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Engaging and Supporting Problem Solving in Engineering Ethics
Author(s) -
Jonassen David H.,
Shen Demei,
Marra Rose M.,
Cho YoungHoan,
Lo Jenny L.,
Lohani Vinod K.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of engineering education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.896
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 2168-9830
pISSN - 1069-4730
DOI - 10.1002/j.2168-9830.2009.tb01022.x
Subject(s) - hypertext , ethical issues , task (project management) , computer science , generative grammar , engineering education , information ethics , engineering ethics , mathematics education , psychology , engineering , artificial intelligence , engineering management , world wide web , systems engineering
Learning to solve ethical problems is essential to the education of all engineers. Engineering ethics problems are complex and ill structured with multiple perspectives and interpretations to address in their solution. In two experiments, we examined alternative strategies for engaging ethical problem solving. In Experiment 1, students studied two versions of an online learning environment consisting of everyday ethics problems. Students using question hypertext links to navigate applied more perspectives and canons and wrote stronger overall solutions to ethics problems than those using embedded hypertext links. In Experiment 2, students engaged in a more generative task, evaluating alternative arguments for solutions to the cases or generating and supporting their own solutions. Both groups better supported their solutions and generated more counterclaims than control students. These studies focused on solving realistic case‐based ethics problems as an effective method for addressing ABET's ethics criteria.