How would philosophy of engineering help us conducting better classes in engineering disciplines?

摘要

Recently, there have been valuable, creative, and systematic attempts for to identify, define, and work on a philosophical basis and foundation of engineering. Researchers in the area believe that the foundational philosophy (or philosophies) of engineering should not necessarily be the same as the philosophies for sciences. In this important endeavor to search for and identify the philosophical basis for engineering and engineering education, a fundamental premise exists. The assumption is that having a better understanding of the philosophical basis of engineering will help educators to design and deliver classes with pedagogical approaches that result in more effective engineering training. The questions regarding why and how this effort will be useful to engineers and engineering educators need to be discussed, debated, and examined. This paper is an attempt to identify and focus on some of the major issues of such discussions with emphasis on the pedagogical perspectives.