| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
Fiscal Year 1995: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1994: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The project was conducted during the academic years of 1994-1995. Also, from April 1996 to July 1996, the head investigator collaborated with Professor Heinz C.Luegenbeiehl in offering a graduate course on engineering ethics at Kanazawa institute of Technology, During this period, the principal investigator examined the state of engineering ethics education, especiafly that in the U.S., using published literature as well as collecting information via Internet, The following are the main points of the research results :
a) In the U.S., the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) defines the educational objectives of the engineering curriculum at university level. The ABET objectives include the clear understanding of engineering and professional ethics. Thus, the ABET, in a way, requires each engineering program to incorporate engineering and professional ethics components in its curriculum in order to be accredited by the ABET.
b) Therefore, the majority of engineering
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programs in the U.S.conduct engineering and professional ethics education, one way or another.
c) By analyzing syllabi of engineering and professional ethics courses offered in the U.S.engineering programs, which were collected in this project, it has become clear that there are four or five widely-used textbooks on engineering ethics and a certain number of topics are commonly discussed in the textbooks as well as in the courses. These topics include "Engineering and Professionalism, " "Professional Organizations and Codes of Ethics, " "Engineers' Responsibility to the Public, " "Engineers as Employees/The Engineer-Employer Relationships, " "Conflict of interests, " and "Whistle-Blowing."
d) The most common instructional approach in this field is the so-call "Case Method, " in which the student is asked to face ethical dilemmas-some factual and some hypothetical-and to try to solve moral problems as a moral agent.
e) The objective of engineering ethics education is NOT to indoctrinate students with an established set of ethical principals, rather it is to cultivate "moral autonomy" as a professional in each student.
f) In contrast with the U.S., engineering ethics education has found almost no space in the Japanese higher education. Accordingly, there has been increased recognition in the needs of such education in Japan. However, in order to implement engineering ethics education, it seems necessary to collect and develop engineering ethics cases which are unique to the Japanese context, instead of importing the American way of engineering ethics directly. Less
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