Teaching Ethics to Engineers: Ethical Decision Making Parallels the Engineering Design Process (original) (raw)

Abstract

In order to fulfill ABET requirements, Northern Arizona University’s Civil and Environmental engineering programs incorporate professional ethics in several of its engineering courses. This paper discusses an ethics module in a 3rd year engineering design course that focuses on the design process and technical writing. Engineering students early in their student careers generally possess good black/white critical thinking skills on technical issues. Engineering design is the first time students are exposed to “grey” or multiple possible solution technical problems. To identify and solve these problems, the engineering design process is used. Ethical problems are also “grey” problems and present similar challenges to students. Students need a practical tool for solving these ethical problems. The step-wise engineering design process was used as a model to demonstrate a similar process for ethical situations. The ethical decision making process of Martin and Schinzinger was adapted for parallelism to the design process and presented to students as a step-wise technique for identification of the pertinent ethical issues, relevant moral theories, possible outcomes and a final decision. Students had greatest difficulty identifying the broader, global issues presented in an ethical situation, but by the end of the module, were better able to not only identify the broader issues, but also to more comprehensively assess specific issues, generate solutions and a desired response to the issue.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

• Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
• Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
• Cancel anytime View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

• ABET. (2009). Criteria for accrediting engineering programs (effective for evaluations during the 2010–2011 evaluation cycle). Retrieved November 30, 2009, from http://www.abet.org/forms.shtml.
• Bloom, B. S. (Ed.), Englehart, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals, handbook 1, cognitive domain. New York: McCay.
• Davis, M. (2006). Engineering ethics, individuals, and organizations. Science and Engineering Ethics, 12, 223–231.
  Article Google Scholar
• Dominick, P. G., Demel, J. T., Lawbaugh, W. M., Freuler, R. J., Kinzel, G. L., & Fromm, E. (2001). Tools and tactics of design. New York: Wiley.
  Google Scholar
• Graber, G. C., & Pionke, D. C. (2006). A team-taught interdisciplinary approach to engineering ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 12, 313–320.
  Article Google Scholar
• Martin, M. W., & Schinzinger, R. (1996). Ethics in engineering (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
  Google Scholar
• Zandvoort, H. (2008). Preparing engineers for social responsibility. European Journal of Engineering Education, 33(2), 133–140.
  Article Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgments

Funding to support a graduate student assistant from the Department of English to assist with this course was provided by the NAU Office of Research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northern Arizona University, Box 15600, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA
   Bridget Bero
2. Department of English, Northern Arizona University, Box 6032, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA
   Alana Kuhlman

Authors

1. Bridget Bero
2. Alana Kuhlman

Corresponding author

Correspondence toBridget Bero.

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bero, B., Kuhlman, A. Teaching Ethics to Engineers: Ethical Decision Making Parallels the Engineering Design Process.Sci Eng Ethics 17, 597–605 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-010-9213-7

Download citation

• Received: 14 January 2010
• Accepted: 18 May 2010
• Published: 04 June 2010
• Issue date: September 2011
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-010-9213-7

Keywords