Conference Session

Promoting Engineering and Technological Literacy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dan G. Dimitriu, University of Texas at San Antonio; Mehdi Shadaram P.E., University of Texas, San Antonio

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

fundamental goal to provide every student with the ability tounderstand the social, political, economic, and ethical implications of new technologicaldevelopments.This paper will present the reasons for creating this kind of course and how it is designed to helpstudents discover how modern technology affects society and how they can use it to improvetheir cognitive skills, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The course was built to provideopportunities for students to explore the positive and negative aspects of modern technology,understand the social, political, economic, and ethical aspects of issues that are impacted byadvancement of technology, and realize how to utilize it for the benefit of humanity. The courseis structured to provide students

Conference Session

The Philosophy of Engineering and Technological Literacy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alan Cheville, Bucknell University; John Heywood, Trinity CollegeDublin, The University of Dublin

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

, 2016 From Problem Solvers to Problem Seekers: The Necessary Role of Tension in Engineering EducationIn this paper it is proposed that the current focus on problems in engineering education andtechnological literacy may be more constructively reframed by focusing on tensions. PriyanDias claims engineering has an identity crisis that arises from tensions inherent in: 1) theinfluence of the profession on society, 2) the role engineers play, and 3) what constitutes validknowledge in engineering. These are ethical, ontological, and epistemological tensionsrespectively, which Dias frames as a tension between identities of homo sapiens and homo faber.Beyond the tensions in engineering there are additional tensions that arise

Conference Session

Promoting Engineering and Technological Literacy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Heywood, Trinity College-Dublin

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

unless its intention is public responsibility, thedevelopment of which is a major goal of liberal education. “Society itself requires some othercontribution from each individual, besides the particular duties of his profession. And, if nosuch liberal intercourse be established, it is the common failing of human nature, to beengrossed with petty views and interests to underrate the importance of all in which we arenot concerned, and to carry our partial notions, into cases where they are inapplicable to act,in short, as so many unconnected units, displacing and repelling one another.”7Since there is a need for ethics to be built into the design then users should be in a position tocomment on the design for which they will also need to be

Conference Session

The Philosophy of Engineering and Technological Literacy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jonathan S Weedon, Case Western Reserve University

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

engineering students engaged in a design project and pays particular attention to howstudents make judgments. The analysis concludes that the practice of engineering judgmentrelies on displays to recognize and construct rhetorical tactics to satisfy the requirements of atask. This study connects to recent research in engineering education on the importance ofdisplays 15, 16 for learning the design process, and reveals the dynamics of displays for carryingout engineering judgment. Engineering judgment is a core competency for engineering practice. Philosophers,educators, practitioners, and historians agree that engineering judgment is necessary for ethical,sophisticated, and professional engineering practice1, 2, 3, 4, ,5. While scientific and

Conference Session

Promoting Engineering and Technological Literacy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jonathan Grunert, Virginia Tech; Stephanie G. Adams, Virginia Tech

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

, as Marley said, “Itchanged my view as I said earlier even about like the moral aspect and the ethical aspect becauseI didn’t really think it [engineering] was just about designing and building stuff, but that waswhat I kind of anticipated as like the main part.” Design and construction, for Marley, were notthe main part of engineering; rather, the moral and ethical considerations that accompany designand construction were a primary concern of engineering. Additionally, Reness saw that CitizenEngineering “exceeded my expectations on just learning about kind of, like, world issues.” The role of non-engineers in engineering projects was prominent in student responses.Milburn acknowledged their contribution to engineering literacy: “The

Conference Session

Promoting Engineering and Technological Literacy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Krupczak Jr, NSF Division of Undergraduate Education; Mani Mina, Iowa State University

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

solutions in aglobal and societal context.The motivation for this work is an approach to student educational development based onthe three dimensions of technological literacy outlined in Tech Tally. This includes thesocial, technical, and ethical aspects of technology. Tech Tally identifies threedimensions of technological literacy as shown in Figures 1 and 2. These are knowledge,capabilities, and critical thinking and decision-making. Engineering educators whoreflect on this perspective will note that most engineering classes focus on the capabilitiesand knowledge dimensions, while the dimension of critical thinking and decision-makingis not well-represented in the engineering curriculum.Figure 1: A Graphical Representation of the Three

Conference Session

Promoting Engineering and Technological Literacy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janet L. Gbur, Case Western Reserve University; Daniela Solomon, Case Western Reserve University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering

students6-9 but there arediscussions whether it should stop at introducing the theoretical rules and use7 or should italso include the development process.10The most effective way to introduce standards to engineering students was determined to beby inclusion into engineering curricula or use of standards in the classroom.8-11 However,although recognized as efficient, standards inclusion into curriculum is still not commonpractice due to a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is that engineering curriculumis highly intensive in technical subjects which, in turn, leaves little room for auxiliarycourses on other topics of interest to engineers (i.e. project management, standards, ethics,etc.). Other reasons for the lack of curricula adoption