Pedagogical tools for teaching modern physics to engineering students in a developing country

Articulating a Succinct Description uses ethnographic data to create case study interventions facilitated with people who belong to the culture with whom the ethnographer is engaged. We do so in order to disseminate research findings, address problems presented in the case, and collect additional data for further collective analysis. Further, Articulating a Succinct Description is designed as a means of intervention for underrepresented group members to be heard and gain support and promote equity engagement among majority members in efforts to create more inclusive cultures. In this paper, we validate this method using findings from its application with engineering students at a public university. This method allowed us to view engineering culture not as monolithic, but rather as one with multiple sets of cultural beliefs, values, and behaviors. In particular, we noted a behavior among students we’ve called Swing Staters, who expressed meritocratic beliefs, yet, who we argue, may be critical to reducing bias in engineering education. These findings, analyzed along interwoven threads of race and gender, demonstrate the efficacy of the Articulating a Succinct Description method and contribute to efforts in engineering education to advance pedagogical tools to reduce bias and exclusions in these fields.

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Retooling Engineering for Social Justice: The use of explicit models for analytical thinking, critical reflection, and peer-review in Swedish engineering education

International Journal of Engineering Social Justice and Peace ◽

10.24908/ijesjp.v5i1-2.8928 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 13-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katarina Larsen ◽

Johan Gärdebo

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Engineering Education ◽

Peer Review ◽

Critical Reflection ◽

Engineering Students ◽

City Planning ◽

Pedagogical Tools ◽

Analytical Thinking ◽

Wide Range ◽

Practical Experiences

This paper engages with social justice in engineering education based on pedagogical tools aimed at improving analytical reading, writing and critical reflection in course activities. The authors conceptualizes analytical thinking, critical reflection, and web-based peer review as tools for transformation of student learning, and apply these tools as instructions to engineering students studying city planning in Stockholm, Sweden. Students were asked to use the tools to critically analyze the role of national identities, social vis-à-vis technological engineering, and what politics have shaped Swedish society. In studying these aspects of city planning, the authors argue for a shift in attention toward the practices of engineers’ work around issues of social justice, an argument reinforced by the results of textual analysis of student essay reflections on social justice in city planning. The results are a wide range of themes of critical reflection made by students arising from course activities. These included balancing social and environmental justice, like suburban segregation, planning ideals and, in some cases, challenges for the planning profession. We argue that these are valuable lessons for engineers, which can be achieved by combining practical experiences of planning practices with tools for advancing critical and analytical skills of engineering students. By analyzing engineering students’ views on solutions and challenges of addressing social justice in practice, we can improve our understanding of the engineering skills required to work with social justice. In this way, the study complements discussion and critiques of the relationships between society and engineering outlined in the rhetoric of engineering grand challenges, and contributes by discussing new roles for engineers in facing day-to-day challenges working with social justice.

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Integrating social sustainability in engineering education at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education ◽

10.1108/ijshe-01-2014-0010 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 16 (5) ◽

pp. 639-649 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Karin Edvardsson Björnberg ◽

Inga-Britt Skogh ◽

Emma Strömberg

Keyword(s):

Engineering Education ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Social Sustainability ◽

Economic Incentives ◽

Social Dimension ◽

Royal Institute ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Pedagogical Tools ◽

Content Type ◽

Institute Of Technology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate what are perceived to be the main challenges associated with the integration of social sustainability into engineering education at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with programme leaders and teachers from four engineering programmes. The paper focuses on how the concept of social sustainability is defined and operationalised in the selected engineering programmes, how social sustainability is integrated and taught, and what resources are required to support teachers and programme leaders as social sustainability educators. Findings – The findings show that programme leaders and teachers at KTH struggle to understand the concept of social sustainability. The vague and value-laden nature of the concept is considered a challenge when operationalising educational policy goals on social sustainability into effective learning outcomes and activities. A consequence is that the responsibility for lesson content ultimately falls on the individual teacher. Study visits and role-play are seen as the most effective tools when integrating social sustainability into the engineering curriculum. Allocation of specific resources including supplementary sustainability training for teachers and economic incentives are considered crucial to successful integration of social sustainability. The findings indicate that social sustainability education needs to be built on a theoretical foundation. It is therefore suggested that a literature canon be established that clarifies the contours of social sustainability. Practical implications – The findings of the paper can be used as a basis for discussion regarding measures for improving social sustainability training in engineering education, a subject which has attracted relatively little attention, to date. Originality/value – There is a noticeable lack of empirical research on how technical universities integrate social sustainability into engineering education. The paper provides an account of how actors directly involved in this work – programme leaders and teachers – define and operationalise the social dimension of sustainable development in their engineering curricula, the pedagogical tools they consider effective when teaching social sustainability issues to engineering students, and the resources they believe are needed to strengthen those efforts.

