Summary of Resources Provided
Here we link a series of additional resources on topics related to incorporating ARDEI and social justice into your courses. The first set of articles further explain why incorporation of ARDEI and social justice into courses is necessary. We follow this with other published examples of faculty at other institutions successfully incorporating social justice into course questions or modules–however these resources typically don’t provide specific details on the questions as the Hirshfield and Mayes paper does, and you would need to contact the authors if you were interested in using their questions/modules directly. Additionally, we link other workshops that help you learn how to integrate social justice into your courses. Finally, some of these resources pertain to where you could find content or inspiration for future ARDEI questions, where you could find resources to support students or groups your students might be interested (and feel free to advertise these groups and their work in your course, especially if you use their content for your questions or reach out to them to collaborate with them on this content), and where you can find other ways to implement anti-racism in your course. Some of these resources involve on campus Northwestern resources (such as exhibits at the Block Museum) or other education resources, but many are open-access to those who are not Northwestern affiliated–these simply serve as an example of how resources toward this effort may exist on your local campus. We encourage that if you collaborate with student groups or other entities on campus, you cite them and their work in your course! But these groups could be good sources of information and generally good work being done on campus in the area of ARDEI, social justice, advocacy, and supporting students.
Scholarly Articles that Explain Why Incorporation of ARDEI and Social Justice Context is Necessary
While all members of society are affected by and interact with the results engineering efforts and designs, traditional engineering curriculum has ideologically supported depoliticization, meritocracy, and the “technical/social dualism”. These articles explain these terms and describe why they are harmful to engineering curriculum.
Farrell, S., Godwin, A., and Riley, D.M. (2021). A Sociocultural Learning Framework for Inclusive Pedagogy in Engineering. Chemical Engineering Education 55(4), 192-204. doi: 10.18260/2-1-370.660-128660. https://journals.flvc.org/cee/article/view/128660
Farrell et. al. define depoliticization as “an ideology that promotes engineering as a purely ‘technical’ space where ‘social’ or ‘political’ issues such as inequality are tangential (at best) or irrelevant to engineer’s work”. They define meritocracy as “the belief that inequalities are the result of a well-functioning social system that rewards talent and hard work”, which legitimizes, rationalizes, and prevents reform of social inequities.
Cech, E.A. (2014). Culture of disengagement in engineering education? Science, Technology, & Human Values 39(1), 42-72. doi: 10.1177/0162243913504305. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243913504305
Cech describes technical/social dualism as one that “devalues ‘social’ competencies such as those related to public welfare”.
Published Examples of ARDEI and Social Justice Content Implemented into Problems and/or Courses from Faculty at Other Universities
Catalano, G., Baillie, C., Riley, D., Nieusma, D., Byrne, C., Bailey, M., et al. (2010). “Integrating social justice ideas into a numerical methods course in bioengineering”, in: 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition), 15.772. 771-715.772. 777. https://peer.asee.org/integrating-social-justice-ideas-into-a-numerical-methods-course-in-bioengineering
Catalano et. al. integrated social justice ideas into a bioengineering numerical methods course, where case studies focused on wealth distribution, the costs of health care in the U.S., and poverty trends in the U.S. and around the world.
LaChance, A.M., Pascal, J., Gan, D., Welsh, J.J.P., Pauly, T.J., and Paul, P. (2021). “Teaching Environmental Justice Principles to Chemical Engineering Seniors: An Antiracist, Collaborative Approach”, in: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access). https://peer.asee.org/teaching-environmental-justice-principles-to-chemical-engineering-seniors-an-antiracist-collaborative-approach.pdf
LaChance et. al. integrated a one-week course module on environmental justice principles into a unit operations course, where students affected by climate injustice and environmental racism, as well as students who participate in climate activism, were invited to help contribute to the development and delivery of this module.
Riley, D. (2003). “Pedagogies of liberation in an engineering thermodynamics class”, in: 2003 Annual Conference), 8.918. 911-918.918. 916. https://peer.asee.org/pedagogies-of-liberation-in-an-engineering-thermodynamics-class.pdf
Riley implemented pedagogies of liberation when teaching engineering thermodynamics by considering aspects of course development assignments and classroom dynamics. Liberative pedagogies—used as a term to encompass elements of feminist pedagogy, bell hooks’ engaged pedagogy, and Paulo Freire’s critical/radical pedagogy—is a student-centered approach that focuses on developing student reflection and critical thinking to end oppressive systems. Riley designed the course to connect to student experiences, give students authority in the classroom, integrate ethics and policy considerations, and de-center Western and male civilization.
