Integrating a Biblical Narrative into a First-Year Engineering Design Project

This paper describes the integration of a biblical narrative (Genesis 42) into a first-year engineering design project. Students designed, built, and tested robotic vehicles that mirrored the journey of Joseph’s brothers from Canaan to Egypt to obtain food in Genesis 42. The vehicles had to carry “Simeon” (a figurine) from “Canaan” to “Egypt” (across the room). Then, the vehicle needed to carry a bag of grain back to “Canaan.” The narrative added context to the project and provided students an opportunity to interact with scripture. Student survey results suggest that students enjoyed the hands-on nature of the project and observed how a Christian worldview was incorporated throughout the project; the survey also showed that the biblical narrative minimally affected how students approached their engineering designs. Finally, the survey showed that the project (combined with other elements of the course) created an environment of reintegration of faith and learning. Future iterations of the project will attempt to deepen this reintegration by more explicitly connecting the biblical narrative with the project’s engineering context.