2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This complete evidence-based practice paper shares a new model for a first-year engineering course that centers social justice within first year engineering education. The course combines technical and social justice content with a goal of developing student understanding of the relevance of social justice to their future as engineers. Included in the course are social topics related to belonging, identity, inclusion, privilege, power, oppression, and allyship as well as technical topics such as 3D visualization, design process, orthographic projection, and the role of failure in design. This paper presents the course model, shares learning objectives, details the unique features of the course, and shares research findings related to the course. Course assignments make use of a flexible grading structure that allows students to tailor their learning to align with their prior knowledge and educational goals. The paper discusses how the authors blend the social and technical to create continuity and connection between the course topics to help students develop a sociotechnical mindset. A student survey was developed to assess the impact of the new curriculum on student understanding of social justice and students’ perception of the relevance of social justice to the profession. Student evaluations and written reflections were also examined to gauge how students perceived the integration of social justice into an introductory engineering course. Survey results indicate that student awareness of the relevance of social justice to the engineering profession increased over the course of the quarter. In addition, findings indicate an increase in understanding of social justice concepts along with an increase in ability to identify social injustice. As seen through course evaluations and written reflections, student response to the course has been positive and most students are receptive to social justice education being part of the introductory engineering education experience. The results of this study provide insight into the impact of integrating social justice into engineering coursework and can help provide rationale and support for creating new or updated intersectional curriculum. This work may be of interest to faculty and programs looking to integrate social justice into the first-year engineering experience.