Modified Problem-based Teaching of Biotransport Phenomena

Bumsoo Han, PhD School of Mechanical Engineering Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Purdue University

Biotransport Education WorkshopASME 2012 Summer Bioengineering ConferenceJune 23rd, 2012

Course Information

•ME 508 Heat Transfer in Biological Systems

•Dual-level course for both undergraduate and graduate

•Diverse student population: ME, BME, ChemE, Pharm

•Difficult to find a good and up-to-date text book.

Consideration during Course Design

•One course objective with different learning outcomes

•Implementation of team-based active learning method

•Integration of research and education

Course Syllabus

Challenge Module

Mass Transport of NPsaround Tumor

Light-tissue Interaction

Bioheat TransferHyperthermic Cell/Tissue Injury

Regulatory Science

Learning OutcomeNanoparticle Transport around Tumors

Learning OutcomeLight Transport in Tissue

Learning OutcomeBioheat Transfer and Hyperthermic Injury

Learning OutcomeHyperthermic Injury and Regulatory Science

Course Evaluation: Positive

• Great experience. Novel type of graduate level course. The structure of course was very good and helped to introduce a lot of new areas. Probably tougher than any other class as loads of work to do literature survey.

• The format of how this course was taught was excellent and much more conducive to learning than the traditional lecture-exam method. Group discussions were very fruitful.

• I really benefited from the projects. After taking this course, my confidence in approaching thesis problem has dramatically increased. I would highly recommend this class to fellow students.

Course Evaluation: Negative

• While many group projects were good in some respects, working as groups allowed some students to get by with doing very little work or developing any sort of adequate understanding of the concepts, while still getting high marks due to the work of their teammates.

• I feel like I didn't get much out of this course. The projects engaged the students to learn about bio-heat and mass transfer related problems on their own. Most of the groups I were in had control freaks that wanted to do everything their way, which made it frustrating to engage in the subject. Perhaps in the future, the subject should be primarily lecture based with only one project.

• The average students or students lacking adequate background may have difficulty in grasping.

Summary

• Modified problem-based and team-based teaching method has been implemented and is very effective to teach students with diverse background and learning outcomes.

• It is very efficient to integrate research and teaching by developing challenge modules based on various research problems.

• Depending on student’s level of participation and engagement, their learning outcomes vary drastically.

• Some students have difficulties to actively participate and still prefer lecture-based teaching.

• Improvements in grading, workload, and possible integration with experimental modules are necessary.

Acknowledgements

•Participating studentsAishwarya Balaji, Soham Ghosh, Alvint Kirit, Altug Ozcelikkale,

Seungman Park, Brent Rankin, Matthew Raw, Niki Ritchey, Angela Seawright, Marcelo Soar, Edgar Stone

•NSF CBET-1009465