Title :
Incorporating feminist pedagogy into the engineering learning experience
Author :
Eschenbach, Elizabeth A. ; Cashman, Eileen M. ; Waller, Alisha A. ; Lord, Susan M.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Environ. Resources Eng., Humboldt State Univ., Berlin
Abstract :
A framework is presented for implementing feminist pedagogy along with demonstrative examples from engineering curricula. The framework for incorporating the values of feminism into the learning experience focuses on three aspects: 1) learning management strategies, 2) assessment and evaluation strategies and 3) strategies for critiquing existing power structures and the engineering process. Feminist pedagogy strategies suggested by others include cooperative learning, providing students a voice in classroom management decisions, structuring student interactions to facilitate all students´ participation, having students participate in designing evaluation rubrics and assigning projects that require more than technical skills. A unique feature which feminist pedagogy offers to engineering education is the critique of power structures in relation to the engineering process. For example, the following questions can be addressed: (a) How are engineering processes influenced by the historical frameworks of their development?; (b) How are decisions made?; (c) Who makes decisions?; (d) Who benefits from the decisions?; and (e) What values do they reflect?
Keywords :
educational courses; engineering education; gender issues; classroom management decisions; cooperative learning; engineering curricula; engineering education; engineering learning experience; feminism; feminist pedagogy; learning management strategies; Energy management; Engineering education; Engineering management; Power engineering and energy; Problem-solving; Project management; Feminist Pedagogy; Innovative Curricular Approaches;
Conference_Titel :
Frontiers in Education, 2005. FIE '05. Proceedings 35th Annual Conference
Conference_Location :
Indianopolis, IN
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9077-6
DOI :
10.1109/FIE.2005.1612156