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Sustainability tools should be taught to civil engineers to make the most sustainable engineering decisions in projects. This study is conducted mainly to compare the application of the sustainability approach in civil engineering education in Iran and some developed countries. In this study, the investigated factors are measured using the comparative-descriptive method. In this regard, the importance of sustainability education is discussed in addition to examining the views of domestic and foreign professional organizations. Besides, some solutions for sustainability education in civil engineering are provided by describing sustainability education topics in some world-class universities and comparing them with the approved civil engineering education program in Iran. Studies show that the educational programs of the country's higher education centres can be revised in some aspects to teach sustainability concepts. Sustainability concepts should be taught operationally by modifying and updating teaching methods and connecting students with industry and knowledge-based companies. In this way, students will get the necessary preparation to apply these concepts in the design, construction, and operation of civil infrastructure after passing the relevant courses. The quality of teaching sustainability tools and concepts can be improved by using interactive and encouraging approaches and group activities of civil students and engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global challenges regarding climate changes, food and energy resources security, poverty and human rights have received serious attention in the recent years. The solutions provided by policy-makers and researchers have clearly not been able to be effective on a global scale. For instance, nearly one-third of the world's population do not have enough access to safe drinking water, the devastating effects of global warming pose threats to environment and people's health and relative poverty and conflicts have spread in many parts of the world. These situations alert global and futuristic perspectives to the sustainable development. Since the concept of sustainability is inherently complex with interdisciplinary nature including economic, environmental and social aspects, it requires sustainable development education in all fields of university study, especially for engineering students. By describing the characteristics of sustainable engineering education and a domestic and foreign literature review in this field, this article tries to provide a scheme to include the interdisciplinary aspects of sustainable development in the curriculum of engineering students. In this regard, the subject of an integrated course was proposed and analyzed with emphasis on strengthening the social knowledge of engineers and increasing their ability to find and understand the mutual effects of different aspects of sustainability. It was argued that such a subject could prepare future engineers to confront and find sustainable solutions to the complex challenges of the modern world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education of engineers and other professionals to address the global grand challenge of sustainable food production will require much more than excellent technical skills. New mindsets, human-centered design principles, and collaborative leadership skills will be required to develop leaders who will be successful in addressing the complex political, economic, and societal challenges inherent in sustainable agriculture and food production today. This will require supplementing--not replacing--the technical core of engineering education with new pedagogical models and extracurricular experiences. One such model that has proven effective in this area and has spread to nearly 100 universities globally is the Grand Challenges Scholars Program. This article explains how the complexities of agriculture and food production today can be addressed by future engineering leaders based on this program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss how the theory of complex thinking can be considered an interesting element in engineering education, especially in the context in which challenges toward sustainable development are multidisciplinary. Design/methodology/approach: This viewpoint synthesizes the main reflections and discussions generated during a process of debate, research and creation of a proposal for an undergraduate engineering course at a higher education institution in Brazil. The literature on engineering education, sustainability and complexity was considered in an integrated way. Debates were conducted considering the authors' knowledge and experience as professors of engineering courses and researchers in the field of sustainability. A qualitative and reflexive approach was used to organize the main discussions. Findings: The prevailing classical engineering paradigm trains professionals to think from a Cartesian, reductionist perspective, appropriate for solving well-structured problems with known solution paths and convergent answers. However, addressing sustainability challenges requires a different kind of thinking capable of dealing with situations characterized by uncertainty, emergence and incompleteness of knowledge. Complexity thinking can be useful for this purpose as it provides a broad system approach to deal with ill-defined, ill-structured and unpredictable problems. This study can be understood as a call to researchers and professionals to consider the value and importance of complexity thinking to advance engineering education for sustainability. Originality/value: The need to overcome the limits of the classical engineering paradigm is emphasized in the context of sustainability. Complex thinking is considered as a path toward a paradigm shift in engineering education for sustainability. It can contribute to the training of professionals to face pressing challenges now and in the future. This viewpoint provides some insights to enhance debates on education engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze how a tangram activity improved students' abilities to explain sustainability, articulate a positive perception of sustainable design and relate sustainability with innovation in engineering design. Design/methodology/approach: The concept of paradigm shift was introduced in the classroom by using a tangram activity to help students understand that sustainable design requires out-of-the-box thinking. Instructors from three institutions teaching various levels of sustainability courses to engineering majors used the activity to introduce sustainable design, then measured the understanding and appreciation of the concepts introduced through the tangram activity with pre- and post-activity surveys. Findings: Findings from the study indicate that students' perceptions of sustainability significantly improved due to the activity, without regard to the institution. The activity also significantly improved students understanding of the connection between sustainability and innovation, across all three institutions, across all majors and across all years of study except second-year students. Improving engineering students' views on sustainability may lead, over time, to changes in the industry, in which environmental performance is incorporated into the engineering design process. Originality/value: Active learning approaches are needed for affective-domain learning objectives in the sustainability field for students to learn the necessary attitudes, values and motivations to