Koh, R. (2023, March), Putting the (Social and Environmental) ‘Context’ in Context-Rich Problems  Paper presented at ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023, State College,, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--45081

\bibitem{asee_peer_45081}
  Koh, R. (2023, March), \emph{Putting the (Social and Environmental) ‘Context’ in Context-Rich Problems}
  Paper presented at ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023, State College,, Pennsylvania.
  10.18260/1-2--45081

R Koh.  "Putting the (Social and Environmental) ‘Context’ in Context-Rich Problems".  ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023, State College,, Pennsylvania, 2023, March.  ASEE Conferences, 2023.  https://peer.asee.org/45081 Internet.  04 May, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_45081}
  R Koh.
  "Putting the (Social and Environmental) ‘Context’ in Context-Rich Problems".
  \emph{ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023, State College,, Pennsylvania, 2023, March}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2023.
  https://peer.asee.org/45081 Internet.  04 May, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_45081
author = "R Koh"
title = "Putting the (Social and Environmental) ‘Context’ in Context-Rich Problems"
booktitle = "ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023"
year = "2023"
month = "March"
address = "State College,, Pennsylvania"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/45081}
number = {10.18260/1-2--45081}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - How does an engineer know that the values they embody through their technologies are good values that will lead to a better world? What is sustainability in engineering design, and where does it fit into our “better world”? 

The author recently piloted a course titled Sustainable Materials with the goal of examining the technical, social, and environmental systems that create engineered things, with a focus on engineering materials. This paper will present the curriculum design for the first unit of the class, titled “Unit 1: Towards a Collective Definition of ‘Sustainability’ in Engineering”. I believe this curriculum is worth sharing because it is one answer to how to put the (social and environmental) ‘context’ into context-rich engineering problems. Further, I found it to be a transformative classroom space in which my own knowledge and ideas deepened, and many students indicated that they too were transformed.

First, I plan to discuss evidence that the dialogues which took place in the classroom were transformative to students. Evidence used will be in the form of quotes from the students’ written reflections completed during the first quarter of the class, plus one example of an action students took outside of class to address social justice issues within the engineering department.

Second, I will present an overview of the curriculum, including learning goals, examples of reading assignments, discussion prompts, in-class activities, evaluative assignments and assessments.

Finally, I will highlight key factors that I believe contributed to the transformative classroom environment and rich dialogue.

1. The students were members of a strong cohort. 
2. The group explicitly addressed our purpose for dialogue and practices for communication with each other.
3. The reading assignments provoked rich discussion by using storytelling to reinforce values, principles, and ideas.

AU  - R Koh
CY  - State College,, Pennsylvania
DA  - 2023/03/30
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Putting the (Social and Environmental) ‘Context’ in Context-Rich Problems
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/45081
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--45081
ER  -