An Integrated Approach to Energy Education in Engineering

Gordon D. Hoople, Diana A. Chen, Susan M. Lord, Laura A. Gelles, Felicity Bilow and Joel Alejandro Mejia
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Gordon D. Hoople: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Diana A. Chen: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Susan M. Lord: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Laura A. Gelles: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA
Felicity Bilow: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699, USA
Joel Alejandro Mejia: Integrated Engineering, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA 92110, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-21

Abstract: What do engineering students in 2020 need to know about energy to be successful in the workplace and contribute to addressing society’s issues related to energy? Beginning with this question, we have designed a new course for second-year engineering students. Drawing on the interdisciplinary backgrounds of our diverse team of engineering instructors, we aimed to provide an introduction to energy for all engineering students that challenged the dominant discourse in engineering by valuing students’ lived experiences and bringing in examples situated in different cultural contexts. An Integrated Approach to Energy was offered for the first time in Spring 2020 for 18 students. In this paper, we describe the design of the course including learning objectives, content, and pedagogical approach. We assessed students’ learning using exams and the impact of the overall course using interviews. Students demonstrated achievement of the learning objectives in technical areas. In addition, interviews revealed that they learned about environmental, economic, and social aspects of engineering practice. We intend for this course to serve as a model of engineering as a sociotechnical endeavor by challenging students with scenarios that are technically demanding and require critical thinking about contextual implications.

Keywords: energy; sustainability; engineering education; sociotechnical (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 (6)

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