Version vom 20. Mai 2016, 11:02 Uhr

Science, Engineering and Architecture Education and Social-Ecological Responsibility

- Exchanging Practices which Integrate
Democracy, Ethics, Sustainability, Social Justice and Peace into Teaching

Industry and Nature - A romantic relationship at first sight

International Workshop

at Technische Universität Berlin

05.-07. October 2016

Call for Participation


Overview

A predominant belief in technological progress is held up through technologists as well as a society wishing for easy technological solutions for complex ecological and social problems. This leads to a strong demand for and supply of technological innovations as a remedy for ecological destruction and as a pathway to promote social justice. Therefore a critical transformation towards a democratisation of technology, society and the economy is needed. Taking this into account, the international workshop promotes socially and ecologically responsible science, engineering and architecture education.

The international workshop focuses on the exchange of teaching and learning practices which integrate democracy, ethics, sustainability and peace. In addition, it provides a platform for people active within the education of scientists, engineers and architects for networking and cooperation. Therefore, the workshop itself will be facilitated in an interactive manner which demands active participation.

This international workshop is organized by the open workgroup on social responsibility teaching in science and engineering. This is a network of people who have initiated democracy, ethics, sustainability and peace teaching for science and engineering students at their universities. Four previous meetings of this open workgroup took place in Copenhagen (2005), Hamburg (2008), Delft (2010), Bradford (2012) and a Special Issue on European Perspectives on Teaching Social Responsibility in Science and Engineering was published in Science and Engineering Ethics (2013). Please feel welcome to join the meeting in Berlin this year and get to know those teaching ideas and share yours.

Objectives of the International Workshop

• Exchange of teaching-units, lesson-plans and bachelor/master/PhD-study-programs which cover democracy, ethics, sustainability, social justice and/or peace within science, engineering and architecture education.
• The workshop will be facilitated in a way that every participant is actively involved and has ample space and time to present his_her experiences and ideas to others.
• Participants may contribute to the workshop through an interactive/participatory presentation of their own work experiences. Ideally this will be done through an interplay of short teaching-units and a theoretical overview.
• The contributions will be collected and made available through an online database. The organizers intend to publish an extensive report of this international workshop to spread the outcomes further.
• Explore ways to foster further opportunities to exchange and to cooperate. This may lead to a joint development of teaching approaches, courses, study and research programs as well as joint applications for grants. Moreover, a follow-up workshop could be initiated and planned.

Workshop Theme - Integration of Democracy, Ethics, Sustainability, Social Justice and Peace into Teaching

Topics of the Workshop

The following topics are proposed for the international workshop. For each topic there is a list of examples to give an inspiration what the participants could present themselves.

• Transfer of theories, methods, pedagogies and didactics which promote democracy, ethics, social justice and peace to the educational setting within science, engineering and architecture.
  • Uki Maroshek-Klarman: Betzavta - Together - Pedagogy of Democracy
  • Howard Raiffa - The Art and Science of Negotiation
  • Paulo Freire - Pedagogy of the Oppressed
  • Neil Postman - Teaching as a Subversive Activity

• Student-centered and student-driven course design and lesson design provide the opportunity for students to reflect and work with their peers. In addition, this setup encourages them to co-create their education.
  • CEMUS - Student-initiated and primarily student-run Centre for Environment and Development Studies at Uppsala University
  • Blue Engineering - Engineers with social and ecological responsibility - Student-driven Courses at TU Berlin and TU Hamburg-Harburg
  • Using Student Engagement to Relocate Ethics to the Core of the Engineering Curriculum - Mary E. Sunderland - UC Berkeley
  • Student-Inspired Activities for the Teaching and Learning of Engineering Ethics - Esat Alpay - IC London

• Trans- and interdisciplinary approaches are indispensable when dealing with social-ecological challenges such as hunger, resource depletion, climate change, war&armed conflicts, social inequality and discrimination. This includes collaboration across disciplines. A challenge here is incommensurability and conflicting disciplinary interests. It also includes integrating external stakeholders in the teaching. This can provide new perspectives and further insight into the dynamics of civil society organizations, labour unions and companies. However, collaboration with external actors can also be the cause of conflicts of interests.
  • A National Collaboration Process: Finnish Engineering Education for the Benefit of People and Environment
  • Master’s programme in Techno-Anthropology at Aalborg University
  • Rural Studio at Auburn University - Transdisciplinary, Practical Architecture Course Providing Architecture for an Underserved Population in Alabama
  • Soziologie des Ingenieurberufs - Sociology of the Engineering Profession - Course is held since 1974 at Technische Universität Berlin in Cooperation with a Labour Union
  • CSR-Teaching at University Departments that involves civil society organizations, labour unions and companies

