Power/Knowledge: Using Foucault To Promote Critical Understandings Of Content And Pedagogy In Engineering Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is a subject area in engineering that is deeply relevant, as it deals with energy use in society. However, students often struggle to connect their experiences of energy with course content traditionally based in theoretical discoveries from 19 th century Western Europe. The work of French philosopher Michel Foucault is similar to thermodynamics in that its abstract poststructuralist theory strikes fear in the hearts of students, but can be made deeply relevant when its understanding is grounded in one’s experience. An excerpt from Foucault’s Power/Knowledge discussing the “regime of truth” was used to stimulate critical thinking about the course content. In a reflective essay and class discussion, students considered the relationship between power and knowledge in thermodynamics and beyond. Analyzing student responses to the Foucault reading and regular course reflections reveals a significant shift in their understanding of classroom pedagogy, an increase in critical thinking about the course and its subject matter, and an emergence of independent ideas that students pursued further in the course.