Engineering Empathy: Teaching Design with Assistive Devices

Students are introduced to the major steps of the engineering design process (EDP) and some of the roles engineers play in our world. After introducing the EDP, students are teamed up with one or two other students. Each student team spends approximately seven days working on each module—an engineering project focused on the humanitarian side of engineering. After the seven days, groups move onto their next engineering design project. This pattern repeats until students have completed all three modules. While each learning module focuses on a different field of engineering, all share the common theme of biomedical engineering through the design of assistive devices.

Engineers improve the quality of life for people around the world and they follow the steps of the engineering design process as a widely accepted way of arriving at desirable solutions to identified problems. The activities in this unit guide students through the engineering design process as they apply basic engineering concepts to real-world design problems. Through the development of assistive devices, students are exposed to the humanitarian aspects of engineering. Examples of advanced technology applications abound, for example, cutting edge prostheses such as Dean Kamen's "Luke Arm" or the redesign of traditional prosthesis to improve comfort and user interface.