While graduates must be effective critical thinkers, they must do more than just think critically for its own sake. College coursework should encourage collaboration and invite the kind of sophisticated, cross-disciplinary, flexible perspectives necessary in the workplace. (MM)

In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) updated its Code of Ethics to include specific statements on sustainable development and at about the same time, 1994, ASCE adopted its Policy 418 on sustainable development. Sustainable development as defined by ASCE "is the challenge of meeting human needs for natural resources, industrial…

The aim of this paper is to report on a three-year follow-up evaluation of an experimental problem-based learning (PBL) integrated curriculum directed to second-year engineering students. The PBL curriculum brought together the contents of physics, mathematics and computer science courses into a single course. Instead of the students having to…

In recognition of the fact that science centers and other informal educational institutions can play a role in the reform of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, several major research and professional programs are currently underway. This article discusses one such effort, the Center for Informal Learning and…

Dual degree programmes are becoming increasingly common at universities, especially in the USA. A dual degree programme at the University of Arizona now includes the additional and systematic study of the critical field of entrepreneurship by students studying for dual degree qualifications in business and science or engineering. All participants…

For the past year we have been developing and implementing a program in which students design and construct remote operated vehicles. In this paper, we report on a pilot study that occurred over the course of an academic year in an inner city high school. Specifically, we have been investigating whether students learn meaningful science content…

The objective in this paper is the implementation of the highly structured seven-step problem-based learning (PBL) procedure as part of the learning process in a human-computer interaction (HCI) design course at the Technical University of Denmark, taking into account the common learning processes in PBL and the interaction design process. These…

Assessment in engineering disciplines is typically oriented to demonstrating competence in specific tasks. Even where assessments are intended to have a formative component, little priority may be given to feedback. Engineering departments are often criticized, by their students and by external quality reviewers, for paying insufficient attention…

This study examined the perceptions of undergraduate women in male-dominated academic areas. First-year and final-year female undergraduates in a male-dominated academic area (i.e., math, science, or engineering) reported higher levels of discrimination and stereotype threat than women in a female-dominated academic area (i.e., arts, education,…

The Model Institutions for Excellence (MIE) Grant, funded by the National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, enhanced student pathways into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It achieved these results through 10 years of sustained investment and collaborative leadership. Components of the MIE…

This article addresses Latino population growth in the United States and their participation in higher education, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs. The demographic and educational trends outlined here suggest that although the Latino population will continue to grow very rapidly, the participation in…

The case of Germany is taken as an example of cyclical variation in higher education enrolment in the sciences. This article looks at the causes of this "oscillation," focusing on the cycle of the 1990s and argues that the mechanism underpinning these fluctuations is the cobweb model. This model establishes a recursive loop between…

In this article, the author shares his experience teaching senior-level structural engineering courses at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program. The program is a unique partnership of four universities--Georgia Tech, Savannah State University, Armstrong Atlantic State University, and Georgia Southern…

On average the B.Sc. (Eng.) degree programmes in South Africa universities graduate about 50-60 per cent of the students admitted. Generally, the highest dropout occurs in the first year of registration. This article reviews admission and graduation statistics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and assesses the impact of recent academic…

Purpose: Owing to its complexity, sustainable development cannot be simply integrated as a supplementary course within the engineers' curricula. The first point of this paper aims to focalise on how to reflect pedagogically. After dealing with these questions, a tool that can evaluate the student's understanding of sustainable development concepts…