Ethics For First Year Engineers: The Struggle To Build A Solid Foundation
Thomas D. DiStefano, P. Aarne Vesilind, Richard J. Kozick, Thomas P. Rich, James W. Baish, Xiannong Meng, Margot Vigeant, Daniel Cavanagh
Abstract
Exploring Engineering is a first semester course taken by all incoming engineering students at Bucknell University. The instructional objectives for this course include introducing the disciplines taught at Bucknell, cultivating technical problem solving skills which serve those disciplines, fostering teamwork and communication skills, and developing an understanding of the history and societal impact of engineering. Two years ago, the course was redesigned and has been successful at achieving the first three objectives (Vigeant et al 2003, Vigeant et al 2004). This paper documents our approach to achieving the specific outcomes associated with the final objective, dealing with societal responsibility.