Asee peer logo

Using Bio-Inspired Design and STEAM to Teach the Entrepreneurial Mindset to Engineers

Download Paper |

Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division Technical Session 6

Page Count

13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40832

Permanent URL

https://sftp.asee.org/40832

Download Count

301

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Katey Shirey eduKatey LLC

visit author page

Dr. Katey Shirey’s work stems from her combined interests in science, art, and education. Dr. Shirey graduated from the University of Virginia with bachelor’s degrees in physics and sculpture. She received her master’s in secondary science education, also from UVA, and taught Physics at Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington, VA. Dr. Shirey received her Ph.D. in 2017 from the University of Maryland in Education with a focus on teacher challenges and productive resources for integrating engineering design into high-school physics. Through her work as a Knowles Teacher Initiative Senior Fellow and founder of eduKatey LLC, Dr. Shirey provides and researches engineering-integrated STE(A)M curriculum, professional development, and teachers’ reflective growth practices.

visit author page

biography

Lisa Bosman Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI)

visit author page

Dr. Bosman holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering. Her engineering education research interests include entrepreneurially minded learning, interdisciplinary education, and faculty professional development. Learn more here: www.iAgree.org

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Society’s need for innovators to address societal problems, prosperity, and climate change is stronger than ever. Yet, all too often, engineering undergraduates are required to leave their passions, interests, and causes at the door when they enter the discipline, which may contribute to some engineering students’ alienation and attenuation from the field. This study aims to address this challenge (and opportunity) by highlighting preliminary findings from an engineering faculty professional development (PD) experience. The PD experience aimed to teach engineering faculty how bio-inspired design and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) can be coupled and used as a compliment when teaching the entrepreneurial mindset (EM) to broaden participation within the engineering disciplines. The guiding research question was as follows: How does the entrepreneurial mindset, bio-inspired design, and STEAM-integrated engineering instruction support engineering educator curriculum development? The data collection instrument was in the form of a workshop “exit ticket” which asked participants to respond to open-ended questions and photovoice reflections. The preliminary findings highlighted four key themes: (1) multiple perspectives, (2) intersectionality focus of arts, (3) benefits of learning that go beyond this PD, and (4) desire to learn more. These findings, obtained from participants at the beginning of the professional development (PD) experience, were significant enough to justify modifying the current and future PD experience. In general, the faculty participants expressed higher initial confidence with EM than with bio-inspired design and STEAM, but more growth in their bio-inspired and STEAM confidence than EM. From a practical perspective, the authors encourage PD facilitators and/or curriculum designers to implement a similar qualitative-based “exit ticket” (i.e., assessment) which incorporates both open-ended questions and photovoice in an effort to gain deeper and richer insights from participants, especially faculty participants.

Shirey, K., & Bosman, L. (2022, August), Using Bio-Inspired Design and STEAM to Teach the Entrepreneurial Mindset to Engineers Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40832

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2022 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015