Investigating Impacts of Socially Engaged Engineering and Design Case Studies in Undergraduate Engineering Courses

Engineering practice needs a sociotechnical skillset that integrates deep technical knowledge with the capacity to navigate complex social, contextual, and environmental dimensions. To address the traditional technocentric bias of undergraduate engineering curricula, the University of Michigan’s Center for Socially Engaged Engineering and Design (C-SED) developed and implemented a series of microhistorical “SEED” case studies. This study utilized a survey of 333 engineering students to investigate participant perceptions regarding the benefits, drawbacks, and skills developed through these educational experiences. Quantitative and qualitative findings demonstrate that a substantial majority of students recognized the real-world relevance of the material, reporting enhanced capabilities in identifying the social impacts of engineering decisions, mapping stakeholder perspectives, and evaluating system trade-offs. While the study revealed a small degree of resistance from students grappling with entrenched expectations of what constitutes “legitimate” engineering knowledge, the overall results demonstrate that integrated, well-supported case studies offer an effective curricular intervention to foster socially engaged engineering competencies across various disciplines.