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Creative Ways of Knowing in Engineering pp 1–22Cite as

The New Renaissance Artificers: Harnessing the Power of Creativity in the Engineering Classroom

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Abstract

Creativity and interdisciplinary have been identified as critical skills for twenty-first century engineering education. The National Academy of Engineers termed our future engineering graduates as renaissance engineers. Changes for transformative learning in engineering education are taking place slowly across universities. To prepare the renaissance engineers of the future we look to the past, where renaissance artificers embraced art, technology, and science. This phenomenon was not isolated, but rather the supremely creative culmination of a long process. We are challenged to open the door to our students to an education that combines art, technology, and science as united phenomena which transform our classrooms into workshops and studios bursting with activity. Attempts to harness the power of creativity in the engineering classroom are more widespread than formal literature indicates. Creative faculty find ways to let our students take risks, collaborate, and create. We have been serenaded by students with songs about the virtues of thermodynamic principles. We have watched examples of scientific events played out in films. We have read poems penned by students that lyrically explain the four laws of thermodynamics. Through their innovative DNA, our students find beauty is truth in art and in engineering.

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Acknowledgements

The author wish to thank all students who participated with the creative projects and responded to surveys. I also wish to thank Kerry Magruder, for his involvement in the Spatial Visualization class and for stimulating many creative conversations on Renaissance engineering. Heartfelt thanks to the Director of Communications in the College of Engineering at The University of Oklahoma, Karen Kelly, for documenting and tirelessly promoting all the artifacts and events assoicated with students creative work in the classes described in this chapter. Finally, special thanks go to Vice Provost of Faculty Development Simin Pulat, Dean Tom Landers, and Associate Dean John Antonio in the College of Engineering at The University of Oklahoma for trusting my “atypical style of teaching”—your support contributed greatly to the success of the creative projects and students’ openness to creative ways of knowing in engineering, overall.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech, 865 Prices Fork, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Diana Bairaktarova

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  1. Diana Bairaktarova
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Correspondence to Diana Bairaktarova .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Diana Bairaktarova

  2. University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

    Michele Eodice

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Bairaktarova, D. (2017). The New Renaissance Artificers: Harnessing the Power of Creativity in the Engineering Classroom. In: Bairaktarova, D., Eodice, M. (eds) Creative Ways of Knowing in Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49352-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49352-7_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49351-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49352-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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