Engineering and Theology:
Approximations to Reality
William Jordan
Baylor University
Engineering Metaphysics
Conference
Tulsa
Importance of topic
• As a practicing Christian and an
engineer, both my faith and my
profession are important to whom I am
 My faith affects everything I do
 My engineering world view affects everything I
do
• I need to understand how to relate them
together
Insights gained from work on
science and faith
• Many people have looked at how
•
science and Christian faith should
interact
We can learn from their work
Science and faith perspectives
• They describe different worlds that do
•
•
•
not really interact (2 spheres approach)
Science is more fundamental and my
faith must be consistent with my science
My faith is more fundamental and my
science must be consistent with my faith
My faith and science are not the same,
but their concerns do overlap
Engineering and Christian faith
• I have accepted the last approach
•
•
mentioned on the previous slide
Engineering and Christian faith are not
the same, but they do overlap in many,
often complex ways.
This presentation looks at one aspect of
this—they both are approximations to
reality
Outline of presentation
• The nature of engineering
• The nature of theology
• Relationship between engineering and
theology
 A common problem both face
A Definition of Engineering
• Creating a definition is not simple
 There are some activities that are clearly the
practice of engineering
 There are some activities that are clearly not
the practice of engineering
 There are many activities in which it is not
clear whether or not engineering is being
performed
A Definition of Engineering
• There are many written definitions of science
•
•
and the scientific method, but fewer attempts
have been made to define engineering
Many definitions are attempts to define how
one branch of engineering is different from
another
While I do not agree completely with his
definition, I am indebted to the careful
thinking of the nature of engineering that has
been done by Dr. Billy Koen of the University
of Texas
Dr. Koen’s Definition of
Engineering
• He uses the term heuristic to mean
•
something that is an aid or direction in the
solution of a problem, but cannot necessarily
be justified by itself.
Examples of engineering heuristics
 Rules of thumb
 Make small changes in the state-of-the-art
 At some point in the project, freeze the design
Dr. Koen’s Definition of
Engineering
• The engineering method is “the strategy
•
for causing the best change in a poorly
understood or uncertain situation within
the available resources and the use of
heuristics.”
At the heart of his definition is the
concept that engineering is an
approximation to reality
A simpler definition of
engineering
• Last month I used the following slide to
introduce engineering to high school
students in Musanze, Rwanda
A Definition of Engineering…
Engineers turn ideas
into useful systems or
products.
Engineers use models
• Engineers use models of the physical
world to aid in their analysis
 These models are not the reality itself
• Many students do not really understand
this distinction
Examples of models
• Newtonian mechanics
• Lamination theory to predict how
composite materials will behave
 When theory and experiments do not match,
most students assume the experiment was
not done correctly
The nature of theology
• Theologians also create models to
describe how God has acted in human
history
 They may not use the term model
• Example—perspective on end times
 Amillenial
 Pre-millennial
 Post-millennial
Precision of models
• While these models are human
abstractions concerning ultimate reality,
they need to be precise enough upon
which to base fundamental choices in
life.
Importance of models
• If we are to experience the life God
•
wants us to have we need to understand
theology well enough to know what God
expects of humans.
While Newtonian mechanics is not a
perfect model it is good enough for us to
use as the basis for the design of a new
airplane.
Good theology and good
engineering
• Not everyone agrees as to what is good
•
•
theology or good engineering.
Christians differ on what is the best form
of church government.
With respect to an engineer designing a
new car, the result will be very different if
it is designed for manufacturability rather
than for repairability.
Importance of innovations
• We need innovations in both theology
•
•
and engineering
There are limitations to these
innovations
What is developed must work with the
reality that we have
Theology Innovation issues
• A good theologian needs to be able to
•
help Christians who face new issues,
such as privacy and the use of
technology.
Too much innovation in theology can
lead to models about God that do not
match the experiences of Christians
throughout history—leading to heresy
Engineering innovation issues
• Engineers are rewarded for creating new
•
designs; however, whatever they create
must still work in the real world.
Innovations must be sustainable in the
long run if civilization is to survive
 Not everything that can be made should be
made
Application of these concepts
• I will look at an example where the
approximate models of theology can be
used to give insight into the approximate
models of engineering
A problem faced by engineering
education and theology
• Relativism is being promoted as part of a
good way to teach engineering
 Some may be doing this without realizing its
significance
 Some may very well recognize its significance
Relativism and engineering
education
•
•
This first came to my attention in 1990 with a paper
by Culver (Engineering Education, July/August 1990)
Culver applied William Perry’s model of intellectual
development to engineering education
 Perry had nine positions or stages of development ranging
from the lowest level (where all knowledge is known) to the
highest level (commitment within relativism)
Culver’s Paper
• His university based their new freshman and
•
sophomore introduction to engineering
course sequence on this model
They noted that a lack of a unique solution in
engineering design appears to fit in well with
Perry’s view that intellectual maturity involves
a commitment to a relativistic world view
The issue continues
• It has moved from just being an issue
about design education to an issue
concerning the way engineers teach in
all of our classes.
Engineering Educational Reform
• Increased recognition that traditional
•
•
lecture methods were not working with
many of our students
Need to try something different
A variety of strategies that go under the
names of active learning or collaborative
learning are being adapted for the
engineering class room.
