Creating Public Resources to Diversifying Content in Mechanical Engineering: Fostering Awareness and Ethical Considerations

This paper explores an innovative approach to integrating social, cultural, economic, environmental, historical, and ethical considerations into engineering education. Focusing on the Mechanical Engineering curriculum, we discuss two collaborative strategies for designing course assignments that employ storytelling and a case-based approach to expand students' awareness of diverse perspectives. Instructors piloted selected assignments and shared feedback on lessons learned from these implementations. This work aims to inspire others to develop their own teaching materials, fostering a sense of community within the field of mechanical engineering and supporting future curriculum development in engineering education. It emphasizes the importance of raising awareness of diversity and providing engineering solutions that prioritize customer needs, with considerations on inclusion, justice, and belonging.