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In this presentation, we explore the lessons learned from two courses entitled “War, Machine, Culture, and Society: History and Engineering in the Second World War,” which integrate engineering problem-solving within a World War II history course. This comes as part of a larger project to bring the humanities and engineering into deeper conversation with one another. For this project, we are especially interested in the aspect of teaching aspect of such a course, wherein an engineering professor and humanities professor “share the stage” in a classroom, especially given that STEM disciplines and humanities disciplines present and value different kinds of knowledge. Frome a framework of “epistemological identity,” we use classroom observations, focus group data, and analysis of syllabi to probe into the ways that instructors from radically different disciplines develop coursework together and navigate the classroom space. For this WIP, we are currently engaged in the data collection and analysis phase, and anticipate being finished by the end of the semester. We believe this work has important implications as we see more work calling for inter/transdisciplinary considerations in engineering, the development of greater social and emotional skills for engineers, and various iterations of STEM plus the arts and humanities. As these movements continue to gain momentum, we will need to better understand how to better integrate various disciplines into engineering; this project will discuss difficulties and successes from practitioners doing this work, considering especially the ways that knowledge is constructed, conveyed, and valued by practitioners in the classroom. 

There have recently been calls for post-secondary engineering programs to develop more well-rounded engineers who are more capable of understanding and empathizing with clients, as well engage in stronger ethical decision-making. In this study, we examine the efficacy of a hybrid humanities-engineering course in developing the empathetic performativity of engineering students taught at two universities. We use a discourse analysis methodology to examine the language in student assignments over the trajectory of this course, looking for instances where engineering students position themselves empathetically within their work. Based on our analysis, we see small gains in the empathetic performances of engineering students in this context, however, these findings are nuanced and require qualification. Keywords: Discourse Analysis, Humanities-Driven STEM, Empathy 

Abstract Background This paper explores the epistemologies and discourse of undergraduate students at the transdisciplinary intersection of engineering and the arts. Our research questions focus on the kinds of knowledge that students value, use, and identify within an interdisciplinary digital media program, as well as how they talk about using these epistemologies while navigating this transdisciplinary intersection. Six interviews were conducted with students pursuing a semester-long senior capstone project in the digital culture undergraduate degree program in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering at Arizona State University that emphasizes the intersection between arts, media, and engineering. Results Using deductive coding followed by discourse analysis, a variety of student epistemologies including positivism, constructionism, and pragmatism were observed. “Border epistemologies” are introduced as a way to think and/or construct knowledge with differing value across disciplines. Further, discourse analysis highlighted students’ identifications with being either an artist or an engineer and revealed linguistic choice in how students use knowledge and problem-solve in these situations. Conclusions Students in a digital media program use fluid, changing epistemological viewpoints when working on their projects, partly driven by orientations with arts and/or engineering. The findings from this study can lead to implications for the design and teaching of transdisciplinary capstones in the future. 

This work in progress explores the epistemologies and discourse used by undergraduate students at the transdisciplinary intersection of engineering and the arts. Our research questions are focused on the kinds of knowledge that students value, use, and identify within the context of an interdisciplinary digital media program, and exploring how their language reflects this. Our theoretical framework for analyzing epistemology draws upon qualitative work in STEM epistemology, domain specificity, and epistemological camps. Further, to analyze the language used by participants, we employ the use of discourse analysis as the study of language-in-use. Six interviews were conducted with students pursuing a semester-long senior capstone project in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering undergraduate degree program at Arizona State University. Preliminary findings show that students showcase a variety of epistemologies including positivism, constructivism, and pragmatism while engaged in their studies. “Border epistemologies” are introduced as a way to think and/or construct knowledge that may receive different value from discipline to discipline. Future research aims to synergistically combine these two methods of epistemological and discourse analysis to understand more deeply knowledge generation and utilization in these transdisciplinary arts and engineering programs.