Interaction Of Engineering Technology And Fine Arts Through Instructor Collaboration

Higher education strives to prepare graduates for career success and satisfaction in life. At the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (UPJ), most students prepare for their career through their major area of study by taking discipline specific courses in their major. To more fully develop their knowledge, University-wide general education (GenEd) requirements provide all UPJ students opportunities to develop competency in oral and written communication, quantitative reasoning skills, and a breadth of knowledge in social sciences, natural sciences and humanities. This last requirement is intended to expose students to diverse perspectives and personal enrichment opportunities. Although the GenEd curriculum requires students take courses in a variety of fields outside their major, the incorporation of activities that support the GenEd goals into discipline specific courses is encouraged. Similarly students in non-science and nonengineering majors can become better prepared for life and careers of the future through exposure to appropriate science and technology topics incorporated in their major courses. This paper discusses a collaborative effort by the authors incorporating a fine arts perspective in two civil engineering technology courses and a technical perspective in a fine arts course. Introduction Engineering education focuses on preparing students for careers in technology and the professional practice of engineering. Accreditation organizations, 1 professional societies, 2 as well as universities 3 realize that in today’s diverse world, engineering graduates need to be welleducated in areas beyond the typical technical knowledge necessary for engineering practice. As a result, exposure to and appreciation of the arts and humanities and the social sciences is a vital component in preparing engineering graduates who will better serve the needs of society. Although most universities attempt to accomplish this through a distribution of elective courses in the humanities and social sciences, connections between the technical content of the engineering curriculum and the values and paradigms of the humanities and social sciences are not typically developed or emphasized. Engineering students often do not appreciate their humanities and social science electives and have difficulty relating them to their education and career goals. In addition, incorporating additional liberal arts courses into an already crowded curriculum is difficult for many engineering and engineering technology programs. 4 Similarly, students in the humanities, social sciences, and other non-science fields may not fully appreciate the influence of science and technology on their fields of study and careers. A recent trend at more and more universities is to offer courses introducing engineering to non-engineering majors as a way to improve the technical literacy of all students. 5 In an effort to improve engineering students’ appreciation of the role of the arts and humanities in engineering design, as well as help non-engineering students gain an appreciation of the P ge 10812.1 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005, American Society for Engineering Education influence of technological developments on the arts and architecture, the authors collaborated to share their expertise and perspectives in the classroom by guest lecturing in each other’s classes at UPJ. As an undergraduate college of the University of Pittsburgh, UPJ offers Bachelors degrees in the arts and humanities, sciences, education, business, and engineering technology. The enrollment is approximately 3000 students, the majority of which are from western and central Pennsylvania. For the collaboration, the second author, Dr. Grash, made a highly visual presentation on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in a civil engineering technology course on reinforced concrete design taught by the first author, Dr. Rose. A second presentation on the development of the skyscraper was given by Dr. Grash in a structural analysis class. In two sections of the Dr. Grash’s fine arts class on Frank Lloyd Wright, Dr. Rose, made presentations on “Concrete, Cantilevers and Fallingwater,” in which the development of reinforced concrete, cantilever behavior and the post-tensioning repair of Wright’s masterpiece were discussed. Related student assignments, a field trip to Fallingwater, student feedback on the instructor exchange and suggested improvements are also discussed. Concept Development The idea for the collaboration originated several years ago when Dr. Rose was invited on a field trip to Fallingwater with Dr. Grash’s Frank Lloyd Wright class. Guest lecturing on topics related to concrete design and architecture were considered as a starting point for the collaboration. The opportunity to collaborate took several years to develop since the Frank Lloyd Wright course is taught every other year and Dr. Rose only began teaching the reinforced concrete design course in the spring 2004 semester. This created the first opportunity for the interaction. Collaboration and interaction between the arts and engineering is supported by ABET, 1 ASCE Policy 465 and its Body of Knowledge document, 2 and UPJ GenEd program. 3 ABET 1 requires engineering programs prepare well-educated graduates able to interact with other professionals in an increasingly complex and diverse world. In the Body of Knowledge document, 2 ASCE is striving to raise the professional practice of civil engineering to a higher level. Sensing the diversity and complexity of the world in which future engineering professionals will work, engineering graduates must develop increased understanding of other fields and better appreciation for other perspectives and how they influence engineering decisions. 2 At the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, the GenEd curriculum is intended to provide graduates from all disciplines the education needed for successful careers. In 2000 the General Education Working Group developed the following statement describing the purposes of the UPJ general education curriculum: “The General Education Program at UPJ has been designed to prepare students to be creative, critical, and independent thinkers, capable of effective problem-solving and informed decision-making. Their education is characterized by both breadth of knowledge in diverse fields and depth of knowledge in focused areas of study as well as the development of fundamental competencies necessary for personal and professional growth. UPJ strives to produce graduates who appreciate learning, who inquire about and carefully evaluate the perspectives of others, and who are capable of responsible citizenship and the pursuit of intellectually satisfying, well-balanced lives.” 3 P ge 10812.2 Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2005, American Society for Engineering Education In accordance with the UPJ GenEd program philosophy, the instructor collaboration described in this paper encourages a well-rounded education that provides engineering technology and nonengineering students exposure to and understanding of the perspectives of others. Concept Implementation The interaction between the two instructors took place in the spring 2004 semester and involved students in 4 classes. Dr. Grash prepared presentations for Dr. Rose’s civil engineering technology courses in reinforced concrete design and advanced structures. Dr. Rose prepared a single presentation and presented it in two sections of Dr. Grash’s fine arts class on Frank Lloyd Wright. The courses involved and number of students in each class are presented in Table 1. Table 1 Summary of courses and students involved