Understanding of Social Responsibility by First Year Engineering Students: Ethical Foundations and Courses

Engineers play a significant role in society, but the extent to which students consider this role as a desirable career attribute and extend their beliefs about the social responsibility (SR) of engineers beyond basic ethical foundations is not fully understood. A qualitative study was completed to understand how first year engineering students define SR and how it relates to engineering. Thirty-four first year engineering students with a range of attitudes toward SR, as previously assessed by a valid survey instrument, were invited to participate in interviews. The majority of these students were initially majoring in mechanical, civil, or environmental engineering at four institutions. Students defined SR differently, but generally linked engineering to SR in some manner. First year introduction to engineering courses that discussed ethics were cited by more than a third of the students as contributing to their ideas about SR. Three students with strong views of SR left engineering, due in part to the disconnect they felt between their goals to help people and society and the impacts they felt they could have as engineers, as judged from what they learned in classes. From the interview analysis, it seems that first year courses, specifically the ethics component, may have a high potential to affect students’ connections of the engineering profession to social issues and problems they care about addressing. All students who participated in the interview will be interviewed again in their second and third years to understand how their ideas about SR and engineering change as they continue their college careers.