Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Use of Metaphor in Presenting Prototypes to a Technical and Non-technical Public Audience

Jared David Berezin

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Conference: 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication Date: June 23, 2018
Start Date: June 23, 2018
End Date: July 27, 2018
Conference Session: Maps, Metaphors, Tweets, and Drafts
Tagged Division: Liberal Education/Engineering & Society
Page Count: 22
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--31165
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/31165
Download Count: 1182

Paper Authors

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Jared David Berezin Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Jared Berezin is a Lecturer in the Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP) program within the Comparative Media Studies/Writing Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Jared teaches in a range of communication-intensive courses at MIT, including Communicating Science to the Public, Product Design, Flight Vehicle Design, Environmental Engineering, and Nuclear Science. He has also been a technology and science writer for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Jared earned a BA in English and creative writing from Colby College, and an MA in literature from Boston College.

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Abstract

In undergraduate technical courses, instructors commonly infuse their teaching with metaphors, analogies, and similes to connect new concepts with students’ existing knowledge base. This pedagogical approach has been shown to be effective in a variety of fields, including engineering. Similarly, professional engineers translate complex technical concepts and data in accessible ways when communicating with a variety of non-technical audiences, and a useful strategy involves the use of metaphorical language. However, undergraduate engineering students are rarely taught how to craft lay-friendly metaphorical explanations, despite universities’ ongoing efforts to prepare students for the communication demands of the workplace. Previous studies have examined students’ use of figurative language in heavily guided metaphor production experiments, as well as during student interviews with researchers. However, there is a gap in the literature concerning undergraduates’ metaphor use in their original texts. To better understand engineering students’ use of metaphor, this study identified and analyzed the metaphors spoken during in fifteen mechanical engineering product launch presentations, which were delivered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2013-2017 to a diverse technical and non-technical public audience. The presentations contained the following metaphor types in order of frequency: personification, perceptual metaphor, metonymy, analogy, nonperceptual metaphor, and simile. The majority of metaphors were spoken while students demonstrated their product and explained technical concepts and components to the audience. The students’ metaphors also attempted to enhance the audience’s perception of specific product attributes, such as comfort, reliability, efficiency, and safety. However, across all of the presentations there were instances of technical concepts that were not translated, and six of the fifteen presentations contained no metaphorical explanations of technical content. This suggests an opportunity for pedagogical guidance on ways to generate accessible metaphors while preserving technical accuracy. Educating undergraduate engineers to become effective and creative translators for diverse audiences could help improve students’ readiness for the workplace, as well as strengthen future scientific literacy among the public.

Citation
Format

Berezin, J. D. (2018, June), Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Use of Metaphor in Presenting Prototypes to a Technical and Non-technical Public Audience Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--31165

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In undergraduate technical courses, instructors commonly infuse their teaching with metaphors, analogies, and similes to connect new concepts with students’ existing knowledge base. This pedagogical approach has been shown to be effective in a variety of fields, including engineering. Similarly, professional engineers translate complex technical concepts and data in accessible ways when communicating with a variety of non-technical audiences, and a useful strategy involves the use of metaphorical language. However, undergraduate engineering students are rarely taught how to craft lay-friendly metaphorical explanations, despite universities’ ongoing efforts to prepare students for the communication demands of the workplace. Previous studies have examined students’ use of figurative language in heavily guided metaphor production experiments, as well as during student interviews with researchers. However, there is a gap in the literature concerning undergraduates’ metaphor use in their original texts. To better understand engineering students’ use of metaphor, this study identified and analyzed the metaphors spoken during in fifteen mechanical engineering product launch presentations, which were delivered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2013-2017 to a diverse technical and non-technical public audience. The presentations contained the following metaphor types in order of frequency: personification, perceptual metaphor, metonymy, analogy, nonperceptual metaphor, and simile. The majority of metaphors were spoken while students demonstrated their product and explained technical concepts and components to the audience. The students’ metaphors also attempted to enhance the audience’s perception of specific product attributes, such as comfort, reliability, efficiency, and safety. However, across all of the presentations there were instances of technical concepts that were not translated, and six of the fifteen presentations contained no metaphorical explanations of technical content. This suggests an opportunity for pedagogical guidance on ways to generate accessible metaphors while preserving technical accuracy. Educating undergraduate engineers to become effective and creative translators for diverse audiences could help improve students’ readiness for the workplace, as well as strengthen future scientific literacy among the public.
AU  - Jared David Berezin
CY  - Salt Lake City, Utah
DA  - 2018/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Use of Metaphor in Presenting Prototypes to a Technical and Non-technical Public Audience
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/31165
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--31165
ER  -