Results Instructional Resource Creation and Assessment Conclusions and Future Work 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. 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. Instructional resources (teaching module, C-K mapping template, learning activities, assignment) grounded in C- K 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 bio- inspired 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 bio- inspired design as a design philosophy and provides several examples of how biological systems were used as inspiration for innovative solutions. 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 bio- inspired 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. 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. Introduction Enhancing the Pedagogy of Bio-inspired Design in an Engineering Curriculum Dr. Jacquelyn K. Nagel 1, Peyton Pittman 1, Dr. Ramana M. Pidaparti 2, Dr. Chris S. Rose 3, Dr. Cheri L. Beverly 4 1 JMU Department of Engineering, 2 UGA College of engineering, 3 JMU Department of Biology, 4 JMU College of Education Figure 2: C-K Mapping Template (left) and Slide (right) From Teaching Module from Learning Activity Table 2: Rubric Scores for C-K Map Templates Student A18Student I21 Student B20Student J25 Student C22Student K23 Student D14Student L17 Student E18Student M22 Student F21Student N21 Student G21Student O20 Student H16 Figure 3: Example Student C-K Map and Resulting Bio-inspired Human Powered Vehicle Design Acknowledgement [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, [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, [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) Stanford, CA. [5] Salgueiredo, C. F. Modeling biological inspiration for innovative design, Proccedings of Conference Modeling biological inspiration for innovative design, Paris, France, [6] Patton, M. Q. Qualitative research & evaluation methods, 3 edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, References 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 We would like to thank the James Madison University engineering students that participated in the study. Table 1: Rubric for Scoring C-K Map Templates 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; Self- regulated learning; and complex, multidisciplinary problem solving. 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. 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. Figure 1: Concept-Knowledge Theory Framework Table 4: Themes and Frequency for Process Reflection Questions Table 3: Themes and Frequency for Content Reflection Questions