Work in progress: Developing engineering systems thinking through the modeling of a complex bioengineering system

Systems thinking is an important habit of mind that should be promoted in K-12 engineering education. This work in progress paper describes how systems thinking was introduced in middle school grades through the modeling of a biological system: the artificial heart. Preliminary qualitative results show that introducing systems thinking through modeling is both feasible and useful. Students demonstrated their knowledge of the heart as a system through the structural, functional, and behavioral components of their models.