TERC Researchers Spotlight Biomimicry and STEM Integration at NARST Conference
TERC researchers are sharing new insights on integrated STEM teaching and learning at this year’s NARST conference. Through presentations focused on biomimicry and classroom design, their work highlights how teachers and students engage in meaningful connections between science and engineering.
Hybrid/AI-Enhanced Investigations & Model-Based Learning
Presentation type: SC-Organized Paper Set
Time: 10:00-11:30, 20 April at Ballard (L3)
TERC Presentation Title: Integrating biomimicry into middle school STEM: Using structure-function analysis and modeling to inspire engineering design
Presenter: Debra Bernstein
Abstract: While many middle schools teach science, engineering, and technology in separate classes, educators and policymakers recognize the benefits of integrated STEM learning. Biomimicry is a natural umbrella for integrating STEM disciplines, as it involves the application of a structure-function relationship from an organism or ecosystem (science) to the design of a human-created system (engineering). In integrated STEM contexts like biomimicry design challenges, students engage in modeling across two disciplines – engineering and biology. Our research investigates how two middle school STEM teachers supported their students’ modeling efforts during biomimicry design challenges. Teacher post-implementation interview data was synthesized into a curriculum map, which was triangulated using teacher, student, and classroom artifacts. The paper presents data from a final teacher interview (plus the curriculum map) to explicate the materials and instructional supports teachers used during biomimicry design challenges, and highlights three methods for supporting student modeling in an integrated STEM learning environment: identifying goals for student learning and growth, designing an instructional sequence to support design complexity, and encouraging and supporting students to identify and justify design decisions.
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How Teachers’ Epistemological Framing Shapes Science Learning
Presentation Type: SC-Organized Paper Set
Time: 16:30-18:00, 20 April at Ravenna C (L3)
TERC Presentation Title: A Case Study of Biomimicry-Focused Professional Development and Implementation of Teacher-Designed Integrated Units
Abstract: This study describes how two middle school science teachers designed and implemented integrated STEM units focused on biomimicry following a professional development program. Using a framework that positions teachers as designers, the study explores how two teachers—one from the Midwest and one from New England—planned, adapted, and enacted lessons that connected science, engineering, and biomimicry. Through a summer workshop and ongoing coaching, teachers developed engineering design challenges aligned to science and engineering standards and anchored in the crosscutting concept of structure and function. Using qualitative data from interviews, lesson materials, and student artifacts, the analysis highlights how teachers supported students in analyzing biological systems and constructing engineering models. Findings reveal high student engagement and thoughtful teacher integration of science and engineering practices. However, both teachers experienced tensions as students often shifted focus from bioinspired design to functional prototyping. These cases highlight the importance of sustained support for helping students make meaningful connections between their biological inspiration and the engineering solutions they create. This research contributes to growing efforts to position teachers as designers of integrated STEM instruction and illustrates how biomimicry can serve as a powerful lens for bridging disciplinary boundaries in science and engineering education.
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