Conference Session

Engineering Practice for a Moral World

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brian Houston, University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

to discuss career-specific ethical issues prior toemployment.Ethics lessons in academia may be over-simplified in order to appeal to a broad range ofdisciplines, and likewise may fall short of actual experience. Alternatively, an ethics lesson maybe constructed to be very specific in order to present a detailed analysis. One pitfall of thismethodology is that many students may not see a future connection to their career and becomeuninterested.Broad topics provide an environment that will include the majority of the students and facilitateopen discussion. While this approach may not apply to specific issues encountered in practice, itdoes provide an awareness and basic thought process to evaluate ethical questions in the future.The

Conference Session

Moral Development, Engineering Pedagogy and Ethics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kirsty Mills, University of New Mexico

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

of 2005, it is a corecourse on a new Nanoscience and Microsystems Curriculum, and attracts students from both theSchool of Engineering and the College of Arts and Science.B. GoalsThis course is designed to help students to develop an awareness of the multiple issues they will Page 11.48.2meet in their careers, and a capacity for critical analysis of ethical and societal dilemmas. Itshould prepare them to exercise the flexibility and insight that are necessary to take an ethicallyresponsible position when faced with unprecedented circumstances. Finally, they should acquirean understanding of the scientist’s responsibility toward and

Conference Session

Moral Development, Engineering Pedagogy and Ethics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christan Whysong, Virginia Tech; Jenny Lo, Virginia Tech; Kumar Mallikarjunan, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

. Page 11.735.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Improving Ethics Studies through a Spiral Themed CurriculumAbstractTo enhance ethics training during the undergraduate career, engineering ethics material shouldbe presented throughout the engineering curriculum. The Departments of Engineering Educationand of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech aim to implement ethics throughout afour-year program by utilizing a spiral curriculum, that is to continue revisiting the same subjectmaterial with increased difficulty at each occurrence. This is one of the goals of the DepartmentLevel Reform (DLR) project at this university, funded by the National Science Foundation(NSF). The two departments have started to compile a

Conference Session

Moral Development, Engineering Pedagogy and Ethics Instruction

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donna Riley, Smith College; Ida Ngambeki, Smith College; Lionel Claris, Smith College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Ethics

-radicalization of Hampshire College. Page 11.1287.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 The Ethics Blog: Students making connections among ethics, thermodynamics, and lifeAbstractThe question of whether engineering ethics should be taught in a stand-alone course or beintegrated throughout the curriculum has been a subject of debate in engineering education, witheach approach having its own advantages and drawbacks. Integrating ethics across thecurriculum ensures that students engage ethics and personal moral development throughout theirundergraduate career, models the notion that all engineering