Engineering Empathy: Teaching Design with Assistive Devices
Engineered assistive devices provide people with disabilities access to formerly inaccessible life activities.Copyright 2004 Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA. All rights reserved.
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.
- Design involves a set of steps, which can be performed in different sequences and repeated as needed.
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?
- Identify and explain the steps of the engineering design process, i.e., identify the need or problem, research the problem, develop possible solutions, select the best possible solution(s), construct a prototype, test and evaluate, communicate the solution(s), and redesign.
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment? - Demonstrate methods of representing solutions to a design problem, e.g., sketches, orthographic projections, multiview drawings.
Grades 6-8
Do you agree with this alignment?
- MS-ETS1-2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Grades 6-8
This resource focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:
Science & Engineering Practices- Evaluate competing design solutions based on jointly developed and agreed-upon design criteria.Do you agree with this alignment?
Disciplinary Core Ideas- There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem.Do you agree with this alignment?
Do you agree with this alignment? - Evaluate competing design solutions based on jointly developed and agreed-upon design criteria.
- MS-ETS1-4 Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.
Grades 6-8
This resource focuses on the following Three Dimensional Learning aspects of NGSS:
Science & Engineering Practices- Develop a model to generate data to test ideas about designed systems, including those representing inputs and outputs.Do you agree with this alignment?
Disciplinary Core Ideas- Models of all kinds are important for testing solutions.Do you agree with this alignment?
- The iterative process of testing the most promising solutions and modifying what is proposed on the basis of the test results leads to greater refinement and ultimately to an optimal solution.Do you agree with this alignment?
Do you agree with this alignment? - Develop a model to generate data to test ideas about designed systems, including those representing inputs and outputs.
Day 1: Introduce students to the set-up and grading of the class.
Day 2: Start with the five-minute engineer illustration; introduce students to the field of engineering and the engineering design process. Begin Super Slinger Engineering Challenge.
Day 3: Entire-class engineering challenge continued.
Day 4: Test, evaluate and reflect on engineering challenge design solutions. Show students a movie or film that shows people overcoming disabilities through the help of engineered technology; see suggestions in the activity write-up.
Days 5-11: Begin Off-Road Wheelchair Challenge
Day 12: Flex Day
Days 13-19: Begin Portable Wheelchair Ramp Challenge
Day 20: Flex Day
Days 21-28: Begin Automatic Floor Cleaner Computer Program Challenge
Day 29: Flex Day
Day 30: Show students the PBS Frontline episode titled, Vietnam: Wheels of Change (10 minutes); available at http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/vietnam804/video/video_index.html); conclude with a round table discussion.
- Engineering Empathy: Teaching Design with Assistive Devices
(optional: Show students the What Is Engineering? video)
Contributors
Jared R. Quinn; Kristen Billiar; Terri Camesano
Supporting Program
Inquiry-Based Bioengineering Research and Design Experiences for Middle-School Teachers RET Program, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Acknowledgements
Developed by the Inquiry-Based Bioengineering Research and Design Experiences for Middle-School Teachers RET Program under National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Teachers grant no. EEC 0743037, and collaboration with Overlook Middle School, Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District, Ashburnham, MA. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Copyright
2013 by Regents of the University of Colorado; original © 2011 Worcester Polytechnic Institute