Society for Engineering Education, 2025 Water, M&M, and Economic ThinkingAbstractThis paper presents a learning module called “Water and M&M,” which aims topromote economic literacy and entrepreneurial mindset in engineering education.The activity uses a one-minute video sketch depicting an unusual transactionbetween two people. In the activity, students first review and explain selectedbasic principles of economics before analyzing the transaction throughscaffolding. Working in small groups, they discuss efficiency and fairness,identify real-life examples of similar transactions, look for value-creationopportunities, and consider the role of governments in the market economy. Themodule is designed to introduce economics
through competition: Best Product Proposal and theInvestor of the Semester. Instructors have found opportunities to complement other courses in thecurricula, introducing the entrepreneurial mindset. This paper discusses the course’s content anduses student feedback to assess the course learning objectives for continuous improvement of thecourse. The summative teaching evaluations show students gained new insight and perspectivesto the engineering profession and the course integrated topics from various disciplines. Studentsalso recognized the course’s value in the larger context of their particular engineering major. Theshort-term benefits continue and evolve to shape student choices concerning additional upper-level offerings of engineering