Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration
Biomimicry is an interdisciplinary design approach that provides solutions to engineering problems by taking inspiration from nature. Given the established importance of biomimicry for building a sustainable world, there is a need to develop effective curricula on this topic. In this study, a worksh...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Biomimetics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/8/1/125 |
| _version_ | 1797613301334540288 |
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| author | Ibrahim H. Yeter Valerie Si Qi Tan Hortense Le Ferrand |
| author_facet | Ibrahim H. Yeter Valerie Si Qi Tan Hortense Le Ferrand |
| author_sort | Ibrahim H. Yeter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Biomimicry is an interdisciplinary design approach that provides solutions to engineering problems by taking inspiration from nature. Given the established importance of biomimicry for building a sustainable world, there is a need to develop effective curricula on this topic. In this study, a workshop was conducted twice in Singapore: once with 14 students from a local high school in Singapore, and once with 11 undergraduate students in engineering from the United States. The workshop aimed to better understand how students conceptualize biomimicry following the bottom-up and top-down biomimetic methods. The workshop contained a lecture and laboratory session, and data were collected via questionnaires, field observation, and participant presentations at the end of the laboratory session. A qualitative analysis revealed that the top-down biomimetic approach was initially understood using vague and generic terms. In contrast, the students described the bottom-up approach using precise and technical vocabulary. By naming the themes highlighting the students’ conceptualizations, it was concluded that strengthening the principle that makes the natural object unique and increasing interdisciplinary knowledge are needed to help them perform the top-down approach. The results from this work should be confirmed with a more significant number of participants, and they could help develop a curriculum to teach the two approaches effectively by providing tools to help the students generalize their ideas and abstract meaning from systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:52:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cd5a610ce79a44849f6f55ef50156428 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2313-7673 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:52:57Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biomimetics |
| spelling | doaj.art-cd5a610ce79a44849f6f55ef501564282023-11-17T09:50:40ZengMDPI AGBiomimetics2313-76732023-03-018112510.3390/biomimetics8010125Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary ExplorationIbrahim H. Yeter0Valerie Si Qi Tan1Hortense Le Ferrand2National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, SingaporeNational Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, SingaporeSchool of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, SingaporeBiomimicry is an interdisciplinary design approach that provides solutions to engineering problems by taking inspiration from nature. Given the established importance of biomimicry for building a sustainable world, there is a need to develop effective curricula on this topic. In this study, a workshop was conducted twice in Singapore: once with 14 students from a local high school in Singapore, and once with 11 undergraduate students in engineering from the United States. The workshop aimed to better understand how students conceptualize biomimicry following the bottom-up and top-down biomimetic methods. The workshop contained a lecture and laboratory session, and data were collected via questionnaires, field observation, and participant presentations at the end of the laboratory session. A qualitative analysis revealed that the top-down biomimetic approach was initially understood using vague and generic terms. In contrast, the students described the bottom-up approach using precise and technical vocabulary. By naming the themes highlighting the students’ conceptualizations, it was concluded that strengthening the principle that makes the natural object unique and increasing interdisciplinary knowledge are needed to help them perform the top-down approach. The results from this work should be confirmed with a more significant number of participants, and they could help develop a curriculum to teach the two approaches effectively by providing tools to help the students generalize their ideas and abstract meaning from systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/8/1/125STEM educationconceptualizationbiomimicryundergraduate and high school studentsinterdisciplinary |
| spellingShingle | Ibrahim H. Yeter Valerie Si Qi Tan Hortense Le Ferrand Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration Biomimetics STEM education conceptualization biomimicry undergraduate and high school students interdisciplinary |
| title | Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration |
| title_full | Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration |
| title_fullStr | Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration |
| title_short | Conceptualization of Biomimicry in Engineering Context among Undergraduate and High School Students: An International Interdisciplinary Exploration |
| title_sort | conceptualization of biomimicry in engineering context among undergraduate and high school students an international interdisciplinary exploration |
| topic | STEM education conceptualization biomimicry undergraduate and high school students interdisciplinary |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/8/1/125 |
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