Engineering Ethics for First Year Seminar Courses

Engineers develop advanced technology that benefits society. Engineers’ ethics focus on human well-being, health, and safety that are essential to provide an improved quality life for individuals, society, and our planet. Climate change is a societal issue that encompasses these three ethical focuses. Therefore, climate change topics should be included in the engineering students’ curriculum. Penn State’s First Year Engineering Seminar course introduces a variety of engineering topics for students to learn skills, different frameworks of thinking, and information that are designed to help students to decide on a major. This project develops a four-day curriculum module that addresses personal and professional climate change ethics, as well as climate change solutions. The module includes “The Drowning Child and the Expanding Circle” by Peter Singer, “Time-Sharing Space” engineering case studies, “Rise: From One Island to Another” by Kalaallit Nunarr and Aka Nivana, videos of the Marshall Islands, and Drawdown solutions happening at Penn State. Within his engineering ethics module, there are pre-readings and reflection, group and class discussions, and a creative project. The outcome of this module is to ensure first year engineering students have ethical skills. Students’ ethical choices are essential for society to move forward with climate change issues.