Sociotechnical curricular approaches for a culture of engagement in engineering: students navigating power and equity

Historically, engineers have been trained to adopt a neutral and apolitical stance, reinforcing a ‘culture of disengagement’ in the field that influences who chooses to pursue engineering. This study examines how first-year engineering students experience a sociotechnical curriculum designed to introduce them to the social, political, and economic dimensions of engineering. Guided by Cech’s culture of disengagement in engineering, the research investigates how students engage in a sociotechnical curricular revision in an introductory engineering course. Using a reflexive thematic analysis, I analyze students’ project proposals, final reports, and post-semester interviews. Findings reveal that students engaged deeply with the curriculum by connecting course themes to their own experiences, interests, and identities. Many reflected on personal bias, real-world inequities, and the limitations of purely technical solutions. Rather than devaluing the social aspects of real-world contexts, students highlighted how equity and power dynamics shaped their project decisions and reflections giving them more insight into how engineering decisions might impact people differently. This work shows that sociotechnical curricula can challenge disengagement by creating space for engineering students, especially those historically excluded from engineering, to bring their perspectives and experiences into a culture of engagement that better reflects the complexity and responsibility of engineering practice.