Drones for Good: Interdisciplinary Project-Based Learning Between Engineering and Peace Studies

Engineering practice is inherently interdisciplinary. Current curricular structures, however, provide engineering students with few opportunities to work across disciplinary boundaries. In this article we report on a project-based course where students from a School of Engineering and a School of Peace Studies were brought together to design a drone that would have a positive impact on society. The course learning objectives focused on students' abilities in relationship to broader contextual issues (process), a bounded technical challenge and its social implications (project), and their role in the process (reflection). A key goal for the course was to help students recognize how their disciplinary identity shapes the way they approach problems and to recognize the value of perspectives from other disciplines. We present an analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data to explore whether the course met these objectives and to reflect on the opportunities and challenges such a class provided for our students. We determine that we have developed the basis of a promising model for engaging students from multiple schools and background and we conclude by proposing future scholarship.