Exploring the applicability of Tronto's Ethics of Care in First-Year Engineering Education

Abstract

In this article, we examine the different ways in which instructors implement and promote care in their teaching in a first-year foundations of engineering course. Using a case study based on a large engineering program at a research-intensive United States (US) university and informed by Tronto’s ethics of care framework, this article identified innovative actions and behaviours that instructors have used in their classrooms. Through in-depth interviews and class observations with three instructors, we identified behaviours fitting each of Tronto’s four ethical elements, including being attentive to students, taking responsibility for meeting their needs, being competent, and understanding how students are responding to their teaching, by being responsive. For example, being available and in close proximity to the students by walking around the classroom, as well as conducting ‘check-ins,’ are examples of strategies satisfying the attentiveness element. The responsiveness element had the greatest number of distinct strategies identified.  Based on student evaluation data, we were able to show the ways in which students valued these behaviours. This study outlines a comprehensive list of specific teaching behaviours and techniques that engineering educators who want to improve their teaching practices and student outcomes can use to successfully implement care in the classroom.