Being a responsible engineer: embedding pedagogies for deep learning in higher education

Modernity is characterized by complexity and uncertainties. In turn, this entails that normative disputes are in place when attempting to define and respond to modern challenges, such as climate change. This means that the descriptive and normative should be more integrated. Therefore, this project looks at life science education aiming to bridge the gap between ethics and technical knowledge in the most pressing wicked problem of our time. The research objective is to provide a normatively nuanced and pedagogically innovative approach to teaching climate change ethics in higher technical education. This study aims to provide a holistic overview, focusing on four levels: the conceptual, the institutional, the practical, and the personal. These four different fields of inquiry move from theoretical to practical in their focus and from institutional to personal in their level of applicability. Methodologically, different levels of abstraction fit different methodologies, so this project will have a strong leaning on data-triangulation, focusing on content analysis, focus-groups, interviews and ethnography. The different foci culminate in the following research question: which foci and applications of normative theory should form the didactical basis of ethics in climate change education? The sub-questions following the objectives are, respectively: 1) what should be the normative focus of life science education regarding climate change? 2) where is the line between normativity and prescriptiveness in climate-change ethics education? 3) which didactical strategies are best suited for integrating ethics in climate change education? 4) how does students’ experience of climate change education influence the way in which they understand climate change normatively?