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Moving Technological and Engineering Literacy into Mainstream Conversation: The 2021 Whitepaper “Future Directions for Technological and Engineering Literacy and the Philosophy of Engineering” Revisited

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering Division (TELPhE) Technical Session 2

Tagged Division

Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering Division (TELPhE)

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43944

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/43944

Download Count

157

Paper Authors

biography

Carl O. Hilgarth Shawnee State University

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Carl O. Hilgarth, M.S., is a past division chair of the Technological and Engineering Literacy / Philosophy of Engineering Division of ASEE. He is Professor Emeritus and former chair of engineering technologies at Shawnee State University, Portsmouth, Ohio.

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biography

John Heywood Trinity College Dublin

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John Heywood is professorial Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College Dublin- The University of Dublin. he is a Fellow of ASEE and Life Fellow of IEEE. he is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Ireland. He has special interest in education for th

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Abstract

ASEE / TELPhE have offered numerous papers, proposed many approaches, and reported on many programs and initiatives to promote and implement technological and engineering literacy. Overall, these focused on increasing the understanding of engineering and technology among K-12, undergraduates who were not engineering or technology majors, and the citizenry. These comprised K-12 STEM initiatives, success stories from faculty who established general education courses and other initiatives on engineering and technology topics for non-engineering students at their respective institutions, and reports developed in conjunction with national bodies and associations through study and focus groups with the over-arching objective being to present the need for technological and engineering literacy as a positive and beneficial initiative. The hoped-for outcome was that those who experienced this initiative, regardless of its context, would be enjoined as advocates for the importance of engineering and technological literacy as they moved among the citizenry locally, nationally, and internationally. To this end, the division developed a pedagogy, researched history, offered definitions, developed theories, recorded data and published studies, and offered some excellent examples of “Why?” concluding with a 2021 white paper, “Future Directions for Technological and Engineering Literacy and the Philosophy of Engineering” proposing eight actions through which to discuss and assess: • How to promote the “importance of” message; • How to get the “benefits of” rationale listened to; • How to establish civic “recognition / acceptance” that technological and engineering literacy is a “constituent part” of many activities and decisions; • How to present the discussion of technological and engineering literacy in a “publicly accessible” context? This paper considers these questions vis-à-vis moving technological and engineering literacy / philosophy of engineering into mainstream conversation.

Hilgarth, C. O., & Heywood, J. (2023, June), Moving Technological and Engineering Literacy into Mainstream Conversation: The 2021 Whitepaper “Future Directions for Technological and Engineering Literacy and the Philosophy of Engineering” Revisited Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43944

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