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Let’s Play! Gamifying Engineering Ethics Education Through the Development of Competitive and Collaborative Activities

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Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Innovative, Engaging Pedagogies for Engineering Ethics Education

Tagged Division

Engineering Ethics

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37452

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/37452

Download Count

519

Paper Authors

biography

Michael F. Young University of Connecticut Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-8921-0930

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Dr. Young (http://myoung.education.uconn.edu/) received his PhD from Vanderbilt University in Cognitive Psychology and directs UConn’s 2 Summers in Learning Technology program. He is the author of nine chapters on an ecological psychology approach to instructional design and has authored more than two dozen peer reviewed research papers. His work has appeared in many major journals including the Journal of Educational Computing Research, the Journal of the Learning Sciences, the Journal of Research on Science Teaching, Instructional Science, and Educational Technology Research and Development.
Mike's research concerns how people think and learning, and specifically how technology can enhance the way people think and learn. His NSF-funded project, GEEWIS (http://www.geewis.uconn.edu/), focused on streaming real-time water quality pond data via the Internet and providing support for the integration of this authentic data into secondary and higher education science classrooms. His approach features the analysis of log files, "dribble files," that maintain time-stamped listing of navigation choices and lag time. This approach has been applied to hypertext reading (Spencer Foundation grant), videodisc-based problem solving (Jasper project), and online navigation (Jason project). Recent work concerns playful learning using video game, card games, and board games aligned with national teaching and learning standards.

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Landon Bassett University of Connecticut

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Landon Bassett is a graduate student at the University of Connecticut who focuses primarily on undergraduate engineering ethics and process safety

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Daniel D. Burkey University of Connecticut

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Daniel Burkey is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in 1998, and his M.S.C.E.P and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 and 2003, respectively. His primary areas of interest are game-based education, engineering ethics, and process safety education.

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Scott Duplicate Streiner Rowan University

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Dr. Scott Streiner is an assistant professor in the Experiential Engineering Education Department (ExEEd) at Rowan University. He received his Ph.D in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, with a focus in engineering education. His research interests include engineering global competency, curricula and assessment; pedagogical innovations through game-based and playful learning; spatial skills development and engineering ethics education. His funded research explores the nature of global competency development by assessing how international experiences improve the global perspectives of engineering students. Dr. Streiner has published papers and given presentations in global engineering education at several national conferences. Scott is an active member in the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) both locally and nationally, as well as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE).

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Joshua Bourne Reed

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Josh Reed is an engineering masters student at Rowan University working for the Experiential Engineering Education department. He has graduated with a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Rowan University. Josh is very passionate about education as well as the social issues in both the engineering and education systems. He hopes to further his understanding in both of these fields.

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Abstract

Engineering ethics is an extremely important topic that needs to be focused on more in engineering curricula, as many of the projects that engineers work on have a profound impact on society. There are many pitfalls with the traditional ways in which ethics is taught to engineering students as an abstract philosophical topic, rather than personal decision making situated in complex real contexts. The three main approaches that are used for engineering ethics include being taught by a professor outside of the engineering space, being taught late in their curriculum such as during a senior capstone project, and being taught in a short period of time as a module of another class. The downsides to these approaches are that students do not see ethics as equally important as some other topics, they do not see it consistently integrated throughout the curriculum, nor do they see ethical decisions as complex nuanced, and situated in context,.

Game-based learning is a means to actively engage students in interrogating the complexities of ethical decision making. Game play can align with student learning objectives as well as improve student knowledge, behaviors, and dispositions. Our paper introduces three games that are designed to assist in the development of students’ ethical awareness and reasoning.

Three engineering ethics games have been developed as the foundation for an NSF-funded project that investigates the empirical impacts of game play on ethical reasoning and decision making. Cards Against Engineering Ethics, Toxic Workplaces, and Mars: An Ethical Expedition have all been in development for the last few years. Each game targets specific ethics learning outcomes as well as different play mechanics. These outcomes include identifying the complexities of ethical dilemmas, evaluating responses to ethical situations in context, and promoting ethical discussions among peers. The time required to play each game varies, ranging from 20 minutes, to 75 minutes, to 5 minutes once a week for 15 weeks. The benefits that these games include an enriched learning experience, student engagement, and a greater connection between ethics and real life.

Young, M. F., & Bassett, L., & Burkey, D. D., & Streiner, S. D., & Reed, J. B. (2021, July), Let’s Play! Gamifying Engineering Ethics Education Through the Development of Competitive and Collaborative Activities Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37452

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