engineering science

Human experience of our world is shaped and transformed by physical and symbolic tools (mediating tools). The concept of mediation could be represented by: Human ⇔ Mediating tools ⇔ World. Questions about the role of technology (artifacts) in everyday human experience include: How do technological artifacts affect the existence of humans and their relationship with the world? How do artifacts create and transform human knowledge? How is human knowledge incorporated into artifacts? What are the actions of artifacts? Tools (i.e. conceptual and physical artifacts) play an important role in human thinking and learning. However the role of technology is frequently missing, or insufficiently evaluated, in educational analysis. Herein, I reflect on Dewey’s notion of “education as engineering”. Considering the importance of the use of tools in education, I claim that education could, in one sense, be seen as an engineering science. Engineers are trained in design, especially in artifact design, and in understanding and improving complex systems. They should be trained to understand that humans are also part of the systems that they work with. Thus, approaches an