Making Social Justice Central to Construction Engineering: Testing Interventions for Educating Reflexive Engineers

Abstract

Recently published professional learning outcomes require future engineers to think of the impacts that engineering decisions have on society. History shows that construction and civil engineering projects can exacerbate inequality by ignoring community concerns and failing to consider the impacts on marginalized and vulnerable stakeholders, among other factors. How might construction engineering professors help students meet these standards, and how do construction and civil engineering students respond when construction engineering is framed as inextricably linked to these obligations? We designed and evaluated curriculum modules aimed at helping develop a critical consciousness with construction and civil engineering students (N=177) in three construction and civil engineering courses at two universities in the midwestern region between 2020 and 2021. The curriculum builds on a three-phase framework aimed at encouraging students to see social inequities and their impacts, finding social inequities unjust, and enhancing reflective self-awareness. Post-implementation responses to the case study designed to make clear the need for a critical consciousness in engineering found that students responded positively to both the instructional approach of a case study and the content connected to critical consciousness. We discuss implications for the development of further curriculum and the implementation of such an approach.