Biologically Inspired Design: High School Students' Engagement in BID Integrated Learning in Engineering Classrooms

This Research paper explores the activities within the biologically inspired design-focused engineering curriculum to determine if they fostered students' engagement in learning. This work builds on concurrent research exploring students' application of BID in engineering and teachers' implementation of BID within their respective engineering classrooms. Participants comprised ninth-grade high school students
$(n=12)$
enrolled in the first-year engineering course across two high schools. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on classroom observation field notes, student focus groups, teacher curriculum enactment surveys, and teacher interviews. The finding revealed that student engagement varied across the seven-week-long unit. In the initial week, engagement was relatively low since the activities were static and required learning to be scaffolded via worksheets. However, during weeks three through six, engagement positively shifted due to the activities being more dynamic, requiring students to engage in inquiry and design learning. Furthermore, students' academic engagement was fostered due to hands-on experiences and work-based authentic problems presented in the unit, which encouraged collaboration.