Teaching engineering habits of mind: an employability strategy that involves changing educators' habits of mind

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Abstract

An education system that cultivates a sufficient number of employable engineers seems to be hard to achieve. However, it has been demonstrated that education that focuses on developing habits of mind, such as perseverance and curiosity, has great potential for enhancing an individual’s success in the labour market in the longer term. Therefore it is important to understand how best to incorporate these dispositions, often unhelpfully called ‘softer’ skills, into the STEM curriculum. Having identified six Engineering Habits of Mind (EHoM) for Royal Academy of Engineering in earlier research, in this paper we explore the pedagogies underpinning the cultivation of these EHoM in the classroom. We outline initial findings from a project where we have been collaborating with teachers in primary, secondary and further education contexts using an action research methodology to support them in embedding the teaching of EHoM into science, mathematics, design & technology and engineering curricula. This paper explores four specific pedagogic strategies that have emerged to cultivate EHoM and discusses ways in which their use might have an impact on the role of educators.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSixth International Symposium of Engineering Education (ISEE 2016)
Subtitle of host publication14-15 July 2016
EditorsPlaton Kapranos
Place of PublicationManchester
Pages157-164
Number of pages8
Publication statusPublished - 2016
EventSixth International Symposium of Engineering Education - University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Duration: 14 Jul 201615 Jul 2016
Conference number: Sixth
http://isee2016.group.shef.ac.uk/proceedings.html

Conference

ConferenceSixth International Symposium of Engineering Education
Abbreviated titleISEE 2016
CountryUnited Kingdom
CitySheffield
Period14/07/1615/07/16
Internet address

Keywords

  • Engineering habits of mind
  • Engineering education
  • Pedagogy
  • Employability

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