Process and Chemical Engineering - Conference Items
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Item The power of positive acting: Reflecting on the need for authentically positive actions and seeds of hope in educating for sustainability(2023-06) Byrne, Edmond P.Most of the narratives, metrics and directions around sustainability and our unsustainable societies are negative. These include those around the climate crisis; catastrophic biodiversity and habitat loss; energy, water and material shortages amid ever increasing consumerist drivers; ocean acidification; growing levels of socio-economic inequality; degrading social infrastructure; increasing wealth accumulation, greed, social atomization and social isolation, and lack of institutional trust. While these all call out the issues as they present, they paint a rather depressing picture and prognosis, with little motivational value for change. On the other hand, overly positive narratives based on techno-optimistic futures, and the power of the markets (or the right app!) to solve the world’s problems are problematic, and open to charges of being inauthentic, hubristic short-termist and/or self-serving. Such narratives often ultimately serve to either mask the magnitude of the problem(s) and/or add to them. Thus while negative trends are more likely to precipitate a collective sense of helplessness and hopelessness than lead to transformative change, genuine positive wins can be inspirational, even if at small scales, as they can serve to highlight the potential for positive change. This paper considers the levels of engagement, reflection, insights, reactions and motivation for change by engineering students when asked as part of an assignment on a sustainability module to identify and reflect upon an authentically positive initiative or development, however small, which can assist in pointing towards the necessary transformational change to a sustainable society.Item Challenging energy engineering undergraduates with diverse perspectives on nuclear power(University College Cork, 2021-06-14) Rogan, Fionn; Daly, Hannah E.; Deane, Paul; Glynn, James; Leahy, Paul G.; Byrne, Edmond P.As part of an introductory energy engineering undergraduate module at University College Cork, student presentations on a zero-carbon energy plan for Ireland have shown a high preference for nuclear energy, despite a complete absence of nuclear energy from the same module curriculum. Nuclear power has never been built or generated in Ireland, is currently illegal, and faces high levels of public opposition. The origins of a high preference for nuclear energy among undergraduate student engineers is therefore unclear. In response to this high preference for, but critically unengaged view of nuclear power, the authors developed a participatory learning activity for first year undergraduate engineering students to engage with a range of maximally different perspectives on nuclear power. Four different perspectives on whether Ireland needs nuclear power were presented to this year’s class: definitely yes; definitely no; maybe yes; maybe no. These perspectives involved a number of different framings of nuclear power and ranged across a spectrum from techno-economic to socio-technical. They emphasised to a greater or lesser degree issues around risk, cost, system impacts, timing, social acceptability, and sustainability. The activity took place in a room divided into four quadrants with each quadrant representing one of the four different perspectives on nuclear power. At the start of activity, students were invited to go to the quadrant that best represented their initial views. Each perspective on nuclear power was then delivered in a short expert presentation by one of the co- authors. Throughout these presentations, students were invited to remain in or move from their quadrant as they were persuaded or not by the arguments advanced. At the start of the activity, an overwhelming majority (96%) of the students indicated a yes preference with the majority of these being maybe yes (79%); at the end of the debate the total yes share had significantly decreased (to 54%), with the largest share of the lost vote moving to the maybe no category which finished at 36% (having started at 0%). Overall, there was a greater distribution of students across all four categories than at the start. Evaluations on the activity format were largely positive. Student reasons for changing their views were mostly socio-technical points specific to Ireland that included the electricity system, overall energy needs, costs and expert availability. Closing reflections introduced the idea of a wicked problem and highlighted the importance of values to questions such as “Should Ireland Go Nuclear”, i.e. avoiding an exclusively narrow scientific framing.Item Approximating professional practice in a first-year engineering curriculum: The Wind Turbine Maker Project(University College Cork, 2021-06-14) Leahy, Paul G.; McGookin, Connor; Daly, Hannah E.In 2020, the Energy Engineering programme team at University College Cork undertook a redesign of the introductory first-year module in Energy Engineering. The aim was to introduce a more experientially-based learning experience and to allow first-year students greater opportunity to develop and demonstrate performance-based understanding. The key material change to the module was to incorporate design and group work in the first year of the programme. In the Wind Turbine Maker Challenge, groups of 4-5 students were tasked with designing and building a working wind turbine. Students were provided with kits comprising some basic elements of turbines including small generators and gearboxes and simple, flat blades. However, the focus of the exercise was on original design, particularly of the aerodynamic rotor components of the turbines. The participants had to source their own materials for the wind turbine rotors, and were encouraged to use recovered or recycled materials. Students were also asked to consider ethical aspects of wind energy generation. In developing this approach, the conceptualisation of teaching as setting up and facilitating students' performance was to the forefront. The formal classroom instruction was limited to only the core knowledge required to enable students to begin to consider suitable materials, geometries for their turbine designs through hands-on experimentation. Survey feedback from students showed that they had strongly focussed on the environmental and sustainability aspects of the exercise. Students were asked what they thought the goal of the exercise was. Students’ reported understandings of the main goal varied widely, for example “Learning how wind turbines work” and “Working as a team towards a common goal”. However, all of the students’ reported goals were compatible with the module’s learning outcomes.Item EESD2021: 10th Engineering Education for Sustainable Development Conference, 'Building Flourishing Communities', Programme Handbook(University College Cork, 2021-06-14) Byrne, Edmond P.Item Educating chemical engineers for contemporary challenges: the value of context, connection and collaboration(2017-12) Byrne, Edmond P.