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Activity (Hands-On)Grades 9 - 12

Creative Engineering Design: Environmental Impact StoryMap Collection

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Ethics are an essential part of engineering. They guide engineers to ensure their designs and solutions prioritize safety, sustainability, and public well-being. The Environmental Impact StoryMap Collection actively engages students in exploring ethics-based, transportation-related topics. This StoryMap series was created using Esri ArcGIS technology to enable students to explore transportation and air quality relationships from sustainability- and community-based and engineering perspectives.

Engineers must ensure that their work is done to the highest standards with honesty and integrity, as prescribed by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics:

"Engineering has a direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people. Accordingly, the services provided by engineers require honesty, impartiality, fairness, and equity, and must be dedicated to the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare. Engineers must perform under a standard of professional behavior that requires adherence to the highest principles of ethical conduct."

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is an important tool for many professions, including engineering. GIS uses specialized software to collect, store, analyze, query, and visualize spatial data. It also supports users in applying critical thinking to solve problems and find solutions from a spatial perspective. GIS helps engineers seek answers to the questions related to “What’s there?” “Why is it there?” and “Why do we care?” to view engineering projects from the perspective of the people and communities they work with and serve. 

After this activity, students should be able to:

  • Understand the main relationships between sustainable transportation, air quality, the environment, and society
  • Know the general sustainability impacts in local communities related to transportation and air quality issues
  • Understand the role of ethics in engineering
  • Navigate the online ArcGIS StoryMap tool

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