Designing Knee Braces-Step 4

After all the prep work, it's finally time to create the knee braces. First the students take their material lists to the "store" and get everything they need.

Then it's off to follow their plan and make their braces.

After all the braces are done, we will put them through a series of tests to see if they are durable, useable and can take the knee through the correct range of motion.

Render to Caesar what is Caesars...

Some of our 6th grade students are doing a project on Ceasar Augustus and wanted to make a coin. They started by making a prototype out of paper and tissues. Next, they searched the internet for examples of ancient coins with Ceasar imprinted on them.

After finding 2 examples they liked, the students laser cut them on cardboard so they could decide which one they wanted to make out of wood.

After choosing one of the coins, they did some final alterations and "printed" it out.

Designing Knee Braces-Step 2 & 3

After asking questions about making a knee brace and looking at the materials they will have to use, our 4th graders started the next 2 steps. By themselves, they first came up with 2 different knee brace designs...they drew diagrams and labeled the parts.

Next they got with their "design team" and each member shared their ideas. The goal was to come up with one idea for a knee brace. The group could decide to use one person's design or they could come up with one that combines the best parts of each persons. Either way, they had to come to "consensus." It was important that each member of the group could "live with" the decision.

Next step...Create it!

New Equipment

New to our lab is a SMART Board 800, with a NEC projector, all mounted on an iRover2 cart.  It's all hooked up (thanks to our physical plant guys and the guys from our tech department) and ready to go.

Designing Knee Braces-Step 1

Our 4th graders are learning about the human body in their Science class. To get a S.T.E.M. slant on things, we decided to use the Engineering is Elementary unit on designing knee braces with this group. First, we read the story and assigned homework of doing the vocabulary sheet and the Engineering Design Process sheet.

Next, we learned about how a healthy knee works and took measurements with a goniometer. Then, using model injured knees, we took the same measurements and compared them. This is all part of the "Ask" step in the engineering design process.

Continuing with the "Ask" step, we looked at a bunch of different materials that the students will use to make their knee braces. Working in groups, the students will record the properties of each material as well as answering two questions: "How could you change the shape of the material?", and "How could you use it in making a knee brace?"

Some Kid Creations at Recess

Recess has been a popular time in the Lab.  Below are some pictures of what our kids have been making. We'll add more posts as time goes on.

LittleBits

Prototyping a "helicopter"

Waiting for the laser cutter to finish.

Cardboard Minecraft characters.

A sign for his room.

A cardboard helicopter.

 Makers making.

 Laser cutting personalized cards.

 123D Design on the iPad

Look what we made!

A laser cut Swiss Flag for a class report.

Not Just Kids Can Create In The Lab

I've never done anything with Arduino so I figured since we have 8 SparkFun RedBoard Starter Sets, I better start to figure out how it works. Now I have programmed before...anyone remember "Basic", "Pascal", "Cobol", or "Fortran"? I also play with "Scratch" but I wouldn't consider myself a "coder".

Anyway, as I am reading the manual I see that there is a board that holds the RedBoard and the Breadboard, keeping the two together. My mind gets sidetracked from "how to use this stuff" to "how can I make one" mode. I decided to follow my own advise and use the engineering design process to  create my own.

So during some free time in the Lab this past Saturday (our school was giving tours to prospective 6th graders & their parents, and I was manning the Lab) I made this board. I did some drawings and took some measurements, and then I went to technology.  Using Inkscape and our laser cutter I went through a couple of prototypes but finally came up with this:

Not bad for a teacher. Now I have to start playing around with Arduino and figure out how it works.

First Grade Optical Engineers-Part 3

After learning about light and how it reacts with different materials, the 1st graders followed the Engineering Design Process to develop a lighting system. The goal was to shine a flashlight in a hole in one side of a box and have light come out a hole at the opposite corner. So after "Asking" questions, "Imagining" possible solutions to the problem, "Planning" what they are going to do by drawing a diagram and listing materials, the students "Created" their lighting system. Below are pictures of some of our first graders first attempt at creating a lighting system.