Using Problem-Based Learning in Engineering Ethics
Harrell, M.
In 80-248 Engineering Ethics, I have developed a problem-based learning curriculum designed to help students think through all of the ethical issues involved with a given engineering endeavor. During the course, the students are split into groups and work through an ethical analysis of three different design problems. In so doing, they must examine the stakeholders and their interests, identify a variety of ethical issues, and decide on a course of action. The research question is whether this curriculum would satisfy one of the main learning goals of the course: to expand the range of ethical issues the students prioritize and shift students’ prioritization from preconventional to postconventional issues. The Engineering and Science Issues Test (ESIT) is a commonly used instrument for measuring this goal. The students in my Spring 2017 gained significantly from pretest to posttest, and the effect size was “large” to “very large”.
Maralee Harrell, Philosophy DC
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.