Issues, Issues Everywhere
Students identify and examine various environmental issuesCopyright Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slum_and_dirty_river.jpg
In this activity, students learn to identify different opinions related to an issue as well as the things (information, values and beliefs) that influence those opinions. They use an opinion spectrum to analyze the range of opinions in their classroom on environmental issues and understand how these spectrums can be valuable to engineering design.
An engineer hired to help a company or group of people understand their differences and assist in making a decision on a particular issue is a consulting engineer. Engineers may use an opinion spectrum (the rating of feelings on a spectrum) to identify the differences in opinions of a large group. For instance, to investigate how a community feels about a new factory being built in their town, a consulting engineer gathers community opinions, and determines what factors may affect the community. The engineer presents the results to the community so that they can consider all factors and make a collective decision.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Understand how engineers identify and understand environmental issues by talking to different people that are affected.
- Students predict environmental issues that will be important to their community.
- Students use a survey to identify the critical environmental issues.