TEACHING
One of the first questions that engineering
faculty ask is "Am I qualified to teach engineering students
about ethics?" The answer usually is that with adequate preparation
- yes. The amount of time and effort involved depends a lot
on your comfort level with team-based student-centered learning.
Learning to apply ethical thinking to engineering problems requires
practice; it is not just a matter of listening to a lecture
or reading texts. So with that in mind, here's some suggestions
for teaching engineering ethics.
| 1. |
Motivate students: You must help students to
become aware of the importance and relevance of ethical
thinking in engineering. Some argue that younger students
have difficulty relating to problems faced by practicing
engineers, so for them it helps to start with examples
that students can relate to (see the Case section). Here
you are basically trying to demonstrate that decisions
often have ethical implications, and that the consequences
of bad decisions can be serious (and conversely, considering
ethical issues can help people avoid bad consequences).
You are also demonstrating that these issues are important
to engineers. Codes of ethics may be helpful. |
| 2. |
Employ ethical theories: It helps to understand
some of the theories, which are essentially models, a
concept familiar to faculty and students. These theories
can be introduced and developed by allowing student teams
to solve ethical problems and explain their reasoning.
Their reasoning can be linked and categorized to these
classical theories, helping them to better understand
their point-of-view. This can also then help students
to understand other points-of-view, enlarging their moral
imagination, and leading to a more comprehensive set of
ideas for problem resolution. |
| 3. |
Apply problem solving processes: Ethical problem
solving processes have clear analogies to engineering
problem solving methods, i.e., the design method. This
site presents several approaches but they all involve
defining the problem, generating ideas for resolution,
analyzing these ideas, and making a well-reasoned decision. |
| CASE
STUDIES
A common
and useful tool in developing ethical thinking is the
case study. A case is at minimum, a statement and description
of a situation that requires the student to analyze
the problem, develop possible resolutions, critique
them, and make their own case for the best decision.
Cases may be real or imaginary, and can be about highly
publicized events, or about more ordinary situations.
It is these more ordinary cases that are more prevalent
in practice, and therefore more important to recognize.
|
The Case Studies section includes
a number of cases and further related links.
Penn State
is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and
the diversity of its workforce.
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