• Case-studies - how can they be developed, identified and used? Case studies not only nourish analytical / academic skills, they can also contribute to what in German is referred to as ‘Bildung’.
  • Special Issue “Ethical Case Studies of Chemistry” of Hyle - the International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry
  • Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science - National Academy of Engineering (USA)
  • Using and Developing Role Plays in Teaching Aimed at Preparing for Social Responsibility
  • NISE Network - Nanoscale Informal Science Education

• Art, music, theatre, opera, dance, lyrics and any other form of artistic expression may help to address issues of democracy, ethics, sustainability, social justice and peace. As the liberal arts quite often take up ecological, social and political discussions, they are supporting interdisciplinary perspective-taking by students of science, engineering and architecture. Furthermore, making art means taking consciously a normative standpoint.
  • Impact! Ethical reflection through art, experience and interaction - Shannon Spruit, Zoë Robaey and Annick Spoelstra - TU Delft
  • The Physicists by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
  • Homo Faber by Max Frisch
  • Engine Installation of Thomas Bayrle at dOCUMENTA (13)
  • Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell
  • The play Copenhagen about the famous conversation between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg

• Utopias, dystopias and science-fiction may help to imagine another world as we know it right now. Thus they may stimulate discussion and transformation of the current use of scientific knowledge, technological artefacts and architectural design.
  • Critical Theory and Science Fiction: A Lens Into Technology in Education - Vivian E. Jackson
  • When all is lost: thrash metal, dystopia, and ecopedagogy - Peter Dawson Buckland - Penn State University
  • Soylent Green by Richard Fleischer
  • Wall-E by Andrew Stanton
  • Playtime by Jacques Tati
  • "Star Trek" in the 1960s: Liberal-Humanism and the Production of Race - Daniel Bernardie

Participation

The number of participants will be limited to 30 as the workshop will be facilitated in a very interactive manner. Everyone will have the opportunity to present their respective activities and discuss them with others. The small number of participants helps, furthermore, to get to know everyone else attending the workshop and this may help to create new networks of people mutually interested in teaching.

The registration fee is 60 Euros and includes three lunches, two dinners and light refreshments. The participants will need to cover their own travel and accommodation costs.

Proposals for Participation

Everyone working within the field of education of scientists, engineers and architects is welcome to submit proposals associated with one of the topics of the international workshop. In the past, the international workshops were attracting mostly people from higher education institutes. However, people who are working in the field of lifelong learning, adult education and transdisciplinary training/education are equally encouraged to send in proposals.

The proposals should include a title, names and affiliations of the contributors and an abstract not longer than 250 words. Links to a homepage/photos/videos/songs/texts and other media might give an impression of your work. Please indicate the minimum time needed, if you want to contribute an interactive teaching unit.

Deadline of submission: 01. June 2016

Please send your proposals to: workshop@blue-engineering.org

As the number of participants is limited to 30 - the organisers might have to make a selection of the contributions. In any case, you will be notified by 15. June 2016.

Online Database and Workshop Report

The organizers would like to set up an online database and to write an extensive report on the workshop. Accordingly, participants might be requested to specify their abstract and to provide additional material if possible. The online database will be launched beforehand. Deadline of final submission of report material: 01. September 2016

Venue

Technische Universität Berlin

Rooms EB 222-224
Straße des 17. Juni 145
10623 Berlin

Germany

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Time

05. October 2016 - 12.00 - 18.00
06. October 2016 - 10.00 - 18.00
07. October 2016 - 10.00 - 14.00

Organizers

Contact the organizers through email: workshop@blue-engineering.org

"André Baier

Study Reform Project Blue Engineering
Chair Machinery System Design
Technische Universität Berlin

Tom Børsen

Department of Development and Planning
Aalborg University

Henk Zandvoort

Section Ethics/Philosophy of Technology
Technische Unversiteit Delft