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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Preparing Engineering Students For The Challenges Of The Sdgs: What Competences Are Required?, Una Beagon, Klara Kövesi, Brad Tabas, Bente Nørgaard, Riitta Lehtinen, Brian Bowe, Christiane Gillet, Claus Monrad Spliid
Preparing Engineering Students For The Challenges Of The Sdgs: What Competences Are Required?, Una Beagon, Klara Kövesi, Brad Tabas, Bente Nørgaard, Riitta Lehtinen, Brian Bowe, Christiane Gillet, Claus Monrad Spliid
Articles
Despite the emerging discussions about the growing role of engineers in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a lack of agreement on which competences should be prioritised to prepare engineering students to resolve future sustainability challenges. This study examined and compared the views of key stakeholders of engineering education (Academics, Employers and Students) using twelve focus groups in Denmark, Finland, France and Ireland. The findings were mapped against competences identified in previous studies to highlight gaps and opportunities for development. The results confirm the strong emphasis on normative, strategic and systems thinking competences in engineering. However, the outcomes …
An Examination Of The Role Of Spatial Ability In The Process Of Problem Solving In Chemical Engineering, Sheryl Sorby, Gavin Duffy, Norman Loney
An Examination Of The Role Of Spatial Ability In The Process Of Problem Solving In Chemical Engineering, Sheryl Sorby, Gavin Duffy, Norman Loney
Articles
Engineers often communicate with one another through drawings or sketches and understanding technical information through graphical representations is a skill necessary for engineering practice. Well-developed spatial skills are known to be important to understanding technical drawings and are therefore, important to success in engineering. Unfortunately, of all cognitive processes, spatial skills show robust gender differences, favouring males, which could contribute to the underrepresentation of women in engineering. In this research, we administered a test of spatial cognition to students enrolled in a common 3rd year course in chemical engineering . In a second session, students were given a set of …
A Constructivist Approach To The Use Of Case Studies In Teaching Engineering Ethics, Diana Adela Martin, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe
A Constructivist Approach To The Use Of Case Studies In Teaching Engineering Ethics, Diana Adela Martin, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe
Articles
Our paper aims to explore the effectiveness of a constructivist approach to the teaching of engineering ethics through case studies, by putting forward a contextualization of the much discussed case study “Cutting Road Side Trees” (Pritchard, 1992) in light of the constructivist frame suggested by Jonassen (1999). First, we briefly analyse how the use of case studies for the teaching of engineering ethics eludes the complexity of the engineering professional environment before arguing that constructivism is a learning theory that can help to address this complexity. The final section proposes a constructivist reworking of the case method in a manner …
Into The Deep: The Role Of Paradigms In Understanding Engineering Education For Sustainable Development, Iacovos Nicolaou, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe
Into The Deep: The Role Of Paradigms In Understanding Engineering Education For Sustainable Development, Iacovos Nicolaou, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe
Articles
This article presents summary findings of a mixed methods research project exploring the provision of education for sustainable development (SD) in seven Irish engineering degree programmes. Drawing on Sterling’s (2004) iceberg metaphor and Critical Realism it seeks to identify the underlying socio-cultural barriers preventing a holistic integration of SD in engineering education. It argues that the current focus is predominantly on the environmental dimension of SD and that there are a set of reinforcing mechanisms facilitating the provision of disciplinary education aimed at producing technically proficient, employable graduates in which the social dimension of SD is marginalised. This is underwritten …