The Engineering and Science Issues Test (ESIT): a discipline-specific approach to assessing moral judgment.
To assess ethics pedagogy in science and engineering, we developed a new tool called the Engineering and Science Issues Test (ESIT). ESIT measures moral judgment in a manner similar to the Defining Issues Test, second edition, but is built around technical dilemmas in science and engineering. We used a quasi-experimental approach with pre- and post-tests, and we compared the results to those of a control group with no overt ethics instruction. Our findings are that several (but not all) stand-alone classes showed a significant improvement compared to the control group when the metric includes multiple stages of moral development. We also found that the written test had a higher response rate and sensitivity to pedagogy than the electronic version. We do not find significant differences on pre-test scores with respect to age, education level, gender or political leanings, but we do on whether subjects were native English speakers. We did not find significant differences on pre-test scores based on whether subjects had previous ethics instruction; this could suggest a lack of a long-term effect from the instruction.
Borenstein
Jason
J
School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 685 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA 30332-0345, USA. borenstein@gatech.edu
Drake
Matthew J
MJ
Kirkman
Robert
R
Swann
Julie L
JL
D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004738:Engineering / Q000193:education / Q000941:ethics; D004995:Ethics, Professional / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D028662:Principle-Based Ethics; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000941:ethics; D012586:Science / Q000193:education / Q000941:ethics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity