Abstract

SIKKEMA, J K  and  VAN DER WERFF, J R.. Distinctively Christian engineering: An evaluation of our civil curriculum. Koers (Online) [online]. 2015, vol.80, n.3, pp.1-8. ISSN 2304-8557.  http://dx.doi.org/10.19108/koers.80.3.2239.

As professors in an engineering program developed with the intention of being Christ-centred and holistic, one of our responsibilities is to equip our students to serve the Lord obediently in all that they do-especially in engineering. To serve as the foundation of this preparation, we used a previous publication which set out five distinctively Christian guiding principles for engineering. Our intent is that these principles will be used to direct the development and modification of our engineering curriculum. Directing these efforts requires a grounding point. Therefore, this paper evaluates the extent to which these principles are already emphasized in the program's civil engineering curriculum. Comparing this evaluation to benchmarks for each of the five principles revealed that the curriculum fell short. This result was expected because the curriculum does not contain a formal process to introduce, emphasize, and apply these principles. The evaluation determined that the first principle, which recognizes that the world and everything in it was created for God's glory, fell the farthest from its benchmark. Since this principle is foundational to all the other principles, efforts to increase the emphasis of this principle should be given the highest priority.

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