Engineering Commons^™

Observing Empathy In Informal Engineering Activities With Girls Ages 7–14, Susan M. Letourneau, Dorothy T. Bennett, Changchia Liu, Yessenia Argudo, Kylie Peppler, Anna Keune, Maggie Dahn, Katherine Mcmillan Culp

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Empathy is a critical part of the engineering design process. It allows engineers to more deeply understand their clients’ perspectives and design solutions that meet the needs of diverse stakeholders. Studies also show that reframing engineering education to prioritize empathy for others can counteract stereotypes of engineering as impersonal and invite a wider range of identities into the field. This approach can help to address persistent gender disparities in engineering, which reflect a need for engineering education to increase its efforts to include girls’ perspectives. Informal learning environments have developed strategies for framing engineering problems in human-centered ways, but more …