Course Description
Introduces students to a range of theoretical perspectives that inform or underpin current curricular or teaching practices in engineering. This will serve future engineering education practitioners as a theoretical perspective to frame their own practice and future engineering education researchers as theoretical frameworks to inform systematic educational studies.
Athena Title
ENG EDU THEORY
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to: • Describe the main theoretical frameworks that describe human learning and development as they are applied to the engineering education context. • Critically analyze pedagogical approaches in engineering as founded on combinations of elements from these theoretical frameworks. • Understand the role of pedagogical theory in framing empirical inquiries into engineering student learning and development. • Synthesize existing theoretical frameworks, contemporary pedagogical perspectives and existing research into a personal teaching philosophy or into a definition of a personal research interest with a view to defining a dissertation topic in the field.
Topical Outline
1. Constructivism 1.1. Theoretical foundations - John Dewey’s Experience as Education 1.2. Contemporary perspectives of constructivism in engineering education 2. Behaviorism 2.1. Theoretical foundations - Skinner’s The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives 2.2. Contemporary perspectives of behaviorism in engineering education 3. Socio-cultural learning 3.1. Theoretical foundations – Vygotsky’s Mind and Society and the notion of communities of practice 3.2. Contemporary perspectives on socio-cultural learning in engineering education 4. Post-modern, complexity perspectives 4.1. Theoretical foundations ¬– Education and curricula as complex social systems 4.2. Contemporary perspectives on post-modern curriculum theory in engineering education 5. Synthesis of individual understandings of learning theory 5.1. Establishing coherence across a variety of intellectual traditions 5.2. Synthesis of theoretical perspectives into a personal perspective of own teaching practice
Syllabus
Public CV