Bringing Entrepreneurial Mindset to the Design of Machinery through a Bio-Inspired Design Project with Aesthetic Objectives

Abstract

Engineering students often lack sufficient opportunity to work on so-called wicked and real-world problems in their core technical engineering courses. One of the nationally recognized initiatives to overcome this challenge is the integration of the entrepreneurial mindset (EM) in various instructional activities of engineering programs. Yet, there are limited studies in the literature related to the effectiveness of the EM as a framework of curriculum design in the context of machine design and dynamics of machinery. This paper presents the development and implementation of a course project in a junior level mechanical engineering course on Dynamics of Machines to (1) give students access to real-world learning experiences and (2) explore and identify the ways in which an interdisciplinary design project that combines key components of EM, STEAM and bio-inspiration impacts students' learning. The results include initial findings from a thematic analysis of the data collected using photovoice reflections. Adopted from the relevant studies in the literature in the context of EM curricular activities, photovoice reflections combine pictorial and textual data and constitute a portion of the project's conclusion section submitted by students. The paper then discusses future steps on the use of interdisciplinary design projects which provide real-world experiential learning geared towards better preparation of engineering students for entering the workforce.