Eurocentric epistemologies in engineering: Manifestations in first-year student design teams and consequences for student learning

Background

Existing research points to the role of Eurocentric epistemic values—scientific objectivity, value-neutrality, depoliticization, and technical rationality—as a cornerstone of engineering ways of thinking, knowing, and doing. However, less is known about the role of Eurocentric epistemologies in team communication and decision making.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine how dominant Eurocentric epistemologies shape individual- and team-level design thinking and, by extension, students' learning in engineering design education.

Method

This work draws on a critical ethnography in which I observed three focal design teams during a semester-long design project in a cornerstone design course. Following the conclusion of the design project, I conducted semi-structured interviews with each member of the focal teams, asking students to reflect on incidents, their thinking, and team dynamics during the individual and team design processes.

Findings

At the individual level, students' concerns about adhering to Eurocentric epistemic values made them hesitant to pursue design ideas. These concerns also shaped their design thinking, communication, and decision making at the team level, leading students to withhold or not advocate for ideas. Finally, students appeared to leverage the normative supremacy of Eurocentric epistemologies in engineering rhetorically to exert influence over their team's design decisions.

Conclusions

If engineering education is to create a more just and inclusive learning environment for engineering students, we must construct learning environments that allow students to draw on all their epistemic resources during the learning process. This study suggests the dominance of Eurocentric epistemologies is a barrier to that end.