minimal knowledge required for execution of the planned activities. The professors/tutors from ESPOL were assigned as supervisors to follow-up the fulfillment of the planned objectives through each stage of the project. This activity enabled the supervisors to constantly evaluate the results associated to institutional and disciplinary learning objectives. The latters enable us to evaluate if students are applying the right technical knowledge on real situations to improve the current deficiencies in the mining district. As a result of the academic joint industry project students obtained a positive and motivating experience in the teaching-learning process, while generating solutions to the environmental problems posted by artisanal mining activities.

Keywords:

Community service, University service-learning, artisanal and small-scale mining, mining engineering.