Gaming, texting, learning? Teaching engineering ethics through students' lived experiences with technology.

Area of Science:

• Engineering Education
• Ethics Education
• Digital Natives

Background:

• Teaching engineering ethics is challenging due to the abstract nature of professional practice for students.
• Current engineering students ('digital natives') possess extensive personal experience with digital technologies.
• Experiential learning theory suggests personal experiences enhance ethical learning by providing context.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how young people's lived experiences with personal technologies can enhance engagement in engineering ethics education.
• To identify relevant social and ethical elements in technology use for engineering ethics curricula.
• To develop case studies bridging personal technology use with professional engineering ethics.

Main Methods:

• Review of current engineering ethics teaching practices.
• Analysis of young people's engagement with personal technologies (cell phones, social media, games).
• Development of three case studies for teaching engineering ethics topics.

Main Results:

• Personal technology use by 'digital natives' offers relevant social and ethical dimensions for curriculum development.
• Case studies effectively illustrate teaching concepts like teamwork, risk assessment, and social experimentation.
• Strategies for connecting students' personal experiences with abstract ethical theories were identified.

Conclusions:

• Integrating lived experiences with personal technologies can significantly improve engineering ethics education.
• This approach enhances student engagement and provides practical context for ethical theories.
• The findings contribute to engineering ethics curriculum development and pedagogical research for the 'net generation'.