INTERRUPTED CASE METHOD FOR TEACHING ETHICS IN TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING AND SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT COURSE

摘要

The objective of this paper is to apply the Interrupted Case Method for Teaching Ethics to undergraduate Students in Transportation Engineering and Systems Management course. A Transportation Engineering Systems and Management course was taught in fall 2005 using a traditional lecture method. This course was used as the control group. In fall 2010 an experimental group was taught with an ethics component that counted for 15% of the grade. Performance of the control group was compared with that of the experimental (ethics) group. The average course grades for the control group and the experimental groups were 63% and 75% respectively. The course grades for the experimental group were 19% higher than those of the control group. In this study the value of teaching ethics is documented. The improvements in grade and personal survey results indicate that this class provided the students with 1) valuable insight into the ethical problems they will encounter as professionals and 2) a framework for making ethical decisions. The "Interrupted Case Method" represents much of the work conducted in engineering practice by encouraging students to refine their thoughts and processes as additional data is received. Twelve case studies involving problems that are commonly faced in engineering practice were taught in the course. The students received the data in four steps, one steps every three weeks. This "interrupted case method" gave the students opportunities to increase their ability to integrate material across many fields by 33%, critical thinking skills by 29%, and the ability to see alternative approaches by 27%.