Lend a Hand!! A Materials/Bio STEM Challenge!!

Challenge Specifics

 

We've been investigating living organisms, their habitats, natural resources and the relationships between all three. I challenged each student to design and contruct a prosthetic device to be used by someone without the use of all of their fingers. This we know is a medical problem that biological and materials engineers solve everyday, using natural resources (or some variation thereof) and what they know about the science behind how prosthetics work. Now some might say that since my little friends don't have the scientific background knowledge neccessary to complete such a task, that they wouldn't be able to...but I beg to differ. Most of what we need to know about how this world works, we learned as babies. Children have the ability to do all sorts of things, if we just give them the materials and let them go.

 

Prosthetic example!!

I didn't tell my students how prosthetics worked, nor did I show them any pictures of any. I didn't explain anything to them about wedges, inclined planes, springs or support. I simply gave them the materials, a sheet detailing specifics and told them to have a fantastic weekend!! Although I didn't discuss any of the aforementioned concepts with them, all of my friends used some variation of those physical ideas in order to complete their challenge designs. How??

Well, here's an example, I asked this student about the logistics of her design and she explained to me that she got the idea from a seesaw. She described to me the way a seesaw works and pointed out the fact that since it works there, why not here...so cute!! Her grabber was able to pick up a cotton ball, a sheet of paper, an eraser and a penny!! 



This student said he came up with his idea after thinking about the motion of a person's hand moving up and down, while watching his mother cook dinner. He explained that he noticed a continuous up and down motion, that he wanted to immitate in his design. He also discussed the actual look of his design and how it lends itself to convenience and conveys the feel of a real hand. His grabber was able to pick up a cotton ball, a sheet of paper, an eraser and a penny as well!! 

Here are a few other designs!!

The bottom line, challenge your little friends without having the end in sight. Let them find their way through observations made through success and failure!!! And as always...here's a link to the actual challenge, the specifics and a letter you can send home with a rubric attached!! :)

 

Your friend in STEM,

 

Thee Busy Bee