The Logic of "Engineering Ethics" Module in Master of Engineering Education

Abstract

Since China joined the Washington Accord, engineering ethics has become an indispensable part of engineering education. However, the course of "engineering ethics" is a new subject for today’s engineers in China. Every teacher would face questions concerning the connection between engineering and ethics, the teaching objectives of the course, and the applicability of the current teaching methods in the engineering and ethics courses. By participating in engineering activities on-site and interviewing engineers and scientists to understand engineering, we have looked for answers for the above questions over the last 20 years’ teaching and innovated teaching methods, and tried to find basic logic for the course for better outcomes. The engineering ethics module for masters of engineering includes four sub-systems: ethical value,engineering thinking, teaching objectives and teaching methods. This article illuminates their functions and connections and analyzes the logic of engineering ethics courses.