Teaching Engineering Ethics: Assessment of Its Influence on Moral Reasoning Skills

As a result of increased concerns regarding ethical issues in engineering, this project assessed the influence on moral reasoning skills of teaching students a course specifically addressing the ethical and social issues in engineering. The Defining Issues Test (DIT), which is based on cognitive moral development theory, was used as the instrument of assessment. Students were pretested, taught a course on engineering ethics, and posttested at the end of the semester. In the Fall of 1995, a total of 301 students participated in the study with 162 students completing the DIT at both the pretest and posttest. In the Spring of 1996, a total of 263 students participated in the study with 155 students completing the DIT at both the pretest and posttest. Analysis of the data revealed a statistically significant increase in the moral reasoning skills of the students for both semesters. Statistical analysis revealed a significant correlation between the change in moral reasoning scores and age in the Spring semester with younger students showing more change but not in the Fall semester. There was no significant relationship between the moral reasoning scores and gender at either the pretest or the posttest, nor in the rate of change by gender. This study demonstrates that the teaching of ethics in engineering can be rigorously measured, tested and analyzed and that it can have a significant positive influence on the moral reasoning skills of the students. However, these findings need to be replicated by other studies in different settings.