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Integration of ethics in sustainability in a first-year design course

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division (FYP) - Technical Session 8: Skill Building

Tagged Division

First-Year Programs Division (FYP)

Page Count

13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43791

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/43791

Download Count

178

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Paper Authors

biography

Benjamin B. Wheatley Bucknell University

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Benjamin Wheatley was awarded a B.Sc. degree in Engineering from Trinity College (Hartford, CT, USA) in 2011 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO, USA) in 2017. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Bucknell University. He runs the Mechanics and Modeling of Orthopaedic Tissues Lab and his pedagogical interests include first year engineering, computational analysis, and design.

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biography

Katsuyuki Wakabayashi Bucknell University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-0112-1846

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Kat received his bachelor of science in both chemical engineering and materials science and engineering from University of Pennsylvania, and he has a PhD in chemical and materials engineering from Princeton University. After a Postdoc position with John T

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Kelly Salyards P.E. Bucknell University

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Dr. Salyards is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bushnell University. She has BAE, MAE, and PhD degrees in Architectural Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. She joined Bushnell in 2007 and

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Abstract

This paper details the integration of engineering ethics in a first-year, first-semester engineering course with the theme of sustainability. The cornerstone course teaches engineering design in a hands-on fashion with student groups tackling design projects that aim to address sustainability issues on campus. Previously, engineering ethics was introduced separately during a stand-alone and disconnected “ethics week”. This paper will provide details regarding the current implementation of ethics content, which is delivered in parallel with project progress and more closely relates to the design projects. Specific approaches include in-class team activities, case study review, individual scenario assignments, a team-based ethics simulation (previously developed and presented at ASEE), design project reflections, discussions of ethics through the lens of the three pillars of sustainability, and an individual final paper related to an on campus sustainability ethics scenario. In addition to providing an overview of ethics activities and assignments, this paper will compare course-level student learning outcomes between the current and prior years and how content in the course affected students’ perception of engineering ethics. We expect that by more closely integrating ethics content with the student projects, students will engage more deeply with ethics and appreciate how engineering ethics affects everyday engineering practice, thus improving the self-reported learning outcomes of the course.

Wheatley, B. B., & Wakabayashi, K., & Salyards, K. (2023, June), Integration of ethics in sustainability in a first-year design course Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43791

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