University community programs: learning through making, making while learning

Abstract

Universities worldwide are reforming their curricula in a struggle to engage learning processes into community services. This conceptual essay discusses the mutually fertilizing effect of theory and practice when opportunities are created for undergrad students to actively take part in “hands-on” educational activities, with particular emphasis on medical school and students’ proactive initiatives. The essay took into analysis the entanglement between making and learning processes, pointing out the benefits for both communities, students and university, with a promising potential for the renewal of theoretical paradigms and institutional structures and interactions in health practices.