Collaborative Research: Ethics Education in Life Cycle Design, Engineering, and Management

合作研究：生命周期设计、工程和管理中的伦理教育

• 批准号: 1623870
• 负责人: Kathleen Eggleson
• 金额: $ 2.69万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1623870&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Ethics; Education; Life

In addition to being taught that engineering practice requires assuming liability for the direct performance of one's designs; students must also be trained to consider the ethical dimensions of their indirect obligations and liabilities. The indirect effects of a product, project, or policy can be characterized and quantified using life cycle assessment (LCA), which is a formal modeling method that utilizes a comprehensive "cradle-to-grave" approach to evaluate environmental and social impacts. LCA is in wide use by designers, scientists and engineers, and businesses, primarily for use in product design and management, and is also employed in policy spheres to quantify the systemic impacts of large-scale engineering and technology decisions. While the use of LCA is widespread, the modeling structure and the interpretation of results involve ethical and value judgments that must be navigated carefully both by the analyst and by the receiver of the results. This EESE project centers on the integration of ethical training into life cycle courses and the development of life cycle-based educational materials for general ethics training in engineering and science. Hypothetical and real-world cases are being developed that address a range of life cycle-oriented ethical challenges, with relevance for multiple disciplines. Instructional materials and video footage presenting each case, as well as shorter versions for younger audiences, are also being created and hosted at the Northeastern Ethics Institute as an additional teaching resource. Case studies are being submitted to ethics, engineering, science, policy, and business case study clearinghouses as well as additional dissemination through structured tutorials at national and international conferences. One of these case studies is being converted into a three-hour workshop format at the University of Notre Dame and offered subsequently at one of its HBCU partner institutions.This project aims to achieve broad impacts inside and outside of the classroom. Most importantly, this project directly affects the professional development of students who will carry the insights, perspectives, and behaviors instilled by this ethics training into the workforce, to the ultimate benefit of society. The cases developed address fundamental ethical principles and macroethical issues; they will therefore be of value for ethics education in the engineering classroom even at universities without existing courses in LCA or science policy, including those who have adopted a workshop approach to graduate-level ethics education. Under-represented groups are being included both as participants on the project team and in several case-based ethics workshops. While the full cases are being designed for university students, shorter versions for secondary school students raise awareness of life cycle issues and environmental ethics early in formal STEM education. Ultimately, this project advances ethics education for a diverse range of students in a way that reflects 21st century progress toward sustainable engineering and technology.

除了教导工程实践外，还需要对设计的直接性能承担责任；还必须对学生进行培训，以考虑其间接义务和责任的道德维度。可以使用生命周期评估（LCA）对产品，项目或政策的间接影响进行表征和量化，这是一种正式的建模方法，它利用一种全面的“摇篮到席位”方法来评估环境和社会影响。 LCA主要用于产品设计和管理中的设计师，科学家和工程师以及企业都广泛使用，并且在政策领域也用于量化大型工程和技术决策的系统性影响。尽管LCA的使用广泛，但结果的建模结构和解释涉及伦理和价值判断，分析师和结果的接收者都必须仔细地导航。 该EESE项目集中在将道德培训纳入生命周期课程中，以及基于生命周期的教育材料的发展，用于工程和科学领域的一般道德培训。正在开发假设和现实世界的案例，以解决一系列面向生命周期的伦理挑战，与多个学科有关。在东北伦理研究所创建和托管了介绍每种案例的教学材料和录像带，以及较短的年轻观众版本，作为额外的教学资源。案例研究正在提交伦理，工程，科学，政策和商业案例研究清理房屋，以及通过国家和国际会议的结构化教程进行额外的传播。 这些案例研究之一是在巴黎圣母院的三个小时的研讨会中转换为三个小时的研讨会，并随后在其HBCU合作伙伴机构之一提供。该项目旨在在课堂内外实现广泛的影响。最重要的是，该项目直接影响将培训这种伦理学培训对劳动力灌输的见解，观点和行为的学生的专业发展，从而带来社会的最终好处。这些案件涉及基本的道德原则和宏观伦理问题；因此，即使在没有LCA或科学政策的现有课程的大学中，包括采用研讨会方法来研究生级伦理教育的人，也将对工程课堂中的道德教育具有价值。代表性不足的群体既被纳入项目团队的参与者，也被包括在一些基于案例的道德讲习班中。虽然为大学生设计了完整的案例，但在正规STEM教育的早期，中学生的较短版本提高了对生命周期问题和环境伦理的认识。 最终，该项目以反映21世纪的可持续工程和技术发展的方式为各种学生提供道德教育。