Seminar, 4 ECTS
This course is highly suitable for students (at any level) in engineering, natural sciences and culture of the techno-scientific world.
At the end of this course, students will be able to contextualize and historicize STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). Through presentations, discussions and reading they achieve an in-depth understanding of the relation between technology, nature, gender and other categories of social inequality. In addition to skills in debating and discussing, the course improves reading skills.
Gender studies investigates the role of gender in natural sciences and technology. Technology is commonly figured as neutral. Technology, however, is developed in homosocial groups dominated by specific masculinities. The question arises, what the effects are of the composition of designers and engineers in respect to the products and methods of engineering research and development. Are gender, social inequality, culture and self-conceptions of designers and engineers inscribed into technologies, as well as into their underlying problem definitions and methods? Are scientific results influenced by sociocultural contexts? What role do professional and organizational cultures play? What role do curricula and standards play? How may one-sidedness and exclusions be avoid with respect to these dimensions?
4 ECTS are awarded in the "Pool-Model"/ interdisciplinary education. All students are expected to attend sessions on a regular basis and to participate in classroom discussions. They are required to prepare and to run a session as a team and to pass the take-home exam.