Board 321: Integrating Sociotechnical Issues in Electrical Engineering Starting with Circuits: Year 1

Susan M Lord; Cynthia J. Finelli

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: June 26, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--46901
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46901
Download Count: 65

Paper Authors

biography

Susan M Lord University of San Diego orcid.org/0000-0002-2675-5626

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Susan Lord is Professor and Chair of Integrated Engineering at the University of San Diego. She received a BS from Cornell University in Materials Science and Electrical Engineering (EE) and MS and PhD in EE from Stanford University. Her research focuses on the study and promotion of equity in engineering including student pathways and inclusive teaching. She has won best paper awards from the Journal of Engineering Education, IEEE Transactions on Education, and Education Sciences. Dr. Lord is a Fellow of the IEEE and ASEE and received the 2018 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award. She is a coauthor of The Borderlands of Education: Latinas in Engineering. She is a co-Director of the National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI).

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biography

Cynthia J. Finelli University of Michigan orcid.org/0000-0001-9148-1492

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Dr. Cynthia Finelli is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Professor of Education, and Director and Graduate Chair of the Engineering Education Research Program at University of Michigan (U-M). Dr. Finelli is a fellow in the American

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Abstract

This NSF-funded Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project aims to integrate sociotechnical issues in electrical engineering (EE) curricula beginning with the Introduction to Circuits class. To prepare graduates for the workforce, instructors must help students address the sociotechnical nature of engineering. Most engineering instructors have been educated with a deep technical focus, have little experience outside of engineering, and feel ill-equipped to integrate sociotechnical issues. In this project, we aim to make it easier for engineering instructors to include sociotechnical issues in their courses by developing modules (with detailed teaching guides and instructional resources) for the introduction to circuits course. In year 1, we developed and refined modules on (1) conflict minerals and (2) the circular economy and electric vehicle (EV) batteries. We piloted both modules in one of the principal investigator’s (PI’s) classes at the University of San Diego (USD) a small private institution with about 20 students and one module at the other PI’s large public institution (University of Michigan) with over 150 students. We developed a survey which we administer at the beginning and end of the semester to assess students’ attitudes toward social responsibility and engineering. We will use student feedback to refine the modules and explore the experiences of the engineering instructors and students who engage with them. Further, we will assess the effectiveness of the modules at reinforcing technical content, promoting students’ sense of social responsibility, and disrupting students’ adherence to normative cultural beliefs. We are recruiting a cohort of EE graduate students to assist in developing additional modules. After pre-piloting each new module at a small private institution and piloting it at a large public research institution, we will scale it to other large circuits courses across the country. This project will provide a model for developing sociotechnical modules to be used in traditional engineering classes that can be adapted by other instructors. Including such content in a fundamental course like circuits sends a powerful message about what is valued by the field, and that message can have a significant impact on students.

Citation
Format

Lord, S. M., & Finelli, C. J. (2024, June), Board 321: Integrating Sociotechnical Issues in Electrical Engineering Starting with Circuits: Year 1 Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--46901

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This NSF-funded Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project aims to integrate sociotechnical issues in electrical engineering (EE) curricula beginning with the Introduction to Circuits class. To prepare graduates for the workforce, instructors must help students address the sociotechnical nature of engineering. Most engineering instructors have been educated with a deep technical focus, have little experience outside of engineering, and feel ill-equipped to integrate sociotechnical issues. In this project, we aim to make it easier for engineering instructors to include sociotechnical issues in their courses by developing modules (with detailed teaching guides and instructional resources) for the introduction to circuits course.
In year 1, we developed and refined modules on (1) conflict minerals and (2) the circular economy and electric vehicle (EV) batteries. We piloted both modules in one of the principal investigator’s (PI’s) classes at the University of San Diego (USD) a small private institution with about 20 students and one module at the other PI’s large public institution (University of Michigan) with over 150 students. We developed a survey which we administer at the beginning and end of the semester to assess students’ attitudes toward social responsibility and engineering. We will use student feedback to refine the modules and explore the experiences of the engineering instructors and students who engage with them. Further, we will assess the effectiveness of the modules at reinforcing technical content, promoting students’ sense of social responsibility, and disrupting students’ adherence to normative cultural beliefs.
We are recruiting a cohort of EE graduate students to assist in developing additional modules. After pre-piloting each new module at a small private institution and piloting it at a large public research institution, we will scale it to other large circuits courses across the country. 
This project will provide a model for developing sociotechnical modules to be used in traditional engineering classes that can be adapted by other instructors. Including such content in a fundamental course like circuits sends a powerful message about what is valued by the field, and that message can have a significant impact on students.


AU  - Susan M Lord
AU  - Cynthia J. Finelli
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 321: Integrating Sociotechnical Issues in Electrical Engineering Starting with Circuits: Year 1
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/46901
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--46901
ER  -