1 / 14

John Heywood, Karl Smith, Roy McGrann Special Session 2007 Frontiers in Education Conference

Special Session – Can Philosophy of Engineering Education Improve the Practice of Engineering Education?. John Heywood, Karl Smith, Roy McGrann Special Session 2007 Frontiers in Education Conference Thursday, October 11, 8:00 am - 9:30 am Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Session Overview.

marv
Download Presentation

John Heywood, Karl Smith, Roy McGrann Special Session 2007 Frontiers in Education Conference

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Special Session – Can Philosophy of Engineering Education Improve the Practice of Engineering Education? John Heywood, Karl Smith, Roy McGrann Special Session 2007 Frontiers in Education Conference Thursday, October 11, 8:00 am - 9:30 am Milwaukee, Wisconsin

  2. Session Overview • Purpose of Session • Background story • Desired outcomes • Engagement questions • Personal reflection on philosophy of engineering education • Sub group and whole group dialogue • Lingering questions • Continuing conversations?

  3. Recent Background Story • Engineering philosophy interest (especially in Europe) • Carl Mitcham - The Importance of Philosophy to Engineering (Techne, 1998) • Billy Koen – Discussion of the method (Oxford U Press, 2003) • Larry Bucciarelli – Engineering Philosophy (Delft U Press, 2003) • William Grimson – The Philosophical Nature of Engineering - A characterization of Engineering using the language and activities of Philosophy (ASEE Annual Conference, 2006) • 2003 – Smith JEE Academic Bookshelf column on Educational Philosophy • 2005 – Heywood Engineering Education: Research and Development in Curriculum and Instruction section on Philosophy and Sociology • 2006 – Purdue & Virginia Tech Departments of Engineering Education PhD programs with Engineering Education philosophy courses • Ongoing – Heywood, McGrann, Smith & others conversation on philosophy of engineering education

  4. Desired Outcomes • Reflection and dialogue on engineering philosophy and engineering education philosophy • Deepen understanding of role of philosophy in engineering education • Identify community of interested participants • Develop list of resources

  5. Questions • Is the philosophy of engineering well enough understood to develop a philosophy of engineering education? • How might a philosophy of engineering education align with a philosophy of engineering? • What can a philosophy of engineering education resolve regarding the tension between content and learning? • How can a philosophy of engineering ed improve the professional practice of engineering? • What is the distinction between philosophy of engineering and cognitive science of engineering? • How can our colleagues in education help develop philosophy of engineering education?

  6. Questions • Is there a single philosophy of engineering or do extremes require separate philosophies? • How is philosophy of engineering education different from other educational fields’ philosophies? • What can philosophy of engineering education learn from other philosophies of education? • How does the philosophy of education influence the assessment of it? • What hidden current or official knowledge does engineering education embody?

  7. Questions • Are there geographic variations in philosophy of engineering education? • How does the philosophy of education relate the theoretical to the practice of engineering? • How do you convince “engineers” that teach that a philosophy of engineering education is significant? • How do the objectives of engineering modify the philosophy of engineering as opposed to the philosophy of science? • What is the reality of education in the academy? • How do we know what we know? • What are the values that inform or discussion?

  8. Questions • What range of operating philosophy of engineering education if they were made explicit?

  9. Our Questions • What is your philosophy of engineering? • What is your teaching or engineering student learning philosophy? • How apparent or explicit were your professor’s answers to these questions in your undergraduate program?

  10. Sub Group Dialogue • Form groups of 3-4 by joining with others interested in a similar question • Select a scribe • Give each person a chance to contribute his or her ideas on the question • Listen for similarities and differences among the contributions • Prepare a summary/synthesis of contributions

  11. Sub Groups (8) Philosophy and Assessment. What to do when you don’t know what to do? What is the role of the engineer? What is the ontological and epistemological relationship between theories of behavior, values and beliefs, and their underlying assumption? Could a philosophy of engineering education release the tension between content and practice? (Provide a philosophy that practitioners can adopt.)

  12. Sub Groups (cont.) How can we communicate about the philosophy of engineering education with potentially resistive peers? What is taken for granted in the language we use? Who decides? Who is left out? Should we be discussing philosophies of engineering education? What is philosophy of engineering education? How is it related to philosophy of science? How is engineering different? Is the philosophy of engineering education different from the philosophy of education? Is science education different from engineering education?

  13. Whole Group Dialogue

  14. Questions • ?

More Related