March 10, 2016
Case Study Series on “Engineering-Enhanced” Liberal Arts Education Launched
The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), with financial support from the Teagle Foundation and expert guidance by leading education consultant Sheila Tobias, has launched a website highlighting case studies that examine the benefits of greater integration between the liberal arts and engineering.
The site is at: http://www.asee.org/engineering-enhanced-liberal-education-project/introduction. The content is free and open to the public.
“ASEE is thrilled to be a part of this project supported by The Teagle Foundation,” says ASEE Executive Director Norman Fortenberry. “Having an increased understanding of engineering processes by future policy makers, industrialists, consumers, and citizens will be of immense value in developing rational solutions that satisfy human needs. This project has the potential to greatly contribute to the achievement of these outcomes.”
Among the case study topics are:
- A Princeton University course called, “Engineering in the Modern World,” attributing radical shifts in American society to successful engineering innovators.
- A collection of Wellesley College courses involving project-based learning, where students are active participants in the enterprise, with contexts ranging from arts and media to community-based projects in Nicaragua and Cape Verde.
- A writing-intensive course about engineering for Honors Students at the University of Delaware.
- “Engineering Disasters” and “Stuff Matters,” courses launched to meet a recently instituted tech requirement for all undergraduates at Stony Brook University.
- The introduction of a dozen courses “about engineering” available to undergraduates seeking to satisfy the General Education Requirements at the University of Maryland.
Judith Shapiro, President of the Teagle Foundation, says, “When we embarked on an initiative to bring the liberal arts into closer academic and intellectual alignment with professional schools and programs, engineering soon became our major focus.” Teagle's mission is to advance the liberal arts and strengthen teaching and learning in the arts and sciences. Shapiro adds, “We realized we should be exploring how the undergraduate liberal arts curriculum can be enriched by closer ties to engineering programs and how engineers themselves can be better prepared for their vocation through a stronger grounding in the liberal arts.”
Given the multi-disciplinary skill set needed to tackle the challenges of the 21st century and the need for technological literacy and critical thinking for all employees in an advanced economy, there is a particular need to explore creative ways to expose liberal arts students to engineering “habits of mind.”
James Duderstadt, President Emeritus at the University of Michigan and an education reform advocate says, “We have a wealth of earlier examples and current efforts by individual colleges and universities on how to address this. But it will take national leadership and investment by federal agencies, higher education associations, national academies, and philanthropic foundations to extend their experience to address this major shortcoming of the current higher education curriculum in America.”
Tobias, a longtime science and mathematics education consultant, has previously launched projects on math avoidance, stemming attrition from college and university level science, and post-baccalaureate alternatives for science majors. Her books include, Overcoming Math Anxiety, They're not Dumb, They're Different, Breaking the Science Barrier, Rethinking Science as a Career, and a recently published co-authored introduction to college algebra called Banishing Math Anxiety.
Contact:
Nathan Kahl, ASEE
n.kahl@asee.org
March 10, 2016
Case Study Series on “Engineering-Enhanced” Liberal Arts Education Launched
The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), with financial support from the Teagle Foundation and expert guidance by leading education consultant Sheila Tobias, has launched a website highlighting case studies that examine the benefits of greater integration between the liberal arts and engineering.
The site is at: http://www.asee.org/engineering-enhanced-liberal-education-project/introduction. The content is free and open to the public.
“ASEE is thrilled to be a part of this project supported by The Teagle Foundation,” says ASEE Executive Director Norman Fortenberry. “Having an increased understanding of engineering processes by future policy makers, industrialists, consumers, and citizens will be of immense value in developing rational solutions that satisfy human needs. This project has the potential to greatly contribute to the achievement of these outcomes.”
Among the case study topics are:
- A Princeton University course called, “Engineering in the Modern World,” attributing radical shifts in American society to successful engineering innovators.
- A collection of Wellesley College courses involving project-based learning, where students are active participants in the enterprise, with contexts ranging from arts and media to community-based projects in Nicaragua and Cape Verde.
- A writing-intensive course about engineering for Honors Students at the University of Delaware.
- “Engineering Disasters” and “Stuff Matters,” courses launched to meet a recently instituted tech requirement for all undergraduates at Stony Brook University.
- The introduction of a dozen courses “about engineering” available to undergraduates seeking to satisfy the General Education Requirements at the University of Maryland.
Judith Shapiro, President of the Teagle Foundation, says, “When we embarked on an initiative to bring the liberal arts into closer academic and intellectual alignment with professional schools and programs, engineering soon became our major focus.” Teagle's mission is to advance the liberal arts and strengthen teaching and learning in the arts and sciences. Shapiro adds, “We realized we should be exploring how the undergraduate liberal arts curriculum can be enriched by closer ties to engineering programs and how engineers themselves can be better prepared for their vocation through a stronger grounding in the liberal arts.”
Given the multi-disciplinary skill set needed to tackle the challenges of the 21st century and the need for technological literacy and critical thinking for all employees in an advanced economy, there is a particular need to explore creative ways to expose liberal arts students to engineering “habits of mind.”
James Duderstadt, President Emeritus at the University of Michigan and an education reform advocate says, “We have a wealth of earlier examples and current efforts by individual colleges and universities on how to address this. But it will take national leadership and investment by federal agencies, higher education associations, national academies, and philanthropic foundations to extend their experience to address this major shortcoming of the current higher education curriculum in America.”
Tobias, a longtime science and mathematics education consultant, has previously launched projects on math avoidance, stemming attrition from college and university level science, and post-baccalaureate alternatives for science majors. Her books include, Overcoming Math Anxiety, They're not Dumb, They're Different, Breaking the Science Barrier, Rethinking Science as a Career, and a recently published co-authored introduction to college algebra called Banishing Math Anxiety.
Contact:
Nathan Kahl, ASEE
n.kahl@asee.org
