WORK IN PROGRESS: JUMP TO IT! DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A UNIQUE, SCALABLE BIOMECHANICS-THEMED LESSON TO BROADEN PARTICIPATION IN BIOENGINEERING AND RELATED DISCIPLINES

Kayla Pariser; Margo Donlin; Kelsey Neal; Judson Wagner; Laura Meszaros Dearolf; Marcia Gail Headley; Amy Trauth; Jenni Buckley

Download Paper | Permalink

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: Biomedical Engineering Division: Best of Works in Progress
Page Count: 6
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41293
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41293
Download Count: 207

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Jenni Buckley University of Delaware

visit author page

Jenni M. Buckley is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at University of Delaware (UD). She has over 10 years of engineering experience in medical device design and biomechanical evaluation and has research interests in human factors design, medical device development, and equity and inclusion issues in engineering education. She teaches a range of courses across the mechanical engineering curriculum, including CAD, mechanics, and capstone design; and she is the Co-Director of the UD Mechanical Engineering MakerSpace, The Design Studio. She is the Co-Founder and President of The Perry Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to diversifying the pipeline in engineering and medicine through hands-on learning.

visit author page

biography

Marcia Gail Headley University of Delaware

visit author page

Dr. Headley is a Data Scientist at the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) at the University of Delaware. She specializes in the development of mixed methods research designs and strategies for integrating quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Her work has been published in the Journal of Mixed Method Research. In her current role, she uses her methodological expertise to support a variety of CRESP projects. Dr. Headley is devoted to designing effective research studies with the potential to generate well-justified answers to complex questions about how students learn given variations in their health, homes, classrooms, and schools.

visit author page

author page

Abstract

Biomechanics is uniquely positioned to serve as a gateway for recruitment and retention of diverse engineering talent for the biomedical and related engineering disciplines. When appropriately scaled to the middle and high school levels, biomechanics can integrate concepts from courses that many students and educators view as disconnected, such as physics and biology. Biomechanics also provides alternative, inclusive examples to the classical mechanics applications (e.g., automotive, aerospace) found in K12 secondary science and underclassmen engineering curricula. Given that undergraduate bioscience programs have met gender parity while engineering as a whole falls far short of this goal, biomechanics exposure at the middle and high school levels may also serve as a means to recruit talented women from the biosciences into the engineering pipeline.

This work in progress paper introduces a novel biomechanics-themed lesson for high school classrooms, called "Jump to It!", which focuses on human motion analysis. The "Jump to It" lesson is designed for all grade bands in high school math, science, and career and technical education (CTE) classrooms. The student learning objectives are focused on connecting students' pre- or co-requisite math and science concepts to the real-world application of analyzing human motion in clinical or athletic performance settings. The stand-alone lesson features a mix of interactive lecture and active learning exercises, all of which are instructionally scaffolded and mapped to national STEM standards. The lesson culminates with students' use of free, open-source planar motion analysis software (Kinovea v0.9.5) to analyze the biomechanics of a vertical standing jump using their peers serving as study subjects. The instructional logistics for the "Jump to It" lesson are teacher-friendly and economical. The lesson comes with complete lesson plans, student worksheets, and video professional development for teachers and requires no specialized classroom materials.

This work in progress paper presents the details of the "Jump to It!" lesson as well as a formative evaluation of feedback from early adopter teachers. Feedback from teachers suggested that the lesson will be compelling for their students in CTE biomedical and engineering pathways, with some potential for application in physics and math classes. Teachers highlighted that some additional professional development supports around motion analysis software usage will be needed before widespread dissemination. Future work by our group will focus on lesson refinement, summative evaluation of student learning outcomes, and curriculum dissemination through teacher resource forums. This work in progress paper is a case study for those interested in developing biomedical-themed K12 STEM curriculum that could lead to a wider, more diverse talent pipeline in engineering.

Citation
Format

Buckley, J., & Headley, M. G., & Trauth, A., & Meszaros Dearolf, L., & Donlin, M., & Neal, K., & Pariser, K., & Wagner, J. (2022, August), WORK IN PROGRESS: JUMP TO IT! DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A UNIQUE, SCALABLE BIOMECHANICS-THEMED LESSON TO BROADEN PARTICIPATION IN BIOENGINEERING AND RELATED DISCIPLINES Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41293

TY - CPAPER
AB - Biomechanics is uniquely positioned to serve as a gateway for recruitment and retention of diverse engineering talent for the biomedical and related engineering disciplines. When appropriately scaled to the middle and high school levels, biomechanics can integrate concepts from courses that many students and educators view as disconnected, such as physics and biology. Biomechanics also provides alternative, inclusive examples to the classical mechanics applications (e.g., automotive, aerospace) found in K12 secondary science and underclassmen engineering curricula. Given that undergraduate bioscience programs have met gender parity while engineering as a whole falls far short of this goal, biomechanics exposure at the middle and high school levels may also serve as a means to recruit talented women from the biosciences into the engineering pipeline.

This work in progress paper introduces a novel biomechanics-themed lesson for high school classrooms, called "Jump to It!", which focuses on human motion analysis. The "Jump to It" lesson is designed for all grade bands in high school math, science, and career and technical education (CTE) classrooms. The student learning objectives are focused on connecting students' pre- or co-requisite math and science concepts to the real-world application of analyzing human motion in clinical or athletic performance settings. The stand-alone lesson features a mix of interactive lecture and active learning exercises, all of which are instructionally scaffolded and mapped to national STEM standards. The lesson culminates with students' use of free, open-source planar motion analysis software (Kinovea v0.9.5) to analyze the biomechanics of a vertical standing jump using their peers serving as study subjects. The instructional logistics for the "Jump to It" lesson are teacher-friendly and economical. The lesson comes with complete lesson plans, student worksheets, and video professional development for teachers and requires no specialized classroom materials.

This work in progress paper presents the details of the "Jump to It!" lesson as well as a formative evaluation of feedback from early adopter teachers. Feedback from teachers suggested that the lesson will be compelling for their students in CTE biomedical and engineering pathways, with some potential for application in physics and math classes. Teachers highlighted that some additional professional development supports around motion analysis software usage will be needed before widespread dissemination. Future work by our group will focus on lesson refinement, summative evaluation of student learning outcomes, and curriculum dissemination through teacher resource forums. This work in progress paper is a case study for those interested in developing biomedical-themed K12 STEM curriculum that could lead to a wider, more diverse talent pipeline in engineering.

AU - Jenni Buckley
AU - Marcia Gail Headley
AU - Amy Trauth
AU - Laura Meszaros Dearolf
AU - Margo Donlin
AU - Kelsey Neal
AU - Kayla Pariser
AU - Judson Wagner
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - WORK IN PROGRESS: JUMP TO IT! DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A UNIQUE, SCALABLE BIOMECHANICS-THEMED LESSON TO BROADEN PARTICIPATION IN BIOENGINEERING AND RELATED DISCIPLINES
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41293
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41293
ER -