Engagement in practice paper: Engineering students vs. Geological risk in the gold supply chain: Using geological risk in gold mining communities to overcome technical instrumentalism among engineering students

Abstract

Student engineers need both excellent technical training and critical skills to put their training to its best uses. At Colorado School of Mines we are experimenting with a series of learning experiences to help students use their technical skills thoughtfully and overcome technical instrumentalism, which we define as the idea that technical skills alone can solve all the practical problems that they encounter. In these experiences, students work with members of Colombian artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities and Colombian students to address geological hazards that endanger miners. This sequenced set of experiences was designed so that students would engage with communities to better understand the complex social, technical, and environmental risks that miners confront and then propose and, in some cases, develop projects to reduce those risks. In this paper we describe the first two phases of this experience. Further research on this learning experience will be necessary to understand its effects for all parties involved.