Blending Sustainable Design, Systems Thinking, and Engineering Science Concepts in an Introductory Engineering Course

摘要

The relatively new James Madison University (JMU) engineering program has been designed based on the Engineer of 2020. To train the Engineer of 2020, the program blends engineering science fundamentals with sustainable engineering design and systems thinking while maintaining the university-wide liberal arts core. This program, which has recently completed its fourth year and graduated its first class, emphasizes problem based learning throughout the curriculum and provides students with hands-on design opportunities during all four academic years. Our goal is to expose students to their future role as global engineers where they will be required apply technology to balance impacts associated with the three pillars of sustainability - economic, environmental, and societal - to create safe and sustainable designs. As our first graduating class became seniors, we recognized that we could improve on the students' ability to discover and understand their identity as the Engineer of 2020. Consequently, we became aware of the need to revamp the introduction to engineering course. While the initial course focused on developing strong analytical skills, creativity, communication, strong sense of professionalism, and versatility - all skills of the Engineer of 20201 - the offering of the course lacked cohesive integration. These prior course iterations were team taught with individual faculty having responsibility for four to six week modules taught simultaneously across all sections, and faculty assigned to teach the course were not consistent from year to year. This paper represents an initial effort at executing an integrated course offering where course topic areas are interwoven throughout course, and faculty instructors are common throughout the entire semester. The new version of the course was taught experimentally to three course sections during the Spring 2012 semester.