Engineering Educational Reform
• Active learning concepts are not new
 Have been around College of Education
circles for some time
 Have been around Engineering circles for
some time under a different name
• We called them labs
• What is new to many engineering faculty
is incorporating these concepts into a
typical lecture class
Active learning examples
• Doing experiments within a traditional lecture
•
•
class. Use the experiments to teach the
material (rather than having the experiment
support the lecture)
After a brief lecture, break the class into
small groups and have them solve a problem
based on the new content
Have groups report on what they have studied
at the next class period (in place of a traditional
homework assignment)
Many Active Learning Techniques are
based on a Constructivist Approach
•
Bodner and Klobuchar, in a paper in the Journal of
Chemical Education, write
 “Traditional theories assume that our minds contain images
that somehow represent reality as if they were copies or
pictures. If one accepts this assumption, knowledge can be
judged as “true” or “false.” Constructivist theories of
knowledge are based on a fundamentally different
assumption: Knowledge is constructed in the mind of the
learner…From the perspective of the
constructivist…knowledge should no longer be judged in
terms of whether or not it is true or false, but in terms of
whether it works. The only thing that matters is whether
the knowledge we construct functions satisfactorily in
the context in which it arises.”
Constructivism in Engineering
Education
• This perspective on knowledge appeals
•
to some engineers, who are used to only
being concerned with “what works”
However, what works in a class setting
(such as getting an answer your group
can agree on and feeling good about
your answer) may not work at all in an
actual engineering design
Dangers of Constructivist Thinking
•
•
•
•
As a Christian and an engineer I believe that
there are some things that are true about our
world
As a Christian and an engineer I believe that
there are some things that are not true about
our world
Students may construct a reality that is not true
Students may firmly believe that their false
reality is as good as the true reality
Example of student created
reality
• Two papers at the 2012 ASEE conference
•
•
earlier this week reported that 75% of
engineering students use on-line solution
manuals to solve homework problems.
A majority of the students claim they have
never cheated
They have constructed their own definition of
cheating which is not consistent with the
professor’s definition
A Good Aspect of Constructivist
Thinking
• This is how many engineers and
scientists actually do research
 We create models to explain our experimental
results
 Education faculty would say we are
constructing our own reality
Using active learning safely
• When using active learning, we need to
emphasize to the students:
 While we will not tell you the answer while
your group is struggling to understand the
problem, a true or real answer does exist.
The true or real answer
• For many engineering calculations, there
•
is only one correct answer, and
everything else is incorrect.
Students need to recognize that they do
not have the right to construct an
alternate reality that does not fit the
reality of the world we live in
Several true or real answers
• We still have a problem with design, in
•
that there is no single right or true
answer to a design problem
This does not mean that any answer is
acceptable, while there are several right
answers, there are also many wrong
answers
Design example
• If the question was to design a chair,
•
there are many possible good designs
There are also many possible
unacceptable designs
 If the chair breaks when someone sits in it, it
is unacceptable
 If the chair tips over when someone sits in it, it
is unacceptable
Using Techniques that Work
• Many active learning techniques appear
•
•
to work very well
Yet many of them are based on a
questionable “constructivist approach”
Should Christians use things that work,
even if their philosophical basis is poor?
Are there other sources for Active
Learning?
• Is there a Biblical support for active
•
learning techniques in the ministry of
Jesus?
If so, the fact that this approach has
been rediscovered by modern
constructivists should not be a problem
Old Testament Example of
Active Learning
•
•
These commandments that I give you today are to be
upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk
about them when you sit at home and when you walk
along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on
your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your
houses and on your gates. The Holy Bible : New
International Version. 1996, c1984 (Dt 6:6-9). Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
This shows teaching should be part of ordinary, daily life.
This involves physical illustrations as well as casual
conversations between a parent and child
New Testament Example of
Active Learning
•
Using common things
 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that

you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not
show partiality but teach the way of God in
accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes
to Caesar or not?”
He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show
me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on
it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then
give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is
God’s.” The Holy Bible : New International Version.
1996, c1984 (Lk 20:21-25). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
New Testament Example of
Active Learning
•
Using questions and answers



One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and
preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law,
together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority
you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this
authority?” He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me,
John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From
heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say,
‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are
persuaded that John was a prophet.” So they answered, “We
don’t know where it was from.”
Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing
these things.”
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996,
c1984 (Lk 20:1-8). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Additional Biblical Examples of
Active Learning
• Teaching by active participation in a
symbolic event
 Passover
 Communion
 Baptism
Example conclusions
•
•
There are professors who are trying to
introduce relativistic thinking into engineering
education through:
 Engineering design
 Use of active learning
Things like this will inevitably happen since
engineering is always an approximation and
people will have new ideas on how to do it
Example conclusions
• Even though theology is also an
•
approximation, we can use to it help
make judgments concerning engineering
Active learning techniques are not
inherently based on a bad philosophical
basis, for many of them were used by
Jesus
Conclusions
• Both theology and engineering are
•
approximations to ultimate reality, not
ultimate reality itself.
They can become good enough
approximations so that you can reliably
use both of them to guide your life.
Any Questions?
You can contact Dr. Jordan at
bill_jordan@baylor.edu