2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Concern for teaching ethics in engineering has existed for some time, with research supporting that active learning strategies are useful instruction methods for teaching ethical reasoning in STEM fields. Active learning approaches, such as case studies or problem-based learning (PBL), are shown to increase student exam scores and decrease student failure rates when compared to instruction using lecture methods alone. However, there is not sufficient information to show that active PBL is effective for teaching ethical reasoning and decision-making in college-level engineering courses.

To evaluate PBL as an effective approach for teaching ethical reasoning, our team is evaluating differences in first-year electrical and computer engineering undergraduates after participating in an introductory course delivered in traditional lecture format or PBL style. As part of both courses, students complete three modules which requires them to identify one or more ethical dilemma of a developed fictional scenario. In these scenarios they students are asked to put themselves in the position of the engineer in the scenario. During evaluation of student work products for these modules in Year 1 the study team noted a larger than expected proportion of students had challenges correctly identifying the most appropriate IEEE code of conduct related to the ethical dilemma.

In Year 2 of the study, additional exercises were added to both PBL and lecture courses to provide students additional opportunities to practice identifying ethical dilemmas in case studies to increase their mastery related to this aspect of ethical reasoning. A total of 6 cases were added to 6 of the assignments in the course, with 2 cases completed before each of the three course modules to provide consistent practice over the course. The specific case studies were selected from a set of ethics cases developed and made available by the 2021 IEEE Ethics and Member Conduct Committee. These case studies are fictitious examples to illustrate typical ethics issues that can arise. In each assignment, students were asked to identify which IEEE code of ethics was most appropriate for the presented case study.

This work will provide an overview of the case studies added to the course, present student performance from 3 course sections at identifying the IEEE code of ethics most appropriate for each case. The insights regarding which ethical dilemmas first-year students are most successful at identifying and where they may have misconceptions is expected to inform areas of ethical reasoning that students may have little prior experience. This will help inform which topics will require further focused course content to improve student mastery both in this course and for other engineering educators integrating ethical reasoning content into their freshman engineering courses.