Using Student Engagement to Relocate Ethics to the Core of the Engineering Curriculum

Area of Science:

• Engineering Education
• Ethics in STEM

Background:

• Engineering ethics is often perceived as a peripheral requirement, not a core component of the curriculum.
• A significant disconnect exists between faculty and student perceptions of engineering ethics, with students viewing it as rote memorization rather than nuanced application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the perceptual challenges in engineering ethics education.
• To explore how student engagement in curriculum design can reposition ethics as central to engineering studies.

Main Methods:

• Historical analysis of perceptual differences in engineering ethics education.
• Application of student engagement approaches in pedagogy.
• Involving students as active participants in curriculum design.

Main Results:

• Student involvement in curriculum design fosters critical reflection on the role of ethics.
• Students begin to perceive ethics as an integrative tool connecting diverse engineering disciplines and non-engineering fields.
• This approach has the potential to shift ethics from a marginal to a central element in engineering education.

Conclusions:

• Students can be empowered to drive significant change in engineering ethics education.
• Integrating students into curriculum design is an effective strategy for enhancing the perceived value and application of ethics.
• Reconceptualizing ethics as an integrative tool is key to its successful incorporation into the core engineering curriculum.