A model for integrating first-year composition courses with engineering curriculum

Abstract

This paper describes the development, pilot offering, and initial assessment of a first-year composition course, Essentials of College Rhetoric, specifically designed to provide students entering engineering programs at Texas Tech University with the critical reading and writing skills and rhetorical strategies traditionally taught in first-year composition. However, this course differs from traditional composition courses in that it shares curriculum and assignments with the introductory electrical engineering course, Introduction to Engineering and Computer Programming, and not only underscores the role of engineers as writers in the workplace by teaching documentation conventions common to engineering practice, but also requires students to think and write critically about ethical, political, and other issues that shape the role of engineering in our culture.

Critical Thinking In Engineering And Technology Education: A Review

“…The other major theme to emerge from the literature on reflective writing in engineering and technology education was the use of writing as an explicit tool either to illustrate elements of the design process, or to aid in the process of understanding, articulating, and making critical judgments about a problem to be solved [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22].…”

“…Some of these articles describe the explicit linking of the material in an engineering or technology class with the material in a separate writing-or humanities-oriented course [17,[20][21][22]. Such paired courses, typically geared toward freshmen or sophomores, are designed to help students understand that the cognitive processes involved in structuring a well-reasoned written argument are precisely those used to understand complex problems and work toward a solution.…”

“…Such paired courses, typically geared toward freshmen or sophomores, are designed to help students understand that the cognitive processes involved in structuring a well-reasoned written argument are precisely those used to understand complex problems and work toward a solution. For example, at Texas Tech University, a firstyear composition course designed for freshman engineers shares curriculum and assignments with the introductory electrical engineering course, Introduction to Engineering and Computer Programming [20,21]. Students are assigned readings from books about contemporary issues in Electrical and Computer Engineering.…”

Innovation in linking and thinking: Critical thinking and writing skills of first-year engineering students in a learning community

“…Several universities are exploring ways of knowing that engineers engage in [11][12][13][14][15][16] as well as ways of learning [5,16,17], which help us think about processing and its relationship to critical thinking. There have been studies done in writing and critical thinking [18][19][20][21] and the close pairing of courses in learning communities [5,9,15,17,[22][23][24]. The work that has been done in the engineering context with writing has included current theories of writing to learn [5,6,17,23], as well as the importance of informal writing such as journal writing [5,8,25,26].…”

“…Studies have been done on writing across the curriculum and writing in disciplines [4][5][6][7][8][9] including the role of Writing Centers [10]. Several universities are exploring ways of knowing that engineers engage in [11][12][13][14][15][16] as well as ways of learning [5,16,17], which help us think about processing and its relationship to critical thinking.…”