Riley, D. (2011). Engineering thermodynamics and 21st century energy problems: A textbook companion for student engagement. Synthesis Lectures on Engineering 6(3), 1-97. https://www.morganclaypool.com/doi/abs/10.2200/S00387ED1V01Y201110ENG016
Riley wrote this textbook that reframes thermodynamics, a topic often thought of theoretical, as energy, which is a basic human need. The textbook also emphasizes student engagement, engineering ethics, social context, and communication. This is a great resource that can give you ready to use modules if you’re teaching thermodynamics!
Riley, D.M. (2015). “Pushing the boundaries of mass and energy: Sustainability and social justice integration in core engineering science courses”, in: 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition), 26.1286. 1281-1226.1286. 1212. https://peer.asee.org/pushing-the-boundaries-of-mass-and-energy-sustainability-and-social-justice-integration-in-core-engineering-science-courses.pdf
Riley emphasized the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) in a first year mass and energy balances course, asking students to analyze and green products, processes, and consumerism.
Hoople GD, Chen DA, Lord SM, Gelles LA, Bilow F, Mejia JA: An integrated approach to energy education in engineering. Sustainability 2020, 12:9145. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9145
Hoople et. al. integrated sociotechnical considerations into energy- and sustainability-focused courses.
Leydens, J.A., Johnson, K.E., and Moskal, B.M. (2021). Engineering student perceptions of social justice in a feedback control systems course. Journal of Engineering Education 110(3), 718-749. doi: 10.1002/jee.20412. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jee.20412
Leydens et. al. incorporated and assessed student perceptions of social justice in a feedback control systems course.
Other Chemical Engineering & Social Justice Workshops
Riley, D., and Rivera-Jiménez, S.M. (2021). Liberating Learning: Social Justice in The Chemical Engineering Curriculum [Online]. Available: https://theengineeringprofessor.org/social-justice-in-the-engineering/
Riley and Rivera-Jiménez created a workshop to help provide suggestions and examples for integrating social justice into the chemical engineering curriculum beyond problem incorporation.
Northwestern Resources
The Use of Visual Art in Teaching Engineering
This document that Ayin compiled discusses how to use visual art to further communicate the gravity or impact of a situation or context. There is information on related Block Museum exhibits and collections by the artist exhibited. Specifically, the example shown could be directly linked to the Fluid Dynamics example question.
General and STEM Education Resources
Social Justice Content in Math Courses
Kettering University in Michigan is creating new math courses combining math with writing exploring topics of racial justice, climate change, elections and voting, and human trafficking.
Toward an Anti-Racist Engineering Classroom for 2020 and Beyond: A Starter Kit
Citation for article: Long III, L.L. (2021). Toward an Anti-Racist Engineering Classroom for 2020 and Beyond: A Starter Kit. Advances in Engineering Education. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jee.20363
This Advances in Engineering Education article lists 20 action items to implement in your classroom and within your role as a faculty in the areas of culture, pedagogy, curriculum, and personnel to practice anti-racism. The link above links to the cite. The pdf of the article itself can be found on the webpage linked.
Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education Symposium Summary and Materials
The National Academies Conference was held in November 2020. A summary of their conference, pulled from this site, and two papers they produced, are copied below. They also link video playlists from the conference on the site linked above. We directly linked the PDFs to the two papers below (which are also freely linked on the Symposium web page linked above).
With sponsorship from the National Science Foundation, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is exploring ambitions for the future of undergraduate STEM education, including how we can transform undergraduate STEM education to meet the needs of students, science, and society.
The symposium brought together innovators from a diverse range of colleges and universities together with policy makers, funders, and representatives from associations and industry. Participants were able to share their own ideas about the future of undergraduate STEM education. You can read some of the stories they wrote about 2040 in the attachments below. Two commissioned papers prepared in advance of the symposium are also available here.
A proceedings of the symposium will be published in 2021 and will be available for free download from National Academies Press.
Reynante, B. (2021). Learning to design for social justice in community‐engaged engineering. Journal of Engineering Education 111(2), 338-356. doi: 10.1002/jee.20444. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jee.20444
Reynante explains how solving engineering problems should require taking community-engaged approaches that center and include affected communities in engineering efforts.
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