Journal of Engineering Education Round Table: Reflections on the Grinter Report

Abstract

The Round Table is a new presentation format for the Journal of Engineering Education. The purpose of the Round Table is to present the comments of several distinguished indi viduals about a topic as well as their responses to the comments offered by their colleagues. For the initial Journal of Engineering Education Round Table we asked for reflections about the Grinter Report, published in September 1955. After a brief introduction to the topic of discussion, the invited participants present their views, and, then, respond to the remarks of their colleagues. The goal is twofold: to pre sent a spectrum of views on the topic, and to provoke a discus sion of the topic by the community.

The Challenge to Change: On Realizing the New Paradigm for Engineering Education

“…The idea of another study, similar to the one that led to the Grinter Report in 1955, is not new. A pathfinder study committee to guide the development and reformation of engineering education was suggested in 1994 by William Grogan and echoed by Irene Peden and John Whinnery in a Journal of Engineering Education Roundtable [51]. Most recently, Jerrier Haddad suggested a formal study addressed to the related issue of the significant decline in enrollments for engineering programs [52].…”

The Informed Design Teaching and Learning Matrix

“…Design has been a prominent topic in shaping undergraduate engineering education and the engineering profession. Reports on the goals of engineering education in the United States and internationally (e.g., Mann, 1918;SPEE, 1930;Harris et al, 1994;Goals Committee, 1968;Spinks et al, 2006) consistently identify design as central to Learning progressions are conjectural models that take a stance regarding the nature and sequencing of skills and ideas that learners should develop over time. They may be empirically tested through validation studies, cross-sectional studies, and sequential studies (Duncan & Hmelo-Silver, 2009) to determine the degree to which the underlying cognitive models hold true in different settings and for different learners.…”

Engineering Design Coaches: Faculty or Grad Students?

“…Although the Grinter report clearly identifies design problems as one of the cornerstones of the engineering profession, the wholesale adoption of the math/science focus did not provide a suitable environment for supporting design education [4]. By 1990, most engineering programs offered design as an afterthought, if at all.…”