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Biomedical Engineering Education

Biomedical Engineering Education - Poster Session D

Poster E9 - How Engineering Education Can Develop Empathy within Students: A Systematic Literature Review

Friday, October 25, 2024
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM EST
Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G

Introduction:  The field of engineering commonly prioritizes critical thinking and analytical approaches to solving problems over all else, often disregarding human factors. However, this myopic perspective of the engineering design process may conflict with the ability of engineers to develop and express emotional connections with the users and stakeholders of their product or design. As a result, engineers may produce ineffective, flawed designs that fall short of meeting user needs. Scholars and educators alike acknowledge the need for engineering students to develop the skills of fostering interpersonal relations, effective teaming, and empathetic design as early as possible in their education, such as empathy.

Empathy is not explicitly taught, rather it is indirectly fostered through emphasis on communication, teamwork, and interdisciplinary collaborations. This project seeks to investigate the strategies for supporting engineering students in developing empathy and their presence in the engineering education curriculum. The goal of this systematic literature review is to explore the variety of STEM initiatives/programs used to support engineering student’s development of empathy in post-secondary education. The focus of this review is answering the research questions: (1) What strategies are most effective at developing empathy in undergraduate engineering students. (2) What obstacles prevent the implementation of the strategies into post-secondary engineering curricula on a larger scale?

Materials and

Methods:  The general protocol in collecting articles for this systematic literature review was the PRISMA flow diagram. The selection procedure for studies to review began by developing a concise and justifiable set of inclusion and exclusion criteria and key search terms that reflected the most essential qualities that studies must address: “Empathy,” “Engineering Education,” “Empathetic Design,” “Interpersonal Teaming,” “Project Learning,” and “Empathy by Major.” The key search terms were entered into three separate, well-known databases and filtered through the following process: 1,486 articles were identified purely by the key search terms, 895 duplicates were removed, 326 studies were filtered out for incompatibility with established inclusion and exclusion criteria, 223 articles were screened and eliminated due to failing to relevantly address empathy in engineering education. Ultimately 42 articles were included in this systematic literature review. These articles were then compiled into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and categorized by research method, population description, framework, questions, identity focus, and conclusions. Additionally, the articles were sorted based on the principles of empathy articulated by Batson and colleagues. Daniel Batson’s eight principles of empathy were employed as standard criteria to sort and compare the various empathy scales used in studies. Each article was read, reviewed, and evaluated for wholistic compatibility with these eight principles to determine the effectiveness of program participation in influencing engineering student empathy.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Multiple rounds of categorization led to the following results. First, ethics courses, institutional clubs, volunteering, and social learning projects engage STEM students in building empathetic design practices. These four methods also contributed to engineering students developing multicultural understanding, fostering collaboration amongst teams, and experiencing interpersonal dynamic growth. Second, after comparing the methodological approach in the reviewed studies, it was determined that social projects, particularly Community-Based Learning (CBL) programs, provide the most effective platform for students to develop empathy in engineering.

When comparing pre/post reflections and quantitative empathy scales from CBL participants by engineering major and gender, findings overwhelmingly reflected positive participant outlook post-CBL program. By evaluating the quality of CBL implementation, an empirical understanding of how CBL can engage student empathy was obtained. Findings indicate engineering design programs implemented in communities near the primary research site or institution led to stronger empathetic decision-making in the design process and bolstered interpersonal communication skills within student populations. Based on this finding, the remainder of the discussion focuses on 11 of the 42 articles reviewed that pertained to undergraduate-level CBL programs. Therefore, regarding RQ1, we conclude that studies of CBL participation frequently exhibited greater evidence of empathy development in accordance with Batson’s eight principles.

Regarding RQ #2, multiple factors emerged that explain why CBL is not widely implemented into engineering departments such as: curriculum revision (e.g. altering current curricula, credit content, faculty/staff, etc.), availability of relevant community organizations (e.g. institutions may not have connections to organizations with which to partner), and a lack of mutual interest (e.g. organizations may have no desire to partner with institutions). Additionally, literature is lacking in identifying best practices for implementation of CBL programs. While the literature considers why CBL programs are not widely used, little research suggests detailed instructions for how these programs can be embedded into departments. Overall, the results/outcomes of this literature review exhibit the effectiveness of CBL participation in developing empathy in engineering students. Future works should address best practices for adopting or building institutional support for the use of CBL on a widespread scale in engineering education.

Acknowledgements (Optional):  I sincerely thank the outstanding members of the Cross Inclusive Excellence research group for their immense support.