2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Biologically Inspired Design For High School Engineering Students (Work in Progress)

Presented at Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE) Technical Session 4: Engaging Authentic Engineering Practices

Biologically inspired design (BID) has gained attention in undergraduate and graduate engineering programs throughout the United States, and more post-secondary institutions are beginning to implement it into their engineering curriculum [1], [2]. However, little has been done to introduce BID concepts more formally into the K-12 curriculum. Consequently, a research study funded by the National Science Foundation focused on developing a BID integrated engineering curriculum for high school students. The curriculum is designed to integrate BID into the engineering design process (EDP) by leveraging analogical design tools that facilitate a transfer of biological strategies to design challenges. This enables students to understand both the engineering problem and the biological system that could be used to inspire design solutions. In this paper, we describe students’ application of BID integration in the engineering design process and their experiences utilizing BID as they solve design challenges.

The curriculum was pilot tested in two 9th grade engineering classrooms across two schools during Spring 2022. Data was collected from four groups of students (n=12) enrolled in the engineering courses across two schools. The study includes classroom observations, student artifacts, and student focus groups. We utilized qualitative content analysis, a descriptive approach to analyzing student data [3], [4], to uncover the meaning and presence of text, messages, images, and transcriptions of dialogues [4]. In this study, we aim to capture the evidence of students’ experiences and engagement with BID concepts.

The preliminarily findings illustrate that student groups enjoyed BID activities presented in the curriculum as they promoted students’ exploration of biological systems. BID integration allowed students to view nature differently, which some students indicated they had not previously employed for their design solutions. Although some students mentioned BID activities that helped them during the brainstorming phase of the design process, they were unable to explain BID integration in their final design solutions, unless prompted by the teacher. Furthermore, across the student groups, students indicated that prototype and test was the most engaging stage of the EDP since during this stage they were able to test their designs. This research is novel in its focus on understanding high school students’ experiences with the integration of BID in engineering and has important implications for diversifying engineering in K-12 education.

Authors

Dr. Meltem Alemdar Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Dr. Meltem Alemdar is Associate Director and Principal Research Scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). Her research focuses on improving K-12 STEM education through research on curriculum development, teacher professional development, and student learning in integrated STEM environments. Dr. Alemdar is currently PI and co-PI on various NSF funded projects. Her expertise includes program evaluation, social network analysis and quantitative methods such as Hierarchical Linear Modeling, and Structure Equation Modeling. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy, with a concentration in Research, Measurement, and Statistics, from Georgia State University.
Dyanne Baptiste Porter http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5693-1571 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Dyanne Baptiste Porter is a postdoctoral research fellow at Georgia Tech Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing (CEISMC). Prior to earning her Ph.D. in Mathematics Education, she taught high school mathematics for eight years. Her research interests include interdisciplinary mathematics teaching and learning, equitable teaching and learning practices in STEM, and increasing representation in advanced mathematical sciences.
Dr. Abeera P. Rehmat http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4977-5830 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Abeera P. Rehmat is a Research Scientist II, at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Education Integrating
Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). She has experience conducting research in engineering education that
spans pre-college up to the collegiate level. Her research interest involves investigating how engineering and computer
science education can foster students critical thinking and problem-solving skills to prepare them for the challenges of this
evolving world.
Dr. Michael Helms Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Dr. Michael Helms is a Senior Research Scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where his research focused on improving design creativity.
Alexandra A. Towner Georgia Institute of Technology
Roxanne Moore http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0536-4957 Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

Roxanne Moore is currently a Research Engineer at Georgia Tech with appointments in the school of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing (CEISMC). She is involved with engineering education inno
Mr. Jeffrey H Rosen Georgia Institute of Technology [biography]

After 14 years in the middle and high school math and engineering classroom where Mr. Rosen was working on the integration of engineering and robotics into the teaching of the core curricula classrooms. He has now been at Georgia Tech's CEISMC for the pas
Julia Varnedoe
Dr. Marc Weissburg [biography]

School of Biological Sciences, Co Director of the Center for Biologically Inspired Design, project PI

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