Ethics in engineering education: A literature review

Abstract

Engineering Ethics is an important topic to be developed in engineering education curriculum. Despite its importance, ethics is not much investigated in engineering education as compared to other disciplines, in particular medicine or biology education. In this paper, a comprehensive review of engineering ethics is provided. The review covers three main topics: 1) Attributes of ethical engineers, 2) Content, logistics and pedagogy of engineering ethics, and 3) Assessment of engineering ethics. A particular focus is given to the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and the Engineering and Science Issues Test (ESIT) that is considered a promising instrument to assess moral judgment development of science and engineering students. Final remarks will conclude the paper. © 2013 IEEE.