IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i14p5574-d382875.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Introducing Sustainability in a Robotic Engineering Degree: A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Francisco A. Pujol

    (Department of Computer Technology, University of Alicante, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig-Alicante, Spain)

  • David Tomás

    (Department of Software and Computing Systems, University of Alicante, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig-Alicante, Spain)

Abstract

This paper describes a group activity concerning the topic of climate change, designed to introduce the concepts of sustainable development into a Robotic Engineering degree. The purpose of this activity was to make students reflect about the impact of their work on the planet as future engineers by asking them to design an environmentally friendly robot that also integrated social and economic aspects, covering the three dimensions of sustainability in this way. Students were surveyed in order to study different aspects of their commitment, attitudes, practices, and motivation towards sustainability. In addition to the overall analysis of the survey, three specific studies were carried out with the aim of comparing the responses of different population groups: (i) Students who completed the proposed assignment and students who did not, (ii) female and male students, and (iii) roles played in the assignment. The results of the analysis revealed the high commitment of the students with respect to sustainability, but also a lack of active participation and awareness of their impact as future engineers. The activity was not only a way to introduce sustainability concepts, but in many cases, it also became a motivation for the participants, especially for the female students.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco A. Pujol & David Tomás, 2020. "Introducing Sustainability in a Robotic Engineering Degree: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-24, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5574-:d:382875
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5574/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5574/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Susana Romero & Marian Aláez & Daniel Amo & David Fonseca, 2020. "Systematic Review of How Engineering Schools around the World Are Deploying the 2030 Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Jiawen Wang & Minghui Yang & Petra Maresova, 2020. "Sustainable Development at Higher Education in China: A Comparative Study of Students’ Perception in Public and Private Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leire Guerenabarrena-Cortazar & Jon Olaskoaga-Larrauri & Ernesto Cilleruelo-Carrasco, 2021. "Integration of Sustainability in Engineering and Architectural Studies in Spanish Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Fei Chao & Gan Lin & Ling Zheng & Xiang Chang & Chih-Min Lin & Longzhi Yang & Changjing Shang, 2020. "An LSTM Based Generative Adversarial Architecture for Robotic Calligraphy Learning System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-11, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leire Guerenabarrena-Cortazar & Jon Olaskoaga-Larrauri & Ernesto Cilleruelo-Carrasco, 2021. "Integration of Sustainability in Engineering and Architectural Studies in Spanish Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Md. Abdur Rahman Forhad & Gazi Mahabubul Alam & Mamunur Rashid & Afruza Haque & Md. Sawgat Khan, 2022. "Sustainable Development in Higher Engineering Education: A Comparative Study between Private and Public Polytechnics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Aldo Alvarez-Risco & Shyla Del-Aguila-Arcentales & Marc A. Rosen & Verónica García-Ibarra & Sandra Maycotte-Felkel & Gabriel Mauricio Martínez-Toro, 2021. "Expectations and Interests of University Students in COVID-19 Times about Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence from Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Zhicheng Zeng & Wenjun Zhong & Shumaila Naz, 2023. "Can Environmental Knowledge and Risk Perception Make a Difference? The Role of Environmental Concern and Pro-Environmental Behavior in Fostering Sustainable Consumption Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    5. Man Wang & Cheng Zhou, 2023. "How Does Graduate Training Promote Sustainable Development of Higher Education: Evidence from China’s “Double First-Class” Universities’ Programs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-20, January.
    6. Mantoura Nakad & Linda Gardelle & Rami J. Abboud, 2024. "A Systematic Review of the Different Methods Assessing Sustainability Integration in Engineering Curricula," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-24, May.
    7. Sharifah Nurlaili Farhana Syed Azhar & Noor Adelyna Mohammed Akib & Suzyrman Sibly & Saidatulakmal Mohd, 2022. "Students’ Attitude and Perception towards Sustainability: The Case of Universiti Sains Malaysia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, March.
    8. David Kongpiwatana Narong & Philip Hallinger, 2024. "Traversing the Evolution of Research on Engineering Education for Sustainability: A Bibliometric Review (1991–2022)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Elena Gori & Alberto Romolini & Silvia Fissi & Marco Contri, 2020. "Toward the Dissemination of Sustainability Issues through Social Media in the Higher Education Sector: Evidence from an Italian Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-14, June.
    10. Kamyar Raoufi & Karl R. Haapala, 2024. "A Case Study on the Operational Performance Evaluation of a Manufacturing Process and System (MaPS) Sustainability Analysis Tool for Engineering Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-20, July.
    11. Abedalqader Rababah & Natalya I. Nikitina & Veronica M. Grebennikova & Zhanna R. Gardanova & Angelina O. Zekiy & Vadim V. Ponkratov & Nadezhda N. Bashkirova & Nikolay V. Kuznetsov & Tatyana I. Volkova, 2021. "University Social Responsibility during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Universities’ Case in the BRICS Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-29, June.
    12. Amr Abdullatif Yassin & Norizan Abdul Razak & Yousef A. M. Qasem & Murad Abdu Saeed Mohammed, 2020. "Intercultural Learning Challenges Affecting International Students’ Sustainable Learning in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-19, September.
    13. Julie Milovanovic & Tripp Shealy & Andrew Katz, 2021. "Higher Perceived Design Thinking Traits and Active Learning in Design Courses Motivate Engineering Students to Tackle Energy Sustainability in Their Careers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-14, November.
    14. Hasnain Raza & Anwar Ali & Nazia Rafiq & Liu Xing & Tahseen Asif & Chengjie Jing, 2023. "Comparison of Higher Education in Pakistan and China: A Sustainable Development in Student’s Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-21, February.
    15. Carlos Cacciuttolo & Yaneth Vásquez & Deyvis Cano & Fernando Valenzuela, 2023. "Research Thesis for Undergraduate Engineering Programs in the Digitalization Era: Learning Strategies and Responsible Research Conduct Road to a University Education 4.0 Paradigm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-27, July.
    16. Siyu Duan & Wenxiu Chu & Honggang Liu, 2023. "“Seeking Resilience, Sustaining Development”: A Self-Narrative Study of Early Career English Teacher Resilience from an Ecological Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-19, August.
    17. Ali Mugahed Al-Rahmi & Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi & Uthman Alturki & Ahmed Aldraiweesh & Sultan Almutairy & Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan, 2021. "Exploring the Factors Affecting Mobile Learning for Sustainability in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-22, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:14:p:5574-:d:382875. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.