From Sacred Cow to Dairy Cow: Challenges and Opportunities in Integrating of Social Justice in Engineering Science Courses

What role can the social justice (SJ) dimensions inherent in engineering science (ES) courses play in promoting student engagement and learning? What role can this integration play in educating more socially just and perhaps better engineers? While the other papers in this session address these questions in diverse ways, this one provides a framework for these questions by defining SJ, identifying what inherent means in this context, explaining why engineering sciences are a fitting, yet problematic, curricular site for integration, and presenting challenges and opportunities related to this integration. First, we explore why the ES are considered the sacred cow of engineering education. Second, we show certain ways in which SJ dimensions are inherent in the ES. Third, we provide an operational definition of SJ as it relates to engineering and six engineering-for-social-justice (ESJ) criteria to guide educators attempting to integrate SJ in ES courses. Fourth, we outline how two specific curricular examples of this integration engage these criteria. Fifth, we present challenges and opportunities involved in this integration. Finally, we allow the voices of engineering educators attempting these integrations to share their perspectives. Through the framework presented here, and the examples drawn from the other papers in this session, we seek to encourage other engineering science educators to consider integrating social justice into their courses.