Teacher Resources
Biofab Explorer: Co-designed with Teachers and Students
Biofab Explorer was developed collaboratively with CTE teachers and students. Through this process, we learned how students would be interested in learning about this growing industry: how advancements in biofabrication will impact society, and what career opportunities exist in biofabrication.
Biofab Explorer is designed around these two themes, showcasing content that students prioritized in our co-design sessions.
The Goal of this Teacher Guide
Our goal is to support educators to think about how they can introduce biofabrication to students.
The resource guide can be used by a variety of teachers - from CTE manufacturing teachers, AP Biology teachers, to reading/writing instructors. In this guide are some activities teachers can use to engage students in learning related to this exciting and emerging career field.
How to use Biofab Explorer and BIOBLENDFOLIO
BioFab Explorer is an open resource for students and teachers to use as they wish. It has two main purposes:
introduce students to the world of biofabrication, pique interest, and expose them to multiple career opportunities
house the BioFab challenges, which offer students an opportunity to continue their learning and participate in work-based learning
BIOBLENDFOLIO provides a platform for teachers to assign their students BioFab challenges to extend their classroom learning and model real-world learning. BIOBLENDFOLIO allows students to create a portfolio of their work-based learning, which can then be shared with prospective employers or educational institutions. BIOBLENDFOLIO features single sign-on capability with Canvas and allows teachers to provide feedback within the platform. If you are interested in using BIOBLENDFOLIO, please contact Alison Driscoll at adriscoll@cast.org.
Both the BioFab Explorer and BIOBLENDFOLIO are built with the Universal Design for Learning at the center, ensuring that all students can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.
Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. It is based on three main guidelines:
Provide multiple means of engagement
Provide multiple means of representation
Provide multiple means of action & expression
To learn more, please visit the UDL Guidelines.
Competencies
The aligning competencies derive from the following sources:
New Hampshire Career and Technical Education General Competencies developed by the NHDOE Bureau of Career Development (2020)
Science and Engineering Practices from the Next Generation Science Standards for States (2013)