Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

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caring is regarded as the core or essential value of the profession. Besides, the ethics of
care is often considered as a feminist ethics.
In engineering field, caring seems to be understood in various ways.
a) Care is delivered by designing products that satisfies users’ need
In traditional fields, caring is often depicted as an interpersonal relationship between the
one caring and the one cared for. Helping professions show their care for clients by
directly interacting with clients. The words like “support” “respect” “encourage” “trust”
are often used to describe this interactive process, which suggests that people tend to
establish a strong emotional bond through the caring process. In contrast, in engineering
field, care is given in an indirect way. Literature indicates that engineers first analyse
users’ need (Ma, 2011) and deliver their care by designing product that meets users’
demands. E.g. “The design ought to show due care for persons. It should take into account
its effects on individuals – physically, socially, and psychologically. Technological solutions
should address a real need, [..] while keeping the individual in mind. This should include
an attitude on the part of engineers that recognizes that technology does not exist for its
own sake, but to better the lives of other” (Ermer & Vanderleest, 2002, p.6). “Therefore,
matching the functional, emotional and environmental aspects for the products is
considered during designing rehabilitation training bed. So the products can give more
attentive care and human love, and they also satisfy the users in material and spiritual
aspects” (Ma, 2011). “The system must be able to be installed at the point of care in a way
that delivers the experience under the patient’s control, without compromising the
function or safety of the clinical environment” (Hegarty, Roch, McCabe & McCann, 2009).
b) Care as a guiding principle for engineering design and problem solving
Pantazidou & Nair (1999) argued that the basic steps of engineering design actually
embodied the ethic of care and they attempted to draw analogies between the ethics of
care, the design method and the problem solving method, by mapping the components of
the ethic of care to the design process and problem solving process. Pantazidou & Nair
(1999) believed that both care and engineering emerged as a response to a need and was
oriented towards practice.
c) Care/Caring as an important component in environmental education
Learning the concept of care/caring is particularly emphasized in environmental
engineering education. Hyde& Karney (2001) introduced an ethic of care in environmental
education, where caring had been comprehended in the phrase “environmental
sensitivity,” which could be further explained as “a predisposition to take an interest in
learning about the environment, feeling concern for it, and acting to conserve it, on the
basis of formative experiences”. Zimmerman, Vanasupa, Mihelcic & Zhang (2008)
described the new book they created to teach environmental engineering. The book
incorporated the concept of “Caring” as “the concept of sustainability where economic,
societal, and environmental systems are integrated” and Zimmerman et al (2008) wanted
to “help students adopt the systems perspective of engineering solutions and develop
feelings for the environment and society”. Although teaching care/caring is encouraged to
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011