Biologically Inspired Design in Introductory High School Engineering Design Courses: Student Expectations, Fixation and the Importance of Prior (Fundamental Research)

This study explores students' engagement in and perception of biologically inspired design (BID) as a result of their participation in a seven-week BID engineering curriculum. The participants included high school students (n=52) enrolled in an engineering course. Students were purposively selected for this mixed methods study due to their willingness to participate. The qualitative findings revealed that students' engagement in BID ideation resulted in a fixation on initial solution ideas, exploring a few potential solutions to create design concepts, and tending toward existing, well-understood solutions. In comparison, the quantitative findings showed modest shifts in students' views regarding the value of BID from pre- to post. The survey data revealed that slightly more students agreed after the course that using concepts from biology is useful for developing engineering solutions. In contrast, students who believed biology was a good source for engineering ideas showed a larger increase. While many students initially agreed that biological inspiration was easy and exciting, fewer believed so after their engagement in the curriculum.