COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals a Major Challenge in Engineering Ethics Education

Nguyen, Luan Minh; Poleacovschi, Cristina; Faust, Kasey M.; LaPatin, Michaela; Walsh, Kate; Feinstein, Scott; Rutherford, Cassandra J.

doi:10.18260/1-2--36860

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Despite being asked about nontechnical issues, many students continued to focus on technical knowledge. This aligns with previous work that discussed civil engineers' resistance to public welfare issues (Cech, 2014;Nguyen et al, 2020;Niles et al, 2020). The resistance to critical action may manifest out of the desire to align with students' perception of the dominant engineering identity, where a "real engineer" needs to treat other skills outside their technical expertise as less valuable (Niles et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Civil engineering students as avoidant actors: Using culturally relevant problem‐solving to increase critical action attitudes

Drake

Poleacovschi

Faust

et al. 2023

J of Engineering Edu

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Background: Civil engineers design systems that have the potential to impact existing oppressive societal conditions. Critical action-the ability to recognize and act against oppressive conditions-is an obligation for civil engineers committed to building a more just world.Purpose/Hypothesis: History reveals that civil engineers often do not take critical action and accrediting bodies (e.g., ABET) have responded by creating requirements to consider social factors and contexts. Considering these endeavors, we ask: To what extent do civil engineering students demonstrate critical action attitudes when prompted by engineering problem-solving? In what ways does culturally relevant problem-solving influence critical action attitudes? Design/Method: Employing transformative action as a theoretical framework,we assessed students' responses to a design question on three levels that perpetuate or disrupt oppression (avoidant, destructive, and critical action). The empirical study used qualitative and quantitative analysis to examine survey responses of 375 civil engineering undergraduate students across 12 US universities. Results:The results showed that engineering students largely avoided discussing taking critical action, remaining focused on technical and nontechnical factors that evaded acknowledgement of sociopolitical factors. Nevertheless, when exposed to culturally relevant problem-solving, students showed a statistically significant increase in both critical and destructive action responses. Conclusions:We posit that students' exposure to culturally relevant problem-solving can enhance students' critical action attitudes. The results call on the need for civil engineering educators to cultivate culturally relevant problem-solving in civil engineering curriculum.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Civil engineering students as avoidant actors: Using culturally relevant problem‐solving to increase critical action attitudes

Drake

Poleacovschi

Faust

et al. 2023

J of Engineering Edu

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“…Engineering education tends to focus on teaching technical content over ethics to students; focusing on building technical background alone is not enough, however, because engineers must consider broader impacts that their projects have on society [1] [2]. In fact, focusing only on technical background while neglecting ethical decision-making has led to multiple engineering disasters (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating On-campus Engineering Student Organizations as Means of Promoting Ethical Development

Nguyen,

Poleacovschi,

Faust

et al.

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings

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is an MA/Ph.D. student in Anthropology/Civil Engineering, who completed his Master of Science in Biochemistry at Iowa State University and his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Hartwick College. His first master's thesis focused on the structural analysis of the schizophrenic gene DISC1 using transmission electron microscopy and hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry. For his second master's thesis, he focuses on identifying the individual and institutional factors that contribute to a "culture of disengagement" from the ethical dimension of engineering work among students in the engineering profession. His Ph.D. project is funded by the NSF and is concerned with promoting and improving engineering students' ethical behavior and sensitivity through on-campus student organizations. His academic interests include mental health, international development, human rights, and engineering ethics. Currently, his ambition is to work within an international organization such as UNESCO and to be an advocate for promoting science and technology as critical tools of sustainable development as well as to participate in the dialogue between scientists, policy-makers, and society. Luan enjoys traveling, reading, and watching documentaries.

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COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals a Major Challenge in Engineering Ethics Education

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

Civil engineering students as avoidant actors: Using culturally relevant problem‐solving to increase critical action attitudes

Civil engineering students as avoidant actors: Using culturally relevant problem‐solving to increase critical action attitudes

Investigating On-campus Engineering Student Organizations as Means of Promoting Ethical Development

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