Who knows...maybe one of these fourth graders will be designing biomedical technology for us in the future! Way to go fourth graders!
After using the engineering design process, fourth graders were able to determine which of their two knee brace designs better met the criteria of the challenge. Some were able to put their braces on quicker than others, some used less materials, and others were more durable after completing the range of motion tests.
Who knows...maybe one of these fourth graders will be designing biomedical technology for us in the future! Way to go fourth graders! Working through the engineering design process, fourth graders are testing out each of the knee brace designs they've created, making improvements based on the data they collect from their tests. Did the knee (with the knee brace) move as it was supposed to? Did it take longer than they anticipated it should take to put it on? Was it durable enough to last wearing over and over again? Working in teams, fourth graders will try to improve their knee brace designs to get the optimal score--meaning it met the criteria of the challenge.
Way to go biomedical engineers! With each member of a team brainstorming at least two knee brace designs, teams are now collaborating and deciding upon what their first knee brace design should be. Should they combine ideas? Settle on one person's idea? Or design something new once everyone shares their thoughts? Once their knee braces are created, fourth graders will be testing their designs to make sure they have the right range of motion, are usable within a specific time frame, and are durable! Now that fourth graders have explored all the properties available to use in their knee brace designs, they've spent time imagining what their knee brace designs should look like. Creating carefully crafted diagrams, they must follow the following criteria: 1. The brace must allow for a healthy range of motion of the injured knee. 2. It has to be easy to use (Take it on/off in under a minute) 3. It must be durable (It must last after putting it on/off over and over again)! Check out their first brainstormed knee brace designs below! When thinking about creating a knee brace, it's important to know the available materials! Fourth graders know that the materials they'll be using to design a knee brace will be quite different than the materials they've used otherwise this year like when cleaning up an oil spill or designing a Maglev.
We're spending some time really thinking about the properties of the available materials, and more importantly, how those materials can change to be used in a knee brace design. Can they be cut? Folded? Layered? Are they rigid? Flexible? Smooth? We're thinking about ALL these factors! Fourth graders are steps closer to designing their own knee braces for an unhealthy knee. But what do they need to know about knees in general before they begin designing a knee brace?
In a class discussion, fourth graders determined that it's important to figure out how a knee moves, both when it's healthy and when it's unhealthy. This way, when they go to design a brace, they know how the brace should either help or restrict the unhealthy knee's movement. Students used a special tool to collect data on both types of knees. This tool is known as a goniometer and measures the range of motion for a knee in four directions: backwards, forwards, to the left, and to the right. With careful data collection, fourth graders discovered that their model injured knees could move in two directions that a healthy knee could not move--forwards and towards the outside (extending beyond a normal range of motion). |
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