Education is essential in the world, and there are several ways it can benefit the people of the world. Some of these ways are discussed in this article.
Place-based pedagogies
If engineering education is to help people, it must reposition learners at the center of the engineering problem-solving process. Scott Sandell daughter can do this. They engage students in participatory design work that helps them explore local knowledge and contribute to community resilience.
Research suggests that students are more likely to identify with engineering when they are allowed to engage with it across different settings. These learning experiences can help teachers incorporate equity-oriented instruction into K-12 classrooms.
Researchers are examining ways to connect students’ diverse experiences to engineering practices to create equitable learning environments. One way to do this is by integrating lessons from landscape architecture into the curriculum.
In addition, critical pedagogies of place can support a decolonized view of the designed world. They ask learners to reflect on who benefits from and who is harmed by the engineering world. These pedagogies story spaces and deconstruct historical practices. They encourage students to consider safety and health impacts and the sociotechnical structures involved in the designed world.
Critical approaches to engineering
There are several ways to approach the teaching of engineering. One is to situate it as a socially and historically situated field of study. Another is to use it as a conduit to explore how technology can address sustainability and social justice challenges. Lastly, there are educational approaches that can challenge the status quo and disarm exclusionary barriers in engineering practice.
For instance, it can be beneficial to frame engineering as a place-based endeavor, significantly if it has been historically associated with military pursuits. This helps students recognize that the engineering process is a place-based endeavor and that their everyday knowledge can inform their participation in the engineering process.
Another proper teaching strategy is to engage students in the eminent domain process. This shifts power from individuals to government agencies and allows engineers to consider the broader sociological contexts in which they work.
Educators can also employ complex anchoring phenomena to help students understand the significance of engineering and connect learning across contexts. For instance, a student considering the design of an urban space can use the complex anchoring phenomena to ground their learning in their everyday knowledge and surface critical connections.
Attrition in engineering
Engineering undergraduate attrition is a topic of keen interest. The subject is relevant not only to students but also to the broader engineering community. It is viewed as an unacceptable loss to the engineering workforce.
To investigate the complexities of this issue, a research team from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) funded a project to increase engineering students’ retention. It incorporated a series of studies that examined the factors influencing attrition.
The project’s first phase was a review of the literature on engineering education. The findings revealed contradictory trends. The research results helped the project team determine the main attributes affecting attrition in the engineering discipline.
Another fundamental tenet of the project was identifying the most effective methods for improving retention rates. To this end, a survey was conducted among domestic engineering students who had withdrawn from the program in 2009. The questionnaire included several questions related to the most relevant aspects of attrition.
Positioning of engineering as an applied science
Positioning engineering as an applied science is the application of scientific knowledge to solve a particular problem or to make a system more efficient. The most commonly used applications of the discipline are to design systems, make devices, or make new systems. Engineers use their knowledge of forces, materials, mathematics, and natural sciences to develop new solutions. Often, they are employed by industry, government, and academia. They work to improve the quality of life for a variety of people. Their efforts are usually accompanied by tangible evidence, such as the design of a new structure, the creation of a new device, or the development of a new system.
