Civil Engineering Students as Avoidant Actors: Using Culturally Relevant Problem-Solving to Increase Critical Action Attitudes

Background: Civil engineers design systems that have the potential to impact existing oppressive societal conditions. Critical action--the ability to recognize and act against oppressive conditions--is an obligation for civil engineers committed to building a more just world. Purpose/Hypothesis: History reveals that civil engineers often do not take critical action and accrediting bodies (e.g., ABET) have responded by creating requirements to consider social factors and contexts. Considering these endeavors, we ask: To what extent do civil engineering students demonstrate critical action attitudes when prompted by engineering problem-solving? In what ways does culturally relevant problem-solving influence critical action attitudes? Design/Method: Employing transformative action as a theoretical framework, we assessed students' responses to a design question on three levels that perpetuate or disrupt oppression (avoidant, destructive, and critical action). The empirical study used qualitative and quantitative analysis to examine survey responses of 375 civil engineering undergraduate students across 12 US universities. Results: The results showed that engineering students largely avoided discussing taking critical action, remaining focused on technical and nontechnical factors that evaded acknowledgement of sociopolitical factors. Nevertheless, when exposed to culturally relevant problem-solving, students showed a statistically significant increase in both critical and destructive action responses. Conclusions: We posit that students' exposure to culturally relevant problem-solving can enhance students' critical action attitudes. The results call on the need for civil engineering educators to cultivate culturally relevant problem-solving in civil engineering curriculum.