Experiences Of Sustainable Design Among Practicing Engineers ? Implications For Engineering Education
- Conference
- Location
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Honolulu, Hawaii
- Publication Date
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June 24, 2007
- Start Date
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June 24, 2007
- End Date
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June 27, 2007
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Environmental Engineering
- Page Count
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26
- Page Numbers
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12.716.1 - 12.716.26
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--1981
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/1981
- Download Count
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456
Paper Authors
Llewellyn Mann University of Queensland
LLEWELLYN MANN is a PhD student in the School of Engineering at the University of Queensland and a member of the Catalyst Research Centre for Society and Technology. He has a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical & Space) and a Bachelor of Science (Physics) from UQ, as well as a Graduate Certificate of Education (Higher Education). Major research interests include; Engineering Education, Sustainability, Teaching and Learning, Engineering Design, Technology and Society.
David Radcliffe University of Queensland
DAVID RADCLIFFE is the Thiess Professor of Engineering Education and Professional Development in the School of Engineering at the University of Queensland. His research draws on and involves collaboration with the social sciences including education and anthropology. David is co-director of the Catalyst Centre and Director of Professional Development in the School. He was a National Teaching Fellow, in 1994 and a Boeing-A.D. Welliver Fellow, in 1999.
Gloria Dall'Alba University of Queensland
GLORIA DALL'ALBA teaches and researches in the area of teaching and learning in higher education in the School of Education at the University of Queensland, Australia. She has a particular interest in professional education, learning in the workplace, and questions of research methodology. She has published articles in international journals such as Learning and Instruction, International Journal of Educational Research, and Studies in Higher Education. A forthcoming book, Learning to be a professional, will be published by Springer. She is guest editor for a special edition of the journal, Educational Philosophy and Theory, on phenomenology and education.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Experiences of Sustainable Design among Practicing Engineers – Implications for Engineering Education
Introduction An understanding of sustainable design will be essential for engineers to practice responsibly in the future. What sustainable design means in practice is a contested issue, varying between engineering disciplines, industry sectors and even individual practitioners. How then can we, as engineering educators, encourage and teach both current professional engineers and engineering students about sustainable design.
This paper reports on the results of an empirical study investigating qualitatively different ways that sustainable design has been experienced by practicing engineers. The different ways of experiencing sustainable design were found using a qualitative research method known as phenomenography. This research method revealed the critical variations in the ways twenty-two practicing engineers described their experiences of sustainable design in one-on-one interviews. An in depth description of the research method and the processes undertaken in this research is presented in1. This current paper presents an in depth discussion of the results and the implications they have for the practice of sustainable design, and for engineering education.
Five different ways of experiencing sustainable design were found; sustainable design as ‘solution finding’, ‘reductionist problem solving’, ‘holistic problem solving’, ‘social network problem solving, and ‘a way of life’. Descriptions of each of these ways of experiencing sustainable design are presented, including illustrative quotes from the practicing engineers, as well as an overall hierarchy demonstrating the relationships between the ways of experiencing sustainable design.
By understanding how different people have experienced and conceptualize sustainable design within engineering practice, recommendations are made for how to educate engineering students about sustainable design. Implications for the practice of sustainable design are also made.
Background – Sustainable Design
Sustainable design is one of the major challenges confronting engineering. Some professionals see sustainable design as the addition of some environmentally or socially beneficial features to a traditional design, or trying to reduce the environmental and social impacts of a current design. Others see it as a completely new framework for doing design, and for designs to help regenerate environmental and social systems2. One of the reasons behind this confusion is that sustainable design is a movement that is actively defining itself, its principles, components and philosophy2. “Like any immature individual, sometimes it seemingly contradicts itself or seems unclear or even irrational” (p3).
Sustainable design differs from traditional design in its results, its rationale and its processes2. The traditional design process in general is cyclic in nature, where designers work back and forth
Mann, L., & Radcliffe, D., & Dall'Alba, G. (2007, June), Experiences Of Sustainable Design Among Practicing Engineers ? Implications For Engineering Education Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1981
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