BOARD # 412: NSF RIEF: Enhancing design thinking transfer among undergraduate bioengineering students: A Dynamic Role Identity Approach

Jennifer Patten; Avi Kaplan; Ruth Ochia

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session II
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 6
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/55789

Avi Kaplan is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Dr. Kaplanâ€™s research interests focus on student and teacher motivation, self-regulation, and identity development, with a particular interest

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biography

Ruth Ochia Temple University orcid.org/0000-0002-5924-7011

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Dr. Ruth S. Ochia is a Professor of Instruction with the Bioengineering Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. Her past research interests have included Biomechanics, primarily focusing on spine-related injuries and degeneration. Currently, her research interest are in engineering education specifically with design thinking process and student motivation.

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Abstract

Introduction:

A central goal in engineering education is developing students’ design thinking for creative real-world problem solving [1], [2]. Design thinking provides engineers a comprehensive set of principles for approaching diverse and emergent authentic challenges through deep needs assessment, contextualized problem definition, creative idea generation, and constructive iterative phases of implementing, testing, and improving a solution [3]. It is expected that engineering students will transfer principles of design thinking (DT) they learn in their courses to new situations and problems [4]. Yet, decades of research demonstrated people commonly fail to transfer, and that promoting transfer is very challenging [4], [5], [6], [7].

We use the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI) [8] to conceptualize the use of DT strategies based in the person’s situated role identity—who they believe they are in a particular situation, and whether their role calls for using design thinking [8]. Correspondingly, use of design thinking in a new situation occurs when the person transfers strategies learned in one role identity to another role identity. We hypothesized that engaging students who learn design thinking in one role identity (Biodesign student in Biodesign course) in imagining using those design thinking strategies in other role identities (future Capstone student, future Engineer, another concurrent life role) would promote transfer of these DT strategies into those other role identities when students occupy them.

Methods:

In an IRB-approved study protocol, sixteen students (of 22) in a Biodesign course in a large research university consented to participate. This course, consisting of required weekly lecture and laboratory sessions, is a pre-requisite to the students’ senior capstone course. This class is used to reinforce learning about the DT process through several design modules, each requiring a complete cycle through the design process, including prototyping and testing. For the study, students were tasked with creating weekly reflective journals describing their use of DT strategies. At each module’s end, students also created a DSMRI-informed summary reflection involving imagining DT use in future roles. We used a combined deductive-inductive analysis of course observations and students’ reflections to identify emerging themes about students’ engagement in transfer of DT.

Results and Discussion:

Two major themes gleaned thus far highlight: (1) Students’ difficulty in converting abstract conceptions of DT from lectures into applications in laboratory projects. This suggests a discrepancy between students’ role identities of “lecture attendant” (passive) and “lab participant” (active) that may explain failure in near transfer of DT. (2) Student reflections suggest interpretations of success and failure in laboratory tasks as implying the student’s overall capacity within the engineering field. Failure elicited feelings of inadequacy that pointed to the fragility of engineering identity, even among senior students, implicating a need to reframe the meaning of failure within engineering education.

Acknowledgements: Funding for the project is provided by NSF RIEF proposal #2306219.

Citation
Format

Patten, J., & Kaplan, A., & Ochia, R. (2025, June), BOARD # 412: NSF RIEF: Enhancing design thinking transfer among undergraduate bioengineering students: A Dynamic Role Identity Approach Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/55789

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Introduction: 

A central goal in engineering education is developing students’ design thinking for creative real-world problem solving [1], [2]. Design thinking provides engineers a comprehensive set of principles for approaching diverse and emergent authentic challenges through deep needs assessment, contextualized problem definition, creative idea generation, and constructive iterative phases of implementing, testing, and improving a solution [3]. It is expected that engineering students will transfer principles of design thinking (DT) they learn in their courses to new situations and problems [4]. Yet, decades of research demonstrated people commonly fail to transfer, and that promoting transfer is very challenging [4], [5], [6], [7]. 

We use the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI) [8] to conceptualize the use of DT strategies based in the person’s situated role identity—who they believe they are in a particular situation, and whether their role calls for using design thinking [8]. Correspondingly, use of design thinking in a new situation occurs when the person transfers strategies learned in one role identity to another role identity. We hypothesized that engaging students who learn design thinking in one role identity (Biodesign student in Biodesign course) in imagining using those design thinking strategies in other role identities (future Capstone student, future Engineer, another concurrent life role) would promote transfer of these DT strategies into those other role identities when students occupy them.  

Methods: 

In an IRB-approved study protocol, sixteen students (of 22) in a Biodesign course in a large research university consented to participate. This course, consisting of required weekly lecture and laboratory sessions, is a pre-requisite to the students’ senior capstone course. This class is used to reinforce learning about the DT process through several design modules, each requiring a complete cycle through the design process, including prototyping and testing. For the study, students were tasked with creating weekly reflective journals describing their use of DT strategies. At each module’s end, students also created a DSMRI-informed summary reflection involving imagining DT use in future roles. We used a combined deductive-inductive analysis of course observations and students’ reflections to identify emerging themes about students’ engagement in transfer of DT. 

Results and Discussion: 

Two major themes gleaned thus far highlight: (1) Students’ difficulty in converting abstract conceptions of DT from lectures into applications in laboratory projects. This suggests a discrepancy between students’ role identities of “lecture attendant” (passive) and “lab participant” (active) that may explain failure in near transfer of DT.  (2) Student reflections suggest interpretations of success and failure in laboratory tasks as implying the student’s overall capacity within the engineering field. Failure elicited feelings of inadequacy that pointed to the fragility of engineering identity, even among senior students, implicating a need to reframe the meaning of failure within engineering education. 

Acknowledgements: Funding for the project is provided by NSF RIEF proposal #2306219. 



AU  - Jennifer Patten
AU  - Avi Kaplan
AU  - Ruth Ochia
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - BOARD # 412: NSF RIEF: Enhancing design thinking transfer among undergraduate bioengineering students: A Dynamic Role Identity Approach 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/55789
ER  -