Special session — A war of words: Using sticky language to effect change in engineering education

Reform in engineering education requires not only identifying what needs to change, but also understanding implicit barriers to change and the tools that can help overcome them. Language is an excellent example of such a barrier, and of such a tool. For example, engineering educators sometimes refer to “the basics” (math, science, and engineering science) thereby assigning those topics a privileged position in the engineering canon; the same educators will sometimes use the term “soft” to deflate certain qualitative critical thinking, creative, and communications skills, thereby assigning them lower status-and less air time-in the education of student engineers. These examples demonstrate the ability of language to obstruct change, and also suggest that the careful choice of memorable or “sticky” locutions can provide reformers with a powerful means of reframing the debate. In this special session we examine the use of language in the resistance to and promotion of change, and identify promising locutions that can help transform engineering education.