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A BioEngineering Summer Day Camp for High-School Science Students and Teachers

I. Abstract Fortunately, as a relative newcomer to undergraduate academic engineering circles, the field of Bioengineering has yet to become particularly prone to problems of student recruitment. However, at our institution, undergraduate engineering students are not formerly introduced to the field of Bioengineering until the sophomore year. Because of the broad nature of the field of Bioengineering, early exposure and education can be critical in helping students to accurately understand and ultimately choose exactly which discipline in Bioengineering for which they might be most well-suited. However, traditional colleges of engineering may be reluctant to modify an established and effective freshman core curriculum to allow for broad early bioengineering exposure. One supportive measure in lieu of revising an entrenched undergraduate core engineering curriculum is to provide bioengineering exposure to 9-12 high school students before they begin undergraduate training. To do this effectively also requires increased bioengineering knowledge in high school science teachers. To help foster an increased knowledge and understanding of Bioengineering among the grades 9-12 student group and their science teachers in a large metropolitan area, we developed a weeklong Bioengineering summer day camp program.

The typically intense, but short instructional sequences of the camp provide an ideal means for the introduction and immersion of 9-12 students and science teachers into bioengineering. Our camp had the following objectives: 1) To provide students with a hands-on Bioengineering experience. 2) To educate students about career opportunities in Bioengineering. 3) To create institutional/departmental name recognition among local students and science teachers. 4) To educate science teachers about important Bioengineering concepts. 5) To develop students’ group communication and scientific presentation skills. 6) To develop students’ ability to apply the scientific method and analyze data, and 7) To encourage family support of students’ scientific pursuits. In this paper we review comparative assessment data from 3 successive years of offering the camp to local metropolitan area students.

II. Introduction Bioengineering is a relatively modern discipline within engineering. Only a few academic institutions have bioengineering departments more than 15 years old. Broadly described as the intersection between biology and engineering, bioengineering (or its sister term biomedical engineering) encompasses a wide range of academic pursuits. Bioengineers investigate systems as small and specialized as mitochondria and as large and complex as the trillion cell network of the brain. Work in the field is incredibly diverse, ranging from the basic science of cell biomechanics and mobility to the development and application of clinical devices such as heart rate monitors or MRI machines. As a brash and bold upstart to

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Rousche, P., & Cho, M., & Dai, Y., & Lu, H., & Hetling, J., & liang, J., & McCormick, S., & Schneeweis, D., & Magin, R. (2006, June), A Bioengineering Summer Day Camp For High School Science Students And Teachers Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--734