Characterizing Student Artifacts in a Multi-disciplinary Biomimicry and Robotics Unit

Abstract

As states are adopting NGSS, engineering is increasingly being integrated in K-12 science education. While middle schools have typically segregated learning by discipline, educators are recognizing the importance of making connections across STEM disciplines. This paper presents robot artifacts built by students in an interdisciplinary middle school curriculum that combines biology, engineering, and computational thinking. In this curriculum, students analyze animals and use them as inspiration to build biomimetic robots - robots inspired by animals. We characterized and classified these artifacts based on their robots' mechanical structure and biomimetic structure and motion.