Poster Q16 - Transforming Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Pedagogy through Engineering Studio Learning

Introduction: The Biomedical Engineering (BME) field has seen rapid growth in undergraduate student interest, driven by advances in research and knowledge addressing pressing clinical and societal needs. However, traditional BME instructional models often prioritize behaviorist pedagogy frameworks, featuring high-stakes assessments with limited feedback, out-of-class teamwork that conceals effective problem-solving strategies, restricted opportunities for complex problem-solving, and limited instructor interaction during information synthesis. This approach hinders collaborative learning, constrains creativity and critical thinking, and leads to a loss of understanding over time. Traditionally founded in creative yet technically critical disciplines such as architecture and fashion design, studios have evolved as a training crucible in which criticism is invited and integrated into improved product outcomes through peer learning. Our research hypothesis posits that integrating BME design studios into the undergraduate curriculum will address these limitations by fostering purposeful engineering thinking while preparing graduates who can work individually within accountable teams.

Materials and

Methods: We have implemented 3+ hour periods of proctored active learning to modules of course content, in which content will be provided in advance for independent review prior to the team-based studio. Each studio consists of three phases. First, a team interaction phase during which instructors/TAs as essentially silent and informally “desk visit” with each team to evaluate progress and provide suggestions/feedback in a low stress context. Second, student teams “pinup” their model/design to allow the class to explore, challenge, and critique the proposed approaches – thereby learning to synergistically improve by building on the collective knowledge, insights and creativity of the class. Finally, a formal review is conducted in which each team presents their solution to an expert panel, e.g. instructors, TAs and guest experts when possible, for objective critique according to a standard assessment rubric. We have taken advantage of visual media to archive, and parallelize these presentations and accelerate (or anonymize) the critique process. To reflect on student’s experiences in studios, qualitative data was gathered through surveys (closed Likert with open-ended reflection questions) through surveys to assess students' perceptions of their problem-solving abilities, creativity, and confidence in addressing open-ended problems presented in studios.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Preliminary results from pilot studies in select undergraduate BME courses show that incorporating engineering studio pedagogy improves students' collaborative learning and application of system-of-systems level understanding of quantitative physiology. Collectively, our research aims to contribute to a shift towards more innovative, student-centered education in BME, ultimately preparing graduates for industry and academic engineering positions by offering them the experience of being an engineer: to deconstruct complex problems into manageable subunits, to operate and learn communally towards achieving goals, to communicate solutions and challenges effectively in a broad range of contexts, and to invite and integrate criticism into improved product outcomes.

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