implement sustainability in engineering design. Simple, easily implemented active learning techniques, such as the tangram activity presented here, can be implemented across the curriculum or to the public to introduce the paradigm shift necessary with sustainable design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the differences in first-year and senior engineering students' engineering agency beliefs and career goals related to sustainable development. The authors also sought to understand how topics related to sustainable development in engineering courses affect senior engineering students' goals to address these issues in their careers. This work provides evidence of how students' agency beliefs may be shaped by higher education, which is essential to workforce development. Design/methodology/approach: Findings stem from two national surveys of engineering first-year (Sustainability and Gender in Engineering, n = 7,709) and senior students (Student Survey about Career Goals, College Experiences, n = 4,605). The authors compared both groups using pairwise testing by class standing. Findings: The results indicate that undergraduate studies tend to reinforce students' engineering agency beliefs to improve their quality of life and preserve the environment. Significantly more senior students selected career goals to address environmental issues compared to first-year students. In general, students undervalue their roles as engineers in addressing issues related to social inequities. Those topics are rarely addressed in engineering courses. Findings from this work suggest discussing sustainability in courses positively impact setting career goals to address such challenges. Research limitations/implications: The study compares results from two distinct surveys, conveyed at different periods. Nonetheless, the sample size and national spread of respondents across US colleges and universities are robust to offer relevant insights on sustainable development in engineering education. Practical implications: Adapting engineering curriculum by ensuring that engineering students are prepared to confront global problems related to sustainable development in their careers will have a positive societal impact. Social implications: This study highlights shortcomings of engineering education in promoting social and economic sustainability as related to the engineering field. Educational programs would benefit from emphasizing the interconnectedness of environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. This approach could increase diversity in engineering education and the industry, and by ripple effect, benefit the communities and local governance. Originality/value: This work is a first step toward understanding how undergraduate experiences impact students' engineering agency beliefs and career goals related to sustainability. It explores potential factors that could increase students' engineering agency and goals to make a change through engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to analyse how the materials selection courses of engineering undergraduate programmes can be better aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach: Initially, a content analysis was performed in 39 materials selection course descriptions from 40 engineering undergraduate programmes of Brazilian higher education institutions, and subsequently, Delphi method procedures were conducted with professors that teach or have taught the course and are knowledgeable in the subject of sustainability. Findings: Considering the analysed course descriptions, it was shown that most of the materials selection courses do not consider or present little emphasis on sustainability aspects. Regarding the Delphi method, eight items were evidenced to consider sustainability aspects in the analysed courses. Originality/value: This study contributes to the debates about sustainability insertion in engineering undergraduate programmes. More specifically, the findings presented consolidated information that professors and coordinators can use to align materials selection courses with the SDGs better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial ecology and sustainability education have evolved over time, as this relatively new discipline has emerged and has been refined. Courses engaging with these topics are often found in engineering departments, and feature project or problem‐based learning (PBL) commonly with an industrial partner. This provides students the opportunity to apply the topics that they have learned in class in a real‐world situation, complete with the constraints and uncertainties inherent in practice. Community‐based learning (CBL), a combination of service learning and PBL, allows students to not only apply the material from a sustainability course, but also to do so in service of a community partner. This work presents an analysis of a multi‐year effort in teaching a CBL course on the topic of industrial ecology and sustainability in a North American context. Knowledge probes are utilized to quantify student preparation for the course and confidence in knowledge gained during the course in a longitudinal manner. Meanwhile, evolving student reflection is utilized to assess the impact of how the CBL element of the course influenced student thinking about the role of sustainability and industrial ecology within engineering education. The findings suggest that applying CBL to industrial ecology education has the potential to further enhance student learning experiences, while also providing a valuable service experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The engineering profession has been highlighted in the context of a growing need for professionals capable of addressing the pressing challenges of sustainability. The purpose of this study is to present innovative experiences in engineering education for sustainable development in Brazil. This research was conducted in three stages: first, innovative initiatives were mapped through document research, literature review, grey literature, and the press; second, 37 academics who created and/or participated in these initiatives were interviewed, including professors, program coordinators, department heads, engineering school directors, and university chancellors; and third, the initiatives were analyzed and discussed with a team of specialists. The initiatives can be categorized into two types: innovative actions, projects, and structures (i.e., isolated actions, institutional projects, and institutional structure) and engineering programs with innovative characteristics (i.e., innovative curricula and pedagogical approaches, and new organizational paradigms to support engineering schools). Key characteristics, conceptual foundations, examples, and contributions to the sustainable development goals are discussed for each type of initiative. Emerging topics related to engineering education for sustainable development were identified and related to real cases. A shift towards a sustainability paradigm in engineering education is dependent on university top management commitment and can be accelerated by integrating initiatives at multiple levels of the university system. [Display omitted] • Innovative EESD initiatives in Brazilian universities are mapped. • Interviewees held key positions in the main Brazilian engineering schools. • Contributions from EESD initiatives to achieve SDGs are discussed. • Emerging EESD-related topics are identified and linked to real cases. • A systems perspective on innovative EESD initiatives is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]