A systems physiology instructional environment for biomedical engineers: A design grounded in the learning sciences

To the extent that Biomedical Engineering (BME) is rooted in the biological and medical sciences, a core Systems Physiology course provides undergraduates with an important learning opportunity. However, the rapid evolution of BME's biological and medical foundations necessitates that beyond learning systems physiology's content and concepts, pre-professionals must learn to apply relevant aspects of systems physiology to unanticipated new tasks. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology's EC-2000 criteria similarly support engineers learning to apply their knowledge. This paper describes a principled approach by which we are designing a BME instructional environment in which students learn systems physiology subject matter coupled to its application. We explain how our design principles for this instructional environment evolved from the Project-based Science pedagogical framework and a modern understanding of how people learn, and further discuss our process of participatory design, which involves individuals from both BME and the Learning Sciences. We present our progress to date, and the ideas we have distilled from this experience.