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Applications of Modern Physics: A Sophomore-level Physics Course and Laboratory for Electrical Engineering Students

10.18260/1-2--20958 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Marie Lopez del Puerto

Keyword(s):

Engineering Students ◽

Electrical Engineering ◽

Modern Physics ◽

Physics Course

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REDESIGNING THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE: ONE PROFESSOR’S EFFO2 RTS TO DEVELOP AN ACTIVE AND ENGAGING FIRST YEAR THERMODYNAMICS COURSE

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) ◽

10.24908/pceea.v0i0.5879 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Jillian Seniuk Cicek ◽

Douglas Ruth ◽

Sandra Ingram

Keyword(s):

Active Learning ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Learning Experience ◽

First Year ◽

Course Performance ◽

Pedagogical Tools ◽

Grade Point ◽

Practical Action ◽

Exit Survey ◽

The University

Active learning is a pedagogicalmethodology that research has shown both engages andmotivates students. This paper reports on one professor’swork to infuse active learning into his first yearthermodynamics course. Based on the results of a pilotstudy aimed at exploring the use of active learning in afirst-year thermodynamics course to engage students andimprove their learning, a problem-solving learningapproach was designed for a subsequent offering of thecourse. Mini-lectures were interspersed with tutorials,and active learning and pedagogical tools and strategieswere employed with the intent to increase studentengagement and enhance learning. At the conclusion ofthis course, a student exit survey and a student focusgroup were conducted, and students’ course marks werecompared to their cumulative grade point averages toexamine their course performance. Findings showed thatstudents were engaged by the active learning design andevidence of learning was found. This is the second phaseof a practical action research study to turn a traditional,lecture-based course into an active learning arena forfirst year engineering students at the University ofManitoba.

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A Quantitative Approach to Evaluate the Application of the Extended Situational Teaching Model in Engineering Education

Stats ◽

10.3390/stats4010004 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 46-61

Author(s):

Fariborz M. Tehrani ◽

Christopher McComb ◽

Sherrianna Scott

Keyword(s):

Performance Measures ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Situational Leadership ◽

Statistical Characteristics ◽

Teaching Model ◽

Pedagogical Tools ◽

Grade Point ◽

Survey Tool ◽

Academic Level ◽

Survey Responses

The extended situational teaching model is a variation of situational teaching, which itself has roots in situational leadership. Application of situational leadership in education requires the teacher to lead students through various stages of the learning process. This paper presents the relationship between performance measures of extended situational teaching and common pedagogical tools in engineering classrooms. These relationships outlined the response of students at different preparation levels to the application of various course components, including classroom activities and out-of-classroom assignments, in respect to task and relationship behaviors. The results of a quantitative survey are presented to support the existence of such a relationship and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the extended situational teaching model. The survey covered 476 engineering students enrolled in nine different courses over a four-year period within the civil engineering program. The statistical analysis of the survey responses proceeded in two stages. The first stage of the analysis evaluates whether the survey tool can resolve meaningful differences between the categories of the situational teaching model, and provides aggregate recommendations for each category. In the second stage of the analysis, the specific instantiation of these categories is broken down according to academic standing (grade point average) and academic level, offering support for an extended situational teaching model. Conclusions discuss the statistical characteristics of the results and correlations between selected pedagogical tools and performance measures.

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A Developing Country Case Study Approach To Introducing Environmental Engineering Students To Nontechnical Sanitation Constraints In Developed Countries

10.18260/1-2--16869 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Junko Munakata-Marr ◽

Jennifer Schneider ◽

Barbara Moskal ◽

Carl Mitcham ◽

Jon Leydens

Keyword(s):

Developing Country ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Environmental Engineering ◽

Case Study Approach ◽

Study Approach ◽

Country Case Study

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Retooling Engineering for Social Justice: The use of explicit models for analytical thinking, critical reflection, and peer-review in Swedish engineering education

International Journal of Engineering Social Justice and Peace ◽

10.24908/ijesjp.v5i1.8928 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 13-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Katarina Larsen ◽

Johan Gärdebo

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Engineering Education ◽

Peer Review ◽

Critical Reflection ◽

Engineering Students ◽

City Planning ◽

Pedagogical Tools ◽

Analytical Thinking ◽

Wide Range ◽

Practical Experiences

This paper engages with social justice in engineering education based on pedagogical tools aimed at improving analytical reading, writing and critical reflection in course activities. The authors conceptualizes analytical thinking, critical reflection, and web-based peer review as tools for transformation of student learning, and apply these tools as instructions to engineering students studying city planning in Stockholm, Sweden. Students were asked to use the tools to critically analyze the role of national identities, social vis-à-vis technological engineering, and what politics have shaped Swedish society. In studying these aspects of city planning, the authors argue for a shift in attention toward the practices of engineers’ work around issues of social justice, an argument reinforced by the results of textual analysis of student essay reflections on social justice in city planning. The results are a wide range of themes of critical reflection made by students arising from course activities. These included balancing social and environmental justice, like suburban segregation, planning ideals and, in some cases, challenges for the planning profession. We argue that these are valuable lessons for engineers, which can be achieved by combining practical experiences of planning practices with tools for advancing critical and analytical skills of engineering students. By analyzing engineering students’ views on solutions and challenges of addressing social justice in practice, we can improve our understanding of the engineering skills required to work with social justice. In this way, the study complements discussion and critiques of the relationships between society and engineering outlined in the rhetoric of engineering grand challenges, and contributes by discussing new roles for engineers in facing day-to-day challenges working with social justice.

Download Full-text