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Students’ sound knowledge about osmosis can lead to their understanding of other related biological processes that require the movement of materials across cell membranes, such as photosynthesis, homeostasis, and cellular respiration. However, students have difficulties to understand osmosis. This challenge has been attributed to the abstract nature of the concept and the way it is presented to students. Thus, we present an engineering design, integrated biology unit in which students use the engineering design process to learn about osmosis and its related concepts. A dependent t-test revealed statistically significant differences in students’ understanding of osmosis and related concepts, and the engineering design process before and after the unit. Overall, in this unit students developed the understanding of osmosis in a real-world context through an engineering design process. 

Students often find it challenging to learn about complex and abstract biological processes. Using the engineering design process, which involves designing, building, and testing prototypes, can help students visualize the processes and anchor ideas from lab activities. We describe an engineering-design-integrated biology unit designed for high school students in which they learn about the properties of slime molds, the difference between eukaryotes and prokaryotes, and the iterative nature of the engineering design process. Using the engineering design process, students were successful in quarantining the slime mold from the non-inoculated oats. A t-test revealed statistically significant differences in students' understanding of slime mold characteristics, the difference between eukaryotes and prokaryotes, and the engineering design process before and after the unit. Overall, students demonstrated sound understanding of the biology core ideas and engineering design skills inherent in this unit.