Development of Educational Materials for and a Pilot Graduate Course in Engineering Ethics

工程伦理学教材的开发和研究生试点课程

• 批准号: 0832861
• 负责人: Paolo Gardoni
• 金额: $ 25.47万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0832861&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Educational; Materials; Pilot; Graduate

Engineering graduate students typically do not receive but need formal education on how to pursue an engineering solution that accounts for the ethical implications of the technical problems they are trained to deal with. Their undergraduate curriculum does not adequately address the unique needs of graduate education, e.g., graduate programs in engineering include many more international students, who may have very different conceptions of appropriate standards of behavior both as students and as engineers; graduate students face moral questions related to research and teaching that most undergraduate students do not; and, in addition, with a master or doctoral degree, graduate students typically qualify for positions within industry or academia that carry greater authority, responsibility ? to peers, clients, and the public ? and decision-making power. This project promises to fill a critical need to develop educational materials and a graduate course on engineering ethics that are designed specifically for engineering graduate students. The overall goal for the proposed project is to determine what should be taught to graduate engineering students about ethics. The research has a theoretical component that will identify what should be taught, as well as a practical component to develop a pilot graduate course in engineering ethics. Other activities include an Engineering Ethics Seminar Series (EESS) and evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot course and the educational materials. The research and management structure of the project and the interdisciplinary makeup of the research team address the EESE interest in providing support for interdisciplinary partnerships among the engineering, social sciences, and humanities. The research promises to improve our understanding of the ethical problems that today?s graduate students are facing and are likely to encounter. In particular, thick case studies, not currently available, are being developed. Incorporating the developed course materials into a graduate course will contribute to the education of engineers. Finally, the methodology used in this project to develop thick cases will provide a model for other scientific fields, such as chemistry or biology, that also need professional ethics courses and educational materials. The project is based on the integration of teaching and research. Graduate students are key participants in the interdisciplinary research to identify the ethical issues and construct educational materials that address such issues. Through their evaluations and participation in the pilot course, students are shaping the direction of future graduate level engineering ethics. Disseminating the developed research case studies formally in academic venues, including journals and the engineering ethics website at Texas A&M University, will impact the larger educational community.

工程研究生通常不接受但需要正规的教育，学习如何寻求工程解决方案，以解释他们所接受的技术问题的伦理影响。他们的本科课程没有充分满足研究生教育的独特需求，例如，工程研究生课程包括更多的国际学生，他们可能对作为学生和作为工程师的适当行为标准有非常不同的概念；研究生面临着与研究和教学相关的道德问题，而大多数本科生不会；此外，拥有硕士或博士学位的研究生通常有资格在工业界或学术界担任更大的权威和责任的职位。对同行、客户和公众？以及决策权。该项目有望满足开发教育材料和专门为工程研究生设计的工程伦理学研究生课程的关键需求。拟议项目的总体目标是确定应该向工程专业的研究生教授什么关于伦理学的知识。这项研究有一个理论组成部分，将确定应该教授什么，以及一个实践组成部分，以开发一个工程伦理学的试点研究生课程。其他活动包括工程伦理研讨会系列（EESS）和评价试验课程和教育材料的有效性。该项目的研究和管理结构以及研究团队的跨学科组成，满足了EESE为工程、社会科学和人文科学之间的跨学科伙伴关系提供支持的兴趣。这项研究有望提高我们对当今伦理问题的理解。美国研究生面临的和可能遇到的问题。具体而言，目前还没有详尽的案例研究，目前正在编制中。将开发的课程材料纳入研究生课程将有助于工程师的教育。最后，在这个项目中使用的开发厚案例的方法将为其他科学领域提供一个模型，例如化学或生物学，这些领域也需要职业道德课程和教育材料。本项目以教学与科研相结合为基础。研究生是跨学科研究的关键参与者，以确定伦理问题并构建解决这些问题的教育材料。通过他们的评估和参与试点课程，学生们正在塑造未来研究生水平工程伦理学的方向。在学术场所（包括期刊和德州农工大学的工程伦理网站）正式传播已开发的研究案例研究，将影响更大的教育界。