Engineering Education for Sustainable Development: Evaluation Criteria for Brazilian Context

Izabela Simon Rampasso, Osvaldo L. G. Quelhas, Rosley Anholon, Marcio B. Pereira, Jocimar D. A. Miranda and Wenderson S. Alvarenga
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Izabela Simon Rampasso: Laboratory of Technology, Business and Environment Management (LATEC), Federal Fluminense University, Passo da Pátria Street, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro 24210-240, Brazil
Osvaldo L. G. Quelhas: Laboratory of Technology, Business and Environment Management (LATEC), Federal Fluminense University, Passo da Pátria Street, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro 24210-240, Brazil
Rosley Anholon: School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Campinas, Mendeleyev Street, Campinas, São Paulo 13083-970, Brazil
Marcio B. Pereira: Laboratory of Technology, Business and Environment Management (LATEC), Federal Fluminense University, Passo da Pátria Street, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro 24210-240, Brazil
Jocimar D. A. Miranda: Laboratory of Technology, Business and Environment Management (LATEC), Federal Fluminense University, Passo da Pátria Street, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro 24210-240, Brazil
Wenderson S. Alvarenga: Laboratory of Technology, Business and Environment Management (LATEC), Federal Fluminense University, Passo da Pátria Street, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro 24210-240, Brazil

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: Considering the increasing importance of sustainability in future professionals’ education and the role played by engineers in society, this paper aims to analyze the key criteria that should be considered in models to evaluate the insertion level of sustainability into engineering education, considering the Brazilian context. For this, criteria reported in the literature were collected and evaluated by engineering professors. The respondents were asked to classify the criteria as “essential”, “useful, but not essential”, or “not necessary”. Data collected were analyzed through Lawshe’s method. From 15 criteria collected from the literature, 5 were not considered essential to evaluate engineering education for sustainable development (EESD), according to data analysis: C2 (establishment of global partnerships), C4 (encouraging students to volunteer through extracurricular activities), C9 (use of active learning approaches to problem solving to teach aspects related to sustainability), C10 (use of service-learning towards the local community for educational purposes) and C15 (use of sustainability concept in university installations). It was possible to verify that most of these criteria (C2, C4, C10, and C15) were not directly related to engineering curricula, being parallel activities. Regarding C9, active learning approaches can enhance attributes important for students in the context of sustainable development, but they are not goals of EESD. This research contributes to the development of evaluation models for engineering education in the Brazilian context and its findings can also be useful for studies in other countries. No similar study was found in the literature.

Keywords: sustainability; sustainable development; engineering education; EESD; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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