An exploration of the effectiveness of Product Archeology in an undergraduate engineering curriculum: What can a Five-Hour curriculum do?

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Terk

This paper embeds a product archeology-inspired curriculum into two Penn State engineering courses and evaluates how it affects student understanding of global, societal, environmental, and economic (GSEE) implications of engineering design. The study uses an established survey instrument to collect student perceptions. Results indicate a significant positive impact compared with other engineering courses, supporting the claim that carefully crafted curricula can substantially improve awareness of broader engineering impacts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Background

| Ad | vances in engineering edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | summer 2013 An exploration of the effectiveness of Product Archeology in an undergraduate engineering Curriculum: What can a Five-Hour Curriculum Do? GÜL E. OKUDAN KREMER TIMOTHY W. SIMPSON AND OMAR M. ASHOUR The Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA ABsTrACT In this paper, we present our efforts in embedding product archeology inspired curricula into two engineering courses along with assessment results. The assessment focuses on the effectiveness of the embedded curricula in enhancing students’ understanding on the global, societal, environmental, and economic (GSEE) implications of engineering design. The results show the significant positive impact of the curricula as perceived by students in comparison to other engineering courses, and thus, is another testament to the fact that carefully crafted curricula can have substantial impact. Key Words: Product archeology, embedded curriculum, engineering design INTrODuCTION Many scholars have written about the rigidity of engineering curriculum being an inhibiting factor to introduce new content or topics. Odds are especially against topics that are considered to be “soft”, i.e., not directly meant to increase the analytical capability of engineering students. Given this setting, it is critical that we find pedagogies that are effective and efficient in particular for non-analytic, yet important and practical topics that foster professional development. In this paper, we present a study of the effectiveness of product archeology as pedagogy to introduce and enhance student awareness of global, societal, economic and environmental (GSEE) issues inan undergraduate engineering curriculum. summer 2013 1 advances in engineering education an exploration of the effectiveness of Product archeology in an undergraduate engineering curriculum: What can a Five-Hour curriculum do? Product archeology is a new pedagogical paradigm that embeds context into product dissection activities. Product dissection has been very successful when used in engineering courses to help anchor the knowledge and practice of engineering in students’ minds; however, most product dissection activities tend to stress form, function, and fabrication, missing opportunities to explore the broader impacts of engineering design decisions. Contextualization brought through product archeology affords opportunities to seamlessly blend the GSEE concepts to student learning in an active, explorative manner. In order to understand the effectiveness of this new pedagogical paradigm, we embedded it in two different courses at Penn State (EDSGN 100 and IE 466) and collected data pertaining to student perceptions using an established survey instrument. One of the courses, Introduction to Engineering Design (EDSGN 100), is a required first year course, while the other, Concurrent Engineering (IE 466), is a senior level technical elective. In this paper, we present an overview of our implementations in these courses along with assessment results. Before proceeding with the overview, we first review the relevant literature. BACKGrOuND Contemporary issues induced by globalization, economic turmoil, environmental resource limitations are impacting the way we live in all corners of the world, and hence, more than ever before, engineers are required to have a much broader perspective of their profession. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) has tried to address this in the “a-k outcomes” that are now part of EC 2000 (ABET, 1999) . However, as departments undergo their second wave of accreditation reviews under the new criteria, many are still struggling to satisfy Outcome h, namely,“The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal context.” For instance, at Trinity College, a

FAQs

What is product archeology, according to the paper?

Product archeology embeds context into product dissection activities so students can explore broader impacts of engineering design decisions beyond form, function, and fabrication.

Which courses were used to implement the embedded curriculum?

The curriculum was embedded in two Penn State courses: EDSGN 100 (Introduction to Engineering Design) and IE 466 (Concurrent Engineering).

How was effectiveness assessed and what were the results?

Effectiveness was measured using an established survey instrument focused on students’ perceptions of GSEE implications. The results show a significant positive impact compared with other engineering courses.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Terk