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FOSTERING SUSTAINABLE MINDSETS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Kamila Kunrath  and
Devarajan Ramanujan
Kamila Kunrath
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, Aarhus University
Devarajan Ramanujan*
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, Aarhus University Interdisciplinary Centre for Climate Change, Aarhus University
*
Ramanujan, Devarajan, Aarhus University, Mechanical and Production Engineering, Denmark, devr@eng.au.dk

Abstract

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Transitioning to a more sustainable society requires that universities produce an increasing number of engineering professionals capable of redesigning current production and consumption systems. This calls for restructuring engineering curricula towards sustainability becoming an integral part of engineering education and professional practice. To this end, this paper investigates the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational aspects of professional identity that contribute to consolidating sustainable mindsets in engineering, considering education as its main route. Specifically, we focus on identifying significant personal and education-related factors that contribute to fostering sustainable decision-making and affect the development of sustainable mindsets in engineering students. In order to identify such factors, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a diverse set of students and professionals (N=12). A thematic analysis of survey transcripts present three main components that support the development of sustainable mindsets throughout engineering education: i) Personal commitment, ii) Learning opportunities, and iii) Internalization time.

Keywords

Design educationSustainabilityDesign cognitionDesign engineering
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 1: ICED21 , August 2021 , pp. 1597 - 1606
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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