THE EPISTEMIC ROLE OF DESIGN EDUCATION IN AN ENGINEERING SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

Design courses in engineering education provide the space in the curriculum to synthesizetheoretical and technical knowledge gained from coursework. As students gain new knowledge and acquire skillsets, there is a need to demonstrate how the learning connects to their professional actions. With practice and rehearsals, students realize the values and dispositionsthey need to possess to be deemed a disciplinary member. In this paper, through semi-structured interviews of six design instructors, we report what instructors think is the epistemic role of design courses in instilling disciplinary values in an Engineering Science program.