Students and Teachers Learning from Nature: Studying Biologically-Inspired Design in High School Engineering Education

科学家和工程师经常向大自然学习，开发有益于社会的新产品，这一过程被称为生物灵感设计。例如，航空航天工程师研究了瓢虫翅膀上复杂的折叠图案，以获得设计更紧凑卫星的想法。在这个项目中，高中工程学教师将在一个致力于生物启发设计的研究实验室里呆上五周，他们与尖端工程师和科学家合作，研究动物的特征和行为，以及它们在工程设计中的应用。在这次实验体验之后，高中教师将收到三个为期六到十周的课程单元，为十年级到十二年级的学生量身定做，教授与青少年有关的问题背景下的生物启发设计。教师还将参加持续的专业发展会议，展示教授这些单元的策略。研究小组将研究实验室和专业发展经验是否以及如何影响教师对工程的理解和对自然的看法，以及其他结果。此外，研究小组将研究课程单元是否与学生的积极学习结果有关。课程和专业发展单元将通过在线资源和教师讲习班公开分享，研究成果将通过期刊广泛传播。由于之前的研究表明，生物灵感设计是吸引和留住女性从事工程职业的一种很有前途的方法，所以这个项目很可能会产生一些产品，在高中女生想象未来职业轨迹的关键时期培养她们对工程的兴趣。此外，这些产品可能会通过教学生如何从自然中寻找紧迫问题的答案，以及通过产生有关激励教育方法的知识来推动国家创新，这些方法鼓励更多的高中生追求工程职业。该项目通过制定和测试三套课程来解决女孩在工程学职业中比例持续偏低的问题，预计这些课程将在高中女生中产生积极的结果。这些课程结合了生物启发的工程学、人文主义工程学、对可持续性和思维的关注，以及真实的设计背景。十名高中教师将参加广泛的专业发展经验，为有效教授课程做好准备。这些经验包括与正在应用生物启发设计的科学家进行为期五周的实验室体验；为期一周的研讨会，演示教授单元的策略；每周的实施会议；以及基于网络的专业发展模块。为了研究专业发展对教师的影响，研究人员将收集课程设计日志、教师行为调查和工程教学自我效能调查，他们还将进行课堂观察和访谈。对这些来源的定性分析将表明专业发展是否以及如何影响教师对工程设计过程的理解、工程教学自我效能感以及对自然和设计世界的看法。为了研究课程对1100多名高中生的影响，研究人员将使用经过验证的措施进行岗前设计，以确定课程是否与更好地理解和使用工程设计过程、产生精心设计的工程设计问题的能力、工程自我效能、对自然和设计世界的态度、可持续发展意识以及坚持工程的意图有关。随后，与匹配的对照组进行的准实验设计将使研究人员能够确定治疗组在前后测量上是否优于对照组。对重点群体的定性分析和对一组高中女生的访谈将表明课程是否以及如何支持她们在工程学方面的归属感。该项目旨在促进高中学生，特别是女生在工程教育方面的知识和实践，最终扩大对工程途径的参与。探索研究预科-12课程(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高预科-12年级学生和教师在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Scientists and engineers often learn from nature to develop new products that benefit society, a process called biologically-inspired design. Aerospace engineers, for example, have studied the intricate folding patterns in ladybugs' wings to gain ideas for designing more compact satellites. In this project, high school engineering teachers will spend five weeks in a research lab devoted to biologically-inspired design, as they partner with cutting-edge engineers and scientists to study animal features and behavior and their applications to engineering designs. After this lab experience, the high school teachers will receive three six- to ten-week curricular units, tailored for tenth- through twelfth-grade students, which teach biologically-inspired design in the context of problems that are relevant to youth. The teachers will also participate in ongoing professional development sessions that demonstrate strategies for teaching these units. The research team will study whether and how the lab and professional development experiences influence the teachers' understandings of engineering and perspectives toward nature, among other outcomes. Additionally, the research team will study whether the curricular units are associated with positive learning outcomes for students. The curricula and professional development modules will be shared publicly through online resources and teacher workshops, and research findings will be widely disseminated through journals. Because previous research has suggested that biologically-inspired design is a promising approach for attracting and retaining women in engineering careers, this project is likely to result in products that foster high school girls' interest in engineering during a critical period when they are imagining their future career trajectories. Moreover, these products are likely to fuel national innovation by teaching students how to look to nature to find answers to pressing problems, and by generating knowledge about motivational educational approaches that encourage a wider range of high school students to pursue engineering careers. This project addresses the persistent underrepresentation of girls in engineering careers by developing and testing three sets of curricula that are expected to lead to positive outcomes among high school females. These curricula incorporate biologically-inspired engineering, humanistic engineering, a focus on sustainability and ideation, and authentic design contexts. Ten high school teachers will participate in extensive professional development experiences that prepare them to effectively teach the curricula. These experiences include a five-week lab experience with scientists who are applying biologically-inspired design; a one-week workshop demonstrating strategies for teaching the units; weekly implementation meetings; and web-based professional development modules. To study the effect of the professional development on teachers, researchers will collect curriculum design logs, teacher enactment surveys, and engineering teaching self-efficacy surveys; they will also conduct classroom observations and interviews. Qualitative analyses of these sources will indicate whether and how the professional development affected teachers' understanding of the engineering design process, engineering teaching self-efficacy, and perspective toward the natural and designed world. To study the effect of the curricula on over 1,100 high school students, researchers will use a pre-post design with validated measures to determine whether the curricula are associated with greater understanding and use of the engineering design process; ability to generate well-formulated engineering design problems; engineering self-efficacy; attitudes toward the natural and designed world; sustainability awareness; and intent to persist in engineering. Subsequently, a quasi-experimental design with a matched comparison group will enable the researchers to determine whether the treatment group outperformed the comparison group on pre-post measures. Qualitative analysis of focus groups and interviews with a sub-set of high school girls will indicate whether and how the curricula supported their sense of belonging in engineering. This project is designed to advance knowledge and practice in engineering education for high school students, especially among girls, ultimately resulting in broadening participation in engineering pathways.The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.