Writing, critical thinking, and engineering curricula

Writing-across-the-curriculum and critical thinking approaches have gained favor in higher education. However, while these movements have sprouted and grown roots in colleges of arts and science across the country, they have found the ground less fertile in colleges of engineering. These movements certainly influenced changes in the philosophy and approach to the accreditation of engineering programs, manifest in ABET Engineering Criteria 2000. Several ABET program outcomes are difficult to achieve using traditional approaches to engineering education. For example, it seems particularly difficult to show that graduate engineers will have the broad education necessary to understand the impact of civil engineering solutions in a global and societal context, and knowledge of contemporary issues as they relate to engineering problems. We believe that there is much to be gained from broader application of the philosophies and techniques of these movements to the education of engineers. This paper presents examples of assignments that promote these goals.