Engineering Faculty Attitudes to General Chemistry Courses in Engineering Curricula

Abstract

Although core chemistry and physics courses in engineering curricula are prescribed by professional and accrediting bodies in engineering, factors such as curriculum crowding and time constraints frequently bring into question the role or relevance of chemistry. A survey was undertaken to assess the attitudes of engineering faculty to chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The results for chemistry confirm that, generally, chemistry is perceived as a relevant core course in engineering curricula. However, variations in the attitudes exist on a departmental and regional basis. Respondents from civil and environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial engineering, and electrical–electronics engineering consider it relevant but respondents from electrical and computer and computer engineering departments do not. Regionally, North American respondents rate it as relevant but the United Kingdom and, to a lesser extent, European faculty consider chemistry as hardly relevant. The article presents an analysis of attitudes towards chemistry in general and to individual topics in particular and tries to suggest reasons for the variations in departmental and regional attitudes.