Conceptions of the nature of engineering held by graduate students in an interdisciplinary research training program

Steven M Kaverman, Purdue University

Abstract

This study examined the views held by graduate students in a research traineeship program regarding the nature of engineering. There is very little literature on the views held by students regarding the nature of engineering. The study sought to extend the work of an earlier study which investigated the conceptions of the nature of engineering held by undergraduate engineers to a graduate student population. The graduate students were part of an interdisciplinary engineering research traineeship program involving a solar economy. The students' conceptions of the nature of engineering generally allied with those expressed by professionals and academics in the literature. However, the students' concepts were less complete. Engineering was seen as a team endeavor to balance the often conflicting needs of the clients, society, and the environment in order to develop a product or solution to the clients' needs through problem solving. Some of the students viewed engineering as a simple application of science, while others saw engineering as a field of knowledge of its own, which interacted with the field of science in mutually beneficial ways

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Bodner, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Philosophy|Engineering|Higher education

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