Page 22 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

how they can serve society through engineering practice. Engineering
needs to develop iconic images that the public immediately recognize
and respond to in a positive way. Those “icons” should include simple
images of the options for engineering education, their implications for
future career paths, and the image of a person who never stops learning.
This report is intended to begin a dialog about reinventing engi-
neering education, but it makes recommendations that are broader than
the curricular challenges indicated in the Phase I report. In the spirit of
considering engineering education as a system and as part of a system of
systems, consideration is given herein to important factors such as im-
proving the public’s understanding of engineering, its technological lit-
eracy, and K-12 education, which can have an important but indirect
effect on engineering in terms of encouraging secondary school stu-
dents to consider an engineering education and preparing them intel-
lectually so that an engineering education is accessible to them.

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