A situated learning ethics instruction model for engineering undergraduate students

Undergraduate ethics instruction in engineering can be broadly divided into two models - disciplinary ethics (integrated within a course) and standalone semester-long ethics course. While both these models have educational value, they insufficiently prepare students in dealing with everyday routine ethical decision making that they might encounter in the workplace. This is because both these models barely consider the organizational or cultural context in their discussions. This study investigates the merits of using cognitive apprenticeship - a situated learning model, to enculturate millennial undergraduate students to everyday workplace ethical decision making. This quasi-experimental study was conducted at a large public Midwestern university. The study participants included a cohort of graduating seniors from the mechanical engineering class, 90% of whom had full/part time relevant work experience. In addition, 55% of them had prior standalone or disciplinary ethics instruction. Despite their work experience and prior ethics instruction, data analysis revealed that there were marked improvements in students´ organizational ethical decision making. The quantitative comparative analysis indicated significant improvements in scenario-based scores between the pre and post tests. The nature and depth of the qualitative responses revealed that students appreciated situated ethics instruction because it informed them on how to deal with everyday ethical decision making in the workplace.