2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Fostering Global Engineers through the Study of the Humanities: Assessment of the Course "Science and Religion in Japan" from a Racial Equity Perspective

Presented at Multidisciplinary Engineering Division (MULTI) Technical Session 1

This was an exploratory study to examine the effectiveness of the Spring 2022 course 'Science and Religion in Japan' from an engineering education perspective. Technological innovations are occurring through the fusion of science and engineering fields into new cutting-edge disciplines. Such a world requires engineers with broad knowledge, a global perspective and an appreciation of racial equity, being capable of working in interdisciplinary teams.

In the pre-survey conducted in the Spring 2022 semester, the average total MGUDS-S scores for European, South American, and Asian students did not show much difference: 64.33, 65.25, and 65.17 respectively, while their average scores varied in the post-survey: 73.00, 80.25, and 67.83. Interestingly, South American students' total scores showed a greater increase in the post-survey than that of Europeans. Whenever similar assessments are conducted in any of our mobility programs and when comparing each of the three MGUDS-S subscales, namely ‘Diversity of Contact (DC)’, ‘Relativistic Appreciation (RA)’, and ‘Comfort with Difference (CD)’, 'CD' scores are always the lowest, suggesting that many students feel somewhat uncomfortable interacting with people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It is noteworthy that 'CD' scores for Asian students showed a slight decrease in the post-survey. Increasing 'CD' scores will be the challenge for the Fall 2022 semester.

The course 'Science and Religion in Japan' is included as one of the humanities topics in a newly launched research-based English degree engineering program. It has been well received by both the research-based program students and engineer-majored international students. The class size is approximately 25 every semester, consisting of students mainly from Europe, Asia, and South America. Therefore, class discussion is always conducted through a racial equity lens, as participants are taking part in the conversation from diverse standpoints born from their different cultures, religions and personal backgrounds. Below are the expected learning outcomes of this course:
1) To gain knowledges of the different cultures, religions, and races that played important roles in Japanese history.
2) To assess the value of equity in history.
3) To understand the importance of interdisciplinary approaches through the humanities course.

To enhance students' understanding of the class concepts, every semester two guest speakers are invited to give special lectures on their topics of their expertise:
1) One demonstrates the importance of philosophical thought and religion, and how these worldviews have influenced the concept of 'Humanoid robots' in present-day Japanese society.
2) The other addresses the importance of engineers having the mindset that they should apply technical expertise solely for peaceful purposes.

Our research questions are:
1) Can the students' global competency be increased more after the Fall 2022 semester? *Using the MGUDS-S.
2) Does including ‘Science and Religion in Japan’ in an engineering education curriculum help students to gain flexibility, an appreciation of equity, and a greater richness of ideas? - These aspects are required if students are to become 'Global engineers'. *Using students' survey.
3) Are their expected learning outcomes being achieved, or are there any unexpected by-products gained from this course? *Using students' survey.
(499 words)

Authors

Prof. Hatsuko Yoshikubo Shibaura Institute Of Technology, Japan [biography]

Dr. Hatsuko Yoshikubo is currently an Associate Professor and a deputy director of the Innovative Global Program, a research-based full English degree engineering program at the College of Engineering at Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), Tokyo, Japan. She is a Principal Investigator of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Grants 20K02943 and the AY2022 SIT Grants for Educational Reform and Research Activity. She obtained a Ph.D. in English Literature from Chiba University in 2002. Her current main research interests are: 1) how including humanities courses in an engineering education curriculum can help students to gain flexibility, and an appreciation of equity, and a greater richness of ideas; 2) finding and solving the systematic issues impacting the effectiveness of engineering education, specifically in the context of project-based learnings; and 3) assessing the impact of interdisciplinary engineering project-based learnings. Below are her recent presentations at international conferences: WERA 2022, APAIE 2022, IIAI DSIR 2021, IIAI DSIR 2020, WERA 2019. She obtained the Outstanding Paper Award in DSIR 2021.
Prof. Gabriele Trovato Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan [biography]

Gabriele Trovato is Associate Professor in Shibaura Institute of Technology and Visiting Researcher in Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
As founder and head of LAB 22, Gabriele Trovato is also Principal Investigator in the EU-Japan Horizon 2020 project e-ViTA.
He received his M.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, and Ph.D. degree in Biorobotics in Waseda University. Within the relations between the two countries, Gabriele Trovato has been in the organising committee of Italy-Japan Workshops since 2011, and has been appointed "Ambassador of Livorno in the world" by the Municipality of Livorno, Italy.
He has been Visiting Researcher in Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), PUCP (Peru) and Imperial College London (UK) among others.
Gabriele Trovato has worked in the video game industry, being involved in the development of the world-wide notorious game series "Sid Meier's Civilization" and having created popular innovative mods for the game.
His main research interests are interdisciplinary and include Human-Robot Interaction, with focus on culture and religion related aspects, artificial emotions in humanoids, robot aesthetics, and procedural content generation.
Gabriele Trovato's latest creations, such as SanTO robots, are a combination of engineering, AI, art and humanities, and raised interest among the worldwide press, including the Wall Street Journal and the BBC.
Hiroyuki Ishizaki http://orcid.org/0009-0008-7482-2038 Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan [biography]

Hiroyuki Ishizaki is a Visiting Professor at Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT), a leading Japanese engineering school. His research interests include multidisciplinary teaching and learning, cross-cultural competence, collaborative online international (COIL), technopreneurship, and project/problem-based learning methods. As a Director of the Malaysia Office, he has been expatriated in Malaysia since 2014 and leading the internationalization of SIT and its partner universities throughout the Southeast Asian region. Under his initiatives, various short-term mobility programs and student exchanges have been started. He is also Chair of the Mobility Special Interest Group of Asia Technological University Network (ATU-Net) and initiated a COIL program called Virtual Asia Exploration (VAx) by orchestrating the collaboration of six Asian universities.
He is also an entrepreneur through his consulting company established in 2004, and has been rendering management consultation services to both small-medium size companies and multi-national enterprises such as global strategy planning, cross-border business entry, middle manager training, and partner development. These business achievements are reflected in his academic activities through the designing of lectures and mobility programs with practical implementation perspectives.
Ishizaki has been actively presenting and publishing his academic achievements at international conferences in the Asia Pacific region and North America such as APAIE, WERA, and NAFSA.
He earned a Master of Business Administration majoring in international business at the University of Southern California in the United States of America, and a Bachelor in Law at Hitotsubashi University in Japan.

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