2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Background: In today's era of rapid engineering and technological development, the comprehensive quality of engineering and technological talents has become their core competitiveness. Although the swift progress of engineering and technology has brought about earth-shaking changes to humanity and society, it has also sparked concerns over the negative effects of such advancements, such as environmental destruction and personal privacy breaches. Therefore, it is crucial to cultivate a sound set of values among engineering talents. Engineering education in China has traditionally focused more on the imparting of professional knowledge and skills, but has not placed sufficient emphasis on the content related to engineering philosophy and culture. Particularly, in the "Washington Accord" which outlines the quality requirements for engineering graduates, aspects such as "Engineers and Society," "Professional Ethics," and "Environment and Sustainability" are relatively lacking. There is an almost complete absence of dedicated courses on these topics at the undergraduate level.

Purpose: Consequently, Zhejiang University has introduced the "Engineering Philosophy and Culture" course for all first-year engineering students, making it the "first lesson" for them. The aim is to help students understand and recognize key concepts such as engineering, technology, and science, as well as the relationships among them; to stimulate students' awareness of engineering innovation; to acquaint them with engineering ethics, engineering philosophy, and cultural aspects in engineering practice; to make them aware of the responsibilities and challenges faced by engineers; to familiarize them with policies related to production, design, research, development, environmental protection, and sustainable development in engineering practice; and to cultivate the correct values among engineering students, enabling them to comprehend the relationship between the individual and society, and to understand the social responsibilities of engineers towards public safety, health, welfare, and environmental protection. Through enlightenment education from the perspective of engineering philosophy and culture, the seed of "becoming an engineer who is helpful to society" is sown in the hearts of engineering students.

Process: In terms of course construction, the course emphasizes interdisciplinary integration and a balance between hard knowledge and soft skills in its teaching content. This includes understanding of engineering, engineering ethics, the historical evolution of engineering, industrial culture, engineering innovation, and the latest developments in different engineering disciplines. Regarding teaching methods, a variety of approaches are used in a complementary manner, with both strong theoretical foundations and a focus on practical application. The course employs a combination of offline lectures, MOOC viewing, site visits, Q&A interactions, and group discussions and presentations, integrating theory with practice and fostering ample interaction between teachers and students. In terms of course assessment, a multi-dimensional approach is adopted, with both the transmission of knowledge and the cultivation of abilities moving in the same direction. The assessment method combines formative assessment, group discussions, and a final paper.

Methods: A combination of interviews and questionnaires was used. We conducted interviews with all students enrolled in the course and also collected feedback through anonymous questionnaires to measure the students' gains from the course and to judge the necessity of it being the first lesson for engineering students.

Results: The course has indeed proven effective in enhancing students' understanding of engineering and engineering philosophy and culture, with a high overall satisfaction rate among students. In terms of teaching methods, students prefer field research approaches. The necessity of this course as the first lesson for engineering students is considered to be relatively high.

Conclusion: This study has two main contributions. First, it demonstrates that offering the "Engineering Philosophy and Culture" course can effectively improve students' understanding of engineering and engineering philosophy and culture. It also provides a detailed account of the course's preparatory work, overall conception, and feedback for improvement, serving as a valuable reference for teachers who wish to introduce this course. Second, by analyzing student feedback, it identifies the types of courses that students prefer and possible reasons for this preference. A comparative analysis was also conducted between students of different majors (engineering and non-engineering) to determine the varying degrees of impact on students with different majors and motivations for taking the course, providing insights for future improvements of the course.