Exploring Foucault’s Askēsis in Bolstering Engineering Students’ Reflective Thinking

• In Event: Fostering Reflective Thinking in Emerging Professionals

Abstract

Developing reflective engineers is an issue of growing concern in engineering education; however, some structure is needed for engineering students’ effective reflection. The study’s purpose is to explore Foucault’s askēsis in guiding engineering students’ reflective thinking. With askēsis (philosophical exercise) and Bildung (personal development) as philosophical lens, we studied two cases, one with 20 graduate engineering students reflecting in their Bildung assignments with askēsis and one of 20 other students without askēsis. Using content analysis method and the software Quirkos, we found that participants using askēsis reflected more structurally and systematically and thus their reflections were more solutions-oriented. We argue that askēsis be implemented in Bildung assignments in engineering education to effectively bolster engineering students’ reflective thinking.

Authors

• Ngan Thi Thu Nguyen, Texas Tech University

• Yanhong Moore, McGregor Independent School District

• Jeong-Hee Kim, Texas Tech University

• Ryan C. Campbell, Texas Tech University

• Roman Taraban, Texas Tech University

• Danny Reible, Texas Tech University