Kasim Tirmizey

This presentation will provide some thoughts on teaching critical thinking and social justice to engineering students. The presentation will begin with a discussion of the political character of apparently technically-oriented engineering courses. The epistmeological separation between the technological and social reproduces liberal capitalist practices. However, the possibility of teaching engineering students social justice cannot be resolved through one mandatory course that aims to bridge society and technology. Rather, it needs to be integrated across the engineering curriculum.

I further provide reflections from teaching the course “The Impact of Technology on Society,” which is a mandatory course for engineering students at Concordia University in Montreal (Canada). In teaching this course, I have adapted Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy by using activities for getting students to a) uncover experiences from their engineering practice, b) determine patterns from shared experiences, c) reflect upon the social and historical conditions that develop that context, and d) reflect on possible strategies for action to address the issues outlined. I will discuss the limits and possibilities of using Freire’s critical pedagogy for getting engineering students to reflect on oppressive and exploitative structures underpinning their practices of engineering. I will specifically talk about my experiences in designing classes to address how settler colonialism and patriarchy are embedded in dominant engineering practices. I also get students to imagine social justice oriented engineering praxis through the principles of “design justice”.