Bioinspiring an Interest in STEM

Abstract

Attracting K-12 students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is viewed as a critical element for benefiting both the economy and society. This paper describes an outreach program, conducted in a Brooklyn, NY, USA, public middle school, aimed at educating students in mechatronics, biology, and bioinspiration. The program is designed to foster student interest in STEM subjects, especially engineering-related concepts, by actively demonstrating their application in solving tangible real-world problems. It consists of a series of lectures and practical activities that culminate with a hands-on bioinspiration-based event at the New York Aquarium. Survey results show that students who participated in the program have a better understanding of the relationship between engineering and nature, demonstrate improved knowledge of select STEM topics, and are more interested in pursuing STEM careers.

Integrating mechatronics in project-based learning of Malaysian high school students and teachers

“…The effectiveness of the program in training graduate instructors in teaching engineering-related subjects and teaching high-schoolers what engineers do was assessed through pre-and post-surveys, similar to Laut et al 39 and Abaid et al 55 Graduate instructors were surveyed on day one before the beginning of the training and on day six at the end of the program. The pre-assessment questionnaire included two fill-in-the-blank questions and one ranking question (T1, T2, and T3), see Figure 4 in Appendix 1, where the post-assessment survey is reported for improving readability.…”

“…This session also entails a final, more complex, experiment, where simple mechatronics concepts are applied to illustrate connections between nature and technology. 39 Specifically, students are asked to: (i) design a two-link mechanical system mimicking the tail of a swimming fish and (ii) assemble an electronic circuit to drive the servomotor at the joint between the two links. The efficiency of different tail shapes to swim is assessed by directly testing them in a water tank.…”

“…For example, the NYU-Tandon Mitsui USA STEM Learning Lab is an after-school program where students are trained in mechatronics, environmental science, and biomimicry. 39 The ''Science of Smart Cities'' project and curriculum were initially conceived as a summer program, in which NYU STEM undergraduate and graduate students teach engineering-related subjects to New York City middle-schoolers. The success of this program has attracted the attention of several national and foreign institutions, including the National University of Malaysia (UKM).…”

“…For example, the NYU-Tandon Mitsui USA STEM Learning Lab is an after-school program where students are trained in mechatronics, environmental science, and biomimicry. 39…”

Board # 102 :Hands-on Summer Workshop to Attract Middle School Students to Engineering (Work in Progress)

“…While this is certainly a real problem, there are steps that could be taken to build up interest in STEM fields and have more STEM students and graduates. Laut, Bartolini & Porfiri (2015) believe that STEM recruitment is critical for the economy and society, and the results of their research show that students who participated in their outreach program have more interest in going into STEM fields.…”