Theory, practice and interiority: an extended epistemology for engineering education

ABSTRACT

Engineering education is appropriately concerned with technical problem solving. However, the philosophical tradition has periodically asserted that technical rationality is but one mode of rationality. Informed by experience in both design practice and engineering education the authors agree with Donald Schön that professional artistry is an essential dimension of both engineering practice and teaching. Advertence to this artistry elucidates the scope and limitations of technical rationality. An extended epistemology for grounding professional practices such as engineering and teaching is offered as a valuable resource for the CDIO community. It is argued that this epistemology implies firstly that engineering education must address design artistry, secondly that a reflective element is needed and thirdly that for creative professionals, learning outcomes defined without due consideration of process are educationally misconstrued. Two curriculum examples from the University of Limerick problem and project-based civil engineering programme that address these concerns are offered for consideration.

KEYWORDS:

• Engineering education
• epistemology
• CDIO
• PBL
• reflection

Acknowledgements

The support of the University of Limerick School Of Engineering in carrying out the research on which this paper is based is gratefully acknowledged. The curriculum exemplars featured reflect the sustained educational commitment of Declan Phillips, Michael Quilligan, Terence Ryan and Ross Higgins and of all the technical support staff without which the thinking presented here could not have taken shape. Prof. John Cowan has supported the development of the reflective dimension across our entire programme for 3 years and his unstinting generosity and patience in doing so is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Tom Cosgrove is founding professor of the problem-based programme in Civil Engineering at the University of Limerick. He practised as a structural engineer for 28 years. He is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland and of the Institution of Structural Engineers. As well as his research in structural engineering he is currently pursuing action research on reflective writing in engineering education.

John O’Reilly works in Initial Teacher Education with principal research interests in curriculum development and science education.

ORCID

Thomas Cosgrove http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7141-1913