Enhancing the Pedagogy of Bio-inspired Design in an Engineering Curriculum
Dr. Jacquelyn K. Nagel1, Peyton Pittman1, Dr. Ramana M. Pidaparti2, Dr. Chris S. Rose3, Dr. Cheri L. Beverly4
1JMU Department of Engineering, 2UGA College of engineering, 3JMU Department of Biology, 4JMU College of Education
Introduction
Results
Undergraduate education must train students to not only solve engineering challenges that transcend
disciplinary boundaries, but also communicate, transfer knowledge, and collaborate across technical and
non-technical boundaries [1]. One approach to train engineers in these competencies is teaching bioinspired design in an engineering curriculum, which offers relevance to professional practice as well as an
affective hook to frame complex, cross-disciplinary problems. Incorporating other STEM disciplines into
complex engineering problems creates a new context for undergraduate students to apply knowledge that
they already have, such as high school level training in biology. Adding bio-inspired design into the
engineering curriculum encourages students to utilize and build off their prior knowledge, which fosters
making connections and recognizing interrelationships across STEM disciplines.
All students completed the C-K mapping template three times; twice
in class as part of learning activities to understand the process of
discovery, and again in their assignment to scaffold application to
the human powered vehicle. An example student C-K map template
is given in Figure 3. Compiled rubric scores for JMU student
templates (n=15) are given in Table 2. Scores at or above 18
indicate that students understood the template and process, as well
as were able to successfully use information (knowledge transfer) to
make connections between biology and engineering for creating
solutions for design problems.
Engineering students find bio-inspired design exciting, but teaching them how to do it without also requiring
them to be fully trained as biologists is much more difficult. This research aims to address the need for
undergraduate student training in multidisciplinary design innovation and the identified gap through the
creation of instructional resources for teaching bio-inspired design in an engineering curriculum.
Instructional Resource Creation and Assessment
Concept-Knowledge (C-K) Theory [2-5] integrates creative thinking and innovation by utilizing two spaces: (1)
The knowledge space (K) – a space containing propositions that have a logical status for the designer; and (2)
The concepts space (C) – a space containing concepts that are propositions, or groups of propositions that
have no logical status (i.e. are undetermined) in K (Figure 1). C-K Theory provides a framework for a designer
to navigate the unknown, integrate multiple domains of information, to build and test connections between the
knowledge and concept spaces, and to converge on a solution grounded in theory combined with new
knowledge.
C-space
Instructional resources (teaching module, C-K mapping
template, learning activities, assignment) grounded in CK Theory that scaffold the discovery and knowledge
transfer processes such that the natural designs can be
used to inspire engineering solutions were created. The
C-K mapping template (Figure 2) is an adaptable
instructional resource that visually structures the
discovery and knowledge transfer processes of bioinspired design going from biology to engineering
(biology-driven) as well as engineering to biology
(problem-driven). An accompanying set of guidelines for
filling out the template was created to assist novice
learners. The developed teaching module introduces bioinspired design as a design philosophy and provides
several examples of how biological systems were used
as inspiration for innovative solutions.
K-space
The reflection statements resulted in 206 (108 for content questions
and 98 for process questions) unique/coded meaningful units. Tables
3 and 4 organize the themes (n = supportive categories) and
categories (n = supportive coded meaningful units) by each reflection
question, which emerged from the student responses. Comparison of
the responses between Tables 3 and 4 by type of question reveals a
positive influence of the C-K theory based instructional resources. An
unexpected category for two students was to use existing biology
knowledge to help understand engineered components and systems,
which was also found in a student response to what was learned
about the content. This emergent trend was unexpected, and points
toward the significance of teaching bio-inspired design in an
engineering curriculum. The student artifacts and responses indicate
that bio-inspired design fosters the following competencies of the
21st century engineer: Holistic, critical thinking; Creativity; Selfregulated learning; and complex, multidisciplinary problem solving.
Table 3: Themes and Frequency for Content Reflection Questions
Initial
Concept C0
Concept
C1
Concept
C11
Figure 3: Example Student C-K Map and Resulting Bio-inspired Human Powered Vehicle Design
Table 1: Rubric for Scoring C-K Map Templates
Table 2: Rubric Scores for C-K Map Templates
Student A 18
Student I
21
Student B 20
Student J
25
Student C 22
Student K
23
Student D 14
Student L
17
Student E 18
Student M
22
Student F
21
Student N
21
Student G 21
Student O
20
Student H 16
Table 4: Themes and Frequency for Process Reflection Questions
Existing Knowledge
(K1)
CK
Concept
C2
KC
Concept
C12
New Knowledge from
Concepts Exploration
(K2)
KK
Ki
Design Path
Concept
C1n
Kj
Concept becomes
Knowledge
Figure 1: Concept-Knowledge Theory Framework
Conclusions and Future Work
Figure 2: C-K Mapping Template (left) and Slide (right) From Teaching Module from Learning Activity
The instructional resources were implemented in a JMU sophomore engineering design course (23 students
enrolled, consented sample size n=15) that focuses on the theory, tools, and methods of the engineering
design process. The developed assignment that compliments the teaching module and learning activities
includes three parts: 1) complete the C-K mapping template for a human powered vehicle sub-system, 2) use
the sketches in the C3 level of the template along with the team generated morphological matrix to create a
full human powered vehicle concept, and 3) a W/H/W reflection essay answering three questions about the
content and process. Assessment of student work was completed using a C-K map template rubric (Table 1),
and qualitative content analysis [6] to identify themes in student reflection statements.
Exposing students to the abundance of design examples that can be found in nature, and by scaffolding the discovery and knowledge transfer process such that those
natural designs can be used to inspire engineering solutions resulted in significant learning of both biology and bio-inspired design, as well as learning engagement and
value of the experience. The C-K mapping template rubric allows for the measure of the depth and detail in the student work, as well as allows for comparison between
what they did and what they said in the reflection. Additionally, the rubric allows for comparison of student work across institutions and provides an objective measure to
judge transferability of instructional materials from JMU to UGA, or visa versa. Progress toward the research objectives has been made at James Madison University with
implementation plans for University of Georgia. Analysis of the reflection statements is complete. Analysis of the C-K mapping templates using a rubric is underway with
plans for assessment and analysis of the student generated concept.
Acknowledgement
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This material is based
upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1504612. We would like to thank the James Madison University engineering students that participated in the study.
References
[1] National Academy of Engineering (NAE), The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century2004, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
[2] Hatchuel, A.; Weil, B. C-K design theory: an advanced formulation, Reserach in Engineering Design. 2009, 19, 181-192.
[3] Hatchuel, A.; Weil, B. A New Approach of Innovative Design: An Introduction to C-K Theory, Proccedings of Conference A New Approach of Innovative Design: An Introduction to C-K Theory, Stockholm, 2003.
[4] Shai, O., et al. Creativity Theories and Scientific Discovery: A Study of C-K Theory and Infused Design. in International Confernece on Engineering Design (ICED). 2009. Stanford, CA.
[5] Salgueiredo, C. F. Modeling biological inspiration for innovative design, Proccedings of Conference Modeling biological inspiration for innovative design, Paris, France, 2013.
[6] Patton, M. Q. Qualitative research & evaluation methods, 3 edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002.