Engineering ethics is a difficult topic for educators as the most difficult ethical situations that our students will likely face as future engineers will be nuanced and unclear. A simulation of an engineering team resolving a potential safety problem, the 1960 Corvair suspension design, has been created in an effort to create a realistic situation where the ethical difficulties arise from the conflicting demands of engineering teams. A realistic engineering team is created with conflicting goals assigned to students and simulated using commercial role-playing game (RPG) mechanics to recreate realistic interpersonal and engineering skills to create a rich and nuanced ethical environment. The RPG mechanics also allow the instructor to imbalance the simulation towards a desired outcome. The team roles and RPG mechanics will be presented along with options for the instructor to influence the simulation outcome. A class reflective exercise that allows students to process the interactions and to discuss the consequences of the outcomes for real-life engineers and engineering teams will also be presented.
Allen White is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington.
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