Learning Environments and Evidence-Based Practices in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering

Billiar, Kristen L.; Gaver, Donald P.; Barbee, Kenneth A.; Singh, Anita; DesJardins, John D.; Pruitt, Beth L.; Tranquillo, Joe; Gaudette, Glenn R.; Winkelstein, Beth A.; Makowski, Lee; Amos, Jennifer R.; Saterbak, Ann; LeDoux, J.C.; Helmke, Brian P.; Grimm, Michele J.; Benkeser, P.J.; Segan, LeAnn Dourte; Pfister, Bryan J.; Meaney, David F.; Arinzeh, Treena Livingston; Margulies, Susan S.

doi:10.1007/s43683-021-00062-z

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Other scholars have also described the value of departments coaching faculty and providing support for them to incorporate inclusive practices into their pedagogy. 9 Learning about what others have implemented or how they tried to approach empathy and interactions in their classrooms could make educators more mindful of methods they could employ.…”

Section: Rq2: Why Is Empathy Critical To Bme Educators?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning to Care: Faculty Perspectives on Developing Empathy and Inclusive Mindsets in Biomedical Engineering

Lunn

Bell-Huff²,

Doux³

2022

Biomed Eng Education

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While we all have our own circumstances and experiences, being able to empathize is critical to recognizing injustice and considering the viewpoints of others in the community. In the human-centric field of biomedical engineering (BME), empathy is imperative to creating inclusive devices or equipment that are equally accessible to all who need them. To learn more about the importance of empathy in the discipline and the learning activities that can be used to promote it, we leveraged qualitative methods and interviewed six BME instructors and course coordinators. We applied Zaki's framework of empathy as the theoretical foundation for our investigation and analysis, which considers cognitive, emotional, and motivational factors. In this study, we sought to address: (1) The need of empathy for BME students; (2) The need of empathy for BME educators; and (3) How specific learning activities can be used to appreciate and imbue empathy. The analysis resulted in six themes, and the findings illustrated that empathy was considered important for students' personal and professional development. It can promote intercultural awareness, leadership, and may drive students to think and care about others and take action. Faculty perceived empathy as necessary for themselves as well and they described developing it over the course of their careers as they interacted with students and learned about the issues they faced. In turn, they mentioned how their own empathy served to strengthen their approach as educators, their interpersonal relationships, and their awareness of students in distress. We identified multiple learning activities which can foster empathy in students. Examples include writing personas to enhance perspective-taking or allowing students to share their own narrative to strengthen communication for the speaker and active listening and compassion from those hearing the stories. Requiring students to shadow physicians or conduct interviews with those that will use their products can serve to build compassion and help students to think about others. However, to impact values and mindsets such activities should not just be inserted at a single time point, but instead, should be considered throughout the BME curriculum. The findings from this work not only encourage professional development of BME students and their ability to solve problems addressing the needs of real people, but they also speak to the value of empathy for individual growth and considering diverse perspectives.

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Section: Rq2: Why Is Empathy Critical To Bme Educators?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning to Care: Faculty Perspectives on Developing Empathy and Inclusive Mindsets in Biomedical Engineering

Lunn

Bell-Huff²,

Doux³

2022

Biomed Eng Education

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“…A few engineering programs have used such expansively framed contextual tasks in the middle years with generally positive results reported (e.g., Billiar et al, 2022; Carberry & Brunhaver, 2019; Dziallas & Fincher, 2014; Froyd & Ohland, 2005; Lowe & Goldfinch, 2021; Maciejewski et al, 2017). Reports of this research commonly focus on describing instructional design and implementation and on reporting student perceptions (Hussmann & Jensen, 2007; Lowe et al, 2022; Rodriguez et al, 2020; Telenko et al, 2016), improved retention (Allen et al, 2011; Quinn, 1993), or student achievement (Froyd & Ohland, 2005; Roselli & Brophy, 2006), or on performance relative to control groups (Han et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineers, figuring it out: Collaborative learning in cultural worlds

Nolen,

Michor,

Koretsky

2023

J of Engineering Edu

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BackgroundAlthough open‐ended projects are common in the first and final years of US engineering programs, middle‐year courses tend to utilize simpler highly constrained problems. Such problems can elicit knowledge and social practices typical of school activity (“School World”), with limited applicability in real engineering work (“Engineering World”). They can also result in inequitable participation in groups.PurposeWe investigate whether a single‐session, complex studio task can promote equitable disciplinary engagement in the middle years, where time is limited and students' engineering knowledge needs to be developed. We ask whether and how the task is taken up by teams “thinking and acting like students” versus “thinking and acting like engineers.”Design/MethodThis microgenetic laboratory study analyzes video data of three student teams completing a realistic complex task.ResultsTeams initially used “School World” strategies and social arrangements, but eventually the task demands and facilitator framing shifted activity to “Engineering World.” We found within‐team, between‐world differences in reasoning, tool use, and social practices. Examination of shifts from School World to Engineering World pointed to the importance of task framing, material tools, peer interaction, and facilitator support.ConclusionsActivity can shift to the disciplinary social and knowledge practices of engineering in a single task, expanding opportunities to learn those practices and promoting more equitable interactions. Instructors should seek to support disciplinary practices while preserving students' authority to make decisions. Future research should explore the impact of a steady diet of these kinds of studios in the middle years.

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A Hands-on Medical Mechatronics Exercise to Pump Up Student Learnings

Pennes¹,

Mendez²,

Hanumara

et al. 2023

Biomed Eng Education

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Best practices in Biomedical Engineering education seek to connect classroom knowledge to practical applications. MIT’s Medical Device Design course is comprised of in-class didactics, individual laboratory assignments, and a semester-long, team- based design and prototyping challenge, based in real unmet biomedical need. Students in the course represent a broad set of undergraduate and graduate students, from diverse educational backgrounds, with different levels of training and expertise. This year, as a precursor to the semester-long project, we designed, piloted, and evaluated a new experiential learning lab based around a syringe pump, selected because of its prevalence in the clinical setting, exemplification of core, multidisciplinary biomedical engineering concepts, and suitability for a team-based learning exercise. Students individually calculated patient dosing requirements and translated desired volume and flow rate into stepper motor commands. Then, during a single in-class session, teams worked from a custom-designed and fabricated kit to assemble a syringe pump, breadboard electronics, implement software controls, and finally close the design loop by evaluating their pumps' dispensing performance. A post-lab survey of the student cohort indicated that this pilot lab provided a sound biomedical learning and teamwork opportunity that improved technical literacy. The survey also identified key opportunities for improvement – students wanted more time and instructor-guided learning to increase their understanding of the mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and software subtopics. Consequently, next year we will expand the lab into a multi-class exercise, with enhanced lectures and supplementary materials. Overall, we share this problem-based learning exercise, designed to exemplify key concepts, improve teamwork, and foster hands-on tinkering skills, with other biomedical engineering instructors.

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Learning Environments and Evidence-Based Practices in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering

Cited by 7 publications

References 39 publications

Learning to Care: Faculty Perspectives on Developing Empathy and Inclusive Mindsets in Biomedical Engineering

Learning to Care: Faculty Perspectives on Developing Empathy and Inclusive Mindsets in Biomedical Engineering

Engineers, figuring it out: Collaborative learning in cultural worlds

A Hands-on Medical Mechatronics Exercise to Pump Up Student Learnings

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