Collaborative Research: Intellectual Diversity and Critical Thinking Skills in Service Learning

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In an increasingly globally connected world, solutions to real world problems are complex in nature and often outside the boundaries of traditional practice. Thus, future practicing engineers need to be supported through educational systems that teach them not only technical skills, but professional skills such as awareness of social and cultural implications of their designs, understanding and appreciation of diversity, and additional skills in project management, collaboration, and effective communication. The EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service) program is an example of an innovation in engineering education which has been shown to present engineering in context, prepare students for the profession, impact their engineering identity, as well as significantly improve the diversity of those participating. In this project, an EPICS program is being established at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT). A unique aspect of this program is that it is institutionalizing existing collaborative design opportunities with a tribal college, the Oglala Lakota College and establishing 50% of the design projects to meet critical needs of stakeholders on the Pine Ridge Reservation. This project is investigating the impacts of service learning on participating students' intellectual diversity, critical thinking skills, and attitudes towards sustainability, social awareness, stakeholder involvement in engineering design by applying advanced assessment tools, including the Herrmann Brain Dominance Inventory, Reasoning About Current Issues Test, and the Lancaster Approaches to Studying Questionnaire. This project will increase critical thinking skills, engage culturally and intellectually diverse students, and improve student attitudes concerning their engineering studies and engineering